Teachers’ perspectives on blended learning: opportunities and challenges in social studies education

Abstract

This study examines the teachers' perspective on the implementation of blended learning by analyzing the opportunities and challenges in social studies learning and focusing on the teachers' experiences by combining the two in a blended learning model. A descriptive qualitative approach was used with in-depth interviews with semi-structured techniques and reinforced with open-ended questionnaires. This study involved at least 23 social studies teachers from several junior high schools in Bandung City spread from each region starting from the east, west, south, north, and central areas of Bandung City, which include public schools and private schools. The results of the study were analyzed descriptively using thematic analysis techniques. Based on the teachers' perspectives, the results of the study showed that the advantages of implementing the blended learning model include being more effective and efficient, increasing students' enthusiasm for learning, learning being more flexible, more practical, especially in implementing assessments, and learning being more enjoyable. Meanwhile, the disadvantages of learning with the blended learning model include students being less focused while studying, cheating easily, and difficulty controlling students. In addition, technical constraints in implementation and the availability of inadequate facilities and infrastructure are separate problems. Nevertheless, teachers still believe that the blended learning model is quite effective and efficient to be used in social studies learning at the junior high school level in Bandung City because it can provide a fun and up-to-date learning experience for students, which is closely related to the use of digital technology.