Implementation of a Personalized Online Learning System Towards Creating Hybrid Learning and Teaching in Chemistry Classes

Abstract

Recent technological advances have allowed for the use of computerized and online systems to achieve personalized student-centered learning and teaching in the classroom. One such prominent example is the PeTeL system (Personalized Teaching and Learning), developed by the Science Teaching Department of the Weizmann Institute of Science. In the present article, we describe the initial stages of the system's first implementation in chemistry classes, and show how it facilitates the hybridization of learning by combining online materials and offline activities. The research focuses on different hybridization models applied by chemistry teachers in their teaching, which demonstrate the efficacy of the PeTeL system in hybrid learning. Four case studies of a teaching unit dealing with melting points are discussed, and the considerations of two chemistry teachers using the system who adjust their teaching sequence to the personalized needs of their students in four different classes are presented. The results underscore the importance of providing teachers with the capacity and tools to personalize their teaching paths in a way that better supports hybrid teaching matching their pedagogical considerations. A new approach to the construct of hybrid teaching is proposed, considering it as a set of axes instead of one continuum.