WHAT IS BLENDED LEARNING?

Our NDT Technologies Certificate Program introduces a customized, results-driven curriculum model integrating NDT online training with traditional face-to-face classroom instruction and hands on training. Our Online Learning Management System is not just a supplement to the status quo, but designed as a dynamic improvement over traditional education. We reach students with varying learning tools through visual, aural and tactile coursework.

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE IN ACTION?

Through our learning management platform, students will have access to NDT video lectures, interactive quizzes, PowerPoint course presentations, and get to interact with instructors and peers. Additionally, students can track their assignments and progress or freely review supporting materials, and may elect to participate in a live daily scheduled Q&A session with the instructor and classmates via webcam. All digital coursework is designed to complement and progress with the printed textbooks each student receives upon enrollment. Each student is assured of ready access to the instructor via webcam, email, chat, or phone.

The online study is followed by 18 days of NDT hands-on training and lab work at the AINDT campus. Certificates of completion are issued at that time. The final day is spent in a Q&A session with the instructor, getting employment tips and advice, strategizing, reviewing current employment opportunities, and addressing any other questions.

ADVANTAGES OF BLENDED LEARNING

The number one advantage is that blended learning courses make it easier for you to rapidly get the training you need to start a new career.

Benefits and objectives of blended learning courses also include:

• Abridged on-campus attendance (3 weeks), reducing overall costs by learning from the comfort of your home and community spaces.
• Accessible from more places to more people. Online courses at AINDT are available on your iPad, iPhone, and Android devices! Study, watch video lectures, and complete quizzes from most mobile devices.
• Instructors can teach courses through active-learning assignments over the Internet rather than requiring their students sit in a lecture hall taking notes.
• Help stimulate self-directed learning, introduce problem solving, instill time management, and promote critical-thinking and writing skills, using the technologies encountered in today’s workplace.
• Because classroom participation is online, students who do not feel comfortable physically speaking in front of a group find it much easier to participate in discussions, ask questions or present opinions. Enriching the learning experience for themselves and others.
• Blended learning courses offer great flexibility, so students can maintain a balance between life, work, and school.
• Blended learning courses free the student of a “one-size-fits-all” teaching pace, allowing for more depth of study, time on task and absorption/reflection time, as determined by the student.
• Because routine aspects of the learning program are automated, the instructor is enabled to devote more individual attention to student needs.
• Because of its effectiveness, the U.S. Department of Education conducted a meta-study from 1996 to 2008 to determine whether distance education was as effective as traditional learning at the college level. Hybrid learning courses or “Blended learning courses” or programs were included in this study. The findings determined that:
  1. Distance education is more effective than traditional face-to-face learning.
  2. Distance education combined with some traditional learning (Hybrid learning courses / Blended learning courses) is the most effective type of learning.
  3. Traditional face-to-face learning alone is the least effective method of the three types studied.
     U.S. Department of Education. 2010. Evaluation of evidence-based practices in online learning: A meta-analysis and review of online learning studies.