AS THE semester progresses online, one particular thought is on every student's mind: "Am I going to spend the next semester in my room again?"  Yonsei University has proposed "Blended Learning," a system where three-credit hybrid courses consist of two hours of online classes and an hour of offline learning. As the administration discusses the possibility of implementing a hybrid system for the Fall semester, students might envision themselves finally going back to campus. However, there is a need to reevaluate the “Blended Learning” concept and implementation, as this system would be largely ineffective upon its actual execution. Asking for everyone to take an hour on campus and two at their homes is inconsiderate as it is problematic.

   For Hybrid classes to work, there need to be well-established elements of student control in order to keep the advantages of mixing both online and offline. Without proper monitoring, the system’s inconsistency could easily disengage the students from the learning material. The constant mix between offline and online, if poorly managed, can also create issues for the faculty. The shifting will make it difficult to gauge the students’ performance, and they will have a hard time finding consistent ways to communicate with their students. The amount of time and effort the faculty would have to invest in understanding their students’ learning statuses would be more than either online or offline. The hybrid system presents deficiencies that require extensive monitoring to make up for the constant shifts, and thus the concept of mixing two very different ways of teaching risks creating unnecessary communication problems between the students and faculty. 

   In addition, hybrid courses would not alleviate campus traffic, defeating the initial intent of keeping their students safe. Hybrid classes should offer the advantage of overcoming the barriers set by the pandemic. Yet, with “Blended Learning,” students would have to find places to take their online courses between their offline courses and would inevitably have to congregate in campus spaces such as the library or in-campus cafés. Thus, increased contact between people is bound to happen, and with increased contact, comes an increased risk of transmission. Because Yonsei’s Blended Learning system is not necessarily efficient in encouraging social distancing outside of classrooms, going back to campus prematurely could further heighten the chance of an outbreak within the campus. Risking an outbreak is risking the safety of the student body--a chance we should not be willing to take. 

   "Blended Learning" is not only inefficient in terms of safety but also creates more issues than it might solve. Since "Blended Learning" means all students have to come to campus for their weekly hours offline, those not based in Seoul would have to move. Such a scenario would, of course, result in a plethora of issues: simply think about the implications of everyone rushing back to study offline. A massive influx of people would be coming back to Sinchon or Songdo, and not only from all around Korea—but also the world. With limited dormitory spaces, students will scramble to find accommodations. Students and faculty overseas will pull their hair out trying to sort out their visa status and prepare all the necessary documents in time. Even if they manage to do so, they might not be able to fly back to Korea within a limited time, considering their home country's COVID-19 situation. Needless to say, expecting a full classroom during the first week of school is foolish optimism, and all the trouble to get to Sinchon or Songdo would only be for a few offline hours a week—it is simply not worth it. When considering the risk of infection while traveling and the complications that students would experience in trying to get to campus on time, the "Blended system" loses any charm it could have had. 

   Moving to Sinchon for only one hour or two hours offline might not be feasible for some students. Those who cannot even consider moving would then be limited in their course selection. For them, two choices are given: you either move to Seoul and take your courses or do not attend that course at all. Students could see most of their class options fall out of reach. Students would thus struggle to find classes that match their schedules and interests. “Blended Learning” would therefore limit access to education, which is paradoxical to what hybrid learning tries to do: provide quality education despite the pandemic. In this sense, “Blended Learning” proves again to be an inefficient and inconsiderate approach.

   Yonsei University's “Blended Learning” is far from providing the benefits that we would expect. Proposing a system with plenty of shortcomings will—contrary to the university’s intentions—simply create more complications and put the student body at risk. An hour or two of offline learning is not worth the sacrifices the students would have to make.