Study of Students Understanding on Blended Learning for Physics for Technology Laboratory

Blended learning, the integration of traditional face-to-face instruction with online learning, has become a promising pedagogical approach in science and technology, especially the laboratory classes. Blended learning provides sustainable solutions for the challenging scenarios that the instructors and students encounter during study. Limited accessibility of laboratory equipment as well as the limited time availability during a semester has restricted students in-class activities. The incorporation of blended learning enables students to access experience and gain full knowledge about laboratory experiments by utilizing Internet resources, computer simulations, and real-world experience. This study aimed to assess engineering technology students’ perspectives on the implementation of blended learning in their physics laboratory course. Eighty-two students participated, experiencing online labs conducted by the instructor via a synchronous online platform, followed by physical laboratory sessions later in the semester. The students, having prior online class experience and access to recorded videos, were able to perform tasks independently, leading to efficient data analysis and lab report preparation. To gauge student perceptions, a questionnaire was used to gather feedback on the overall impact of blended learning on their learning process, performance, and the model’s positive and negative effects. According to the study, 67% of students agreed or strongly agreed that the blended learning model improved student performance, collaboration, and critical thinking in their physics lab. The model had a positive impact on 68% of the students with a smaller percentage being neutral (18%) or disagreeing (14%). Therefore, it can be concluded that the blended learning strategy is strongly preferred by first-year students for the physics laboratory in the technology stream, and overall, 68% of the students prefer the blended learning model for their course module.