Empowering General Studies and English Language Education 4.0: Activities, Challenges, and Future Foresight for Face to Face, Flipped Learning, and Online Tutorial

Reimagined Teaching And Learning Approach

The General Studies and English language program changed the traditional teaching approach of lectures and in-class teaching to blended learning. The general definition of blended learning is a mix of face to face with online teaching. The purpose was to maximize the benefit of human interaction and technology. The blended learning approach included face to face lessons, online tutorials, and flipped learning.

Blended learning was designed to achieve several goals: to engage students, increase retention, and develop new habits for life-long learning. To develop a new habit, identifying the cue and designing the right rewards is needed (Duhigg, 2012). The habit to be developed was independent learning and life-long learning. The cue identified were attendance and grades while the reward was not attending class twice a week but only once. The cues and rewards were selected based on the understanding the specific profile of students. Different cues and rewards may be needed at different tertiary institutions. However, cues and rewards are not enough as Duhigg (2012) explained in his book on the power of habit. Craving is also needed to establish a new habit. The key question in tertiary education is for educational leaders to discover how to develop the craving for long-term learning so students would continuously crave to upskill.