Blended Teaching/Learning Approach in Medical Schools: Need of the Day in the 21st Century

COVID-19 pandemic has challenged educators to creatively develop teaching and assessment methods that can work effectively and efficiently while maintaining the social distancing and avoiding large gatherings in classrooms and examination halls. To address this state of affairs, several online teaching facilities have been employed and the number of institutions offering web-based courses has increased exponentially. For example, Cambridge University has announced that, until summer of 2021, all the lectures will be delivered online only. However, whereas the solely theory-based courses can be offered online, the theory-plus-laboratory courses must be delivered partly in person since they generally involve hands-on experiments. To effectively manage the latter situation, the blended teaching/learning approach has emerged as one of the popular options. In this letter we have attempted to explain the theoretical basis of BL, its usefulness in teaching/learning activities and the possible challenges in its implementation.