The Case for Hybrid Learning as a Solution to Education Inequity

March 11, 2020 will mark two years from when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic. It was a huge shift in the way we work, learn, and grow. Youthful Savings, the parent company of The Learning Marketplace (TLM), rose to the challenge to make positive changes with the next generation of youth. 

TLM used to host in-person classes. However, due to the pandemic, classes were given remotely for everyone’s safety. We established key partnerships with organizations such as Children’s Aid, Virginia Park Teen Center, Human Rights First and more. We realized that our work needed to become more hybrid as youth were exhausted from strictly online learning. In 2021, a summer social was hosted and some of our youth had the opportunity to meet each other in real life. Youthful Savings continues to underwrite community events in order to foster community development and inclusion. Youth are now able to learn how to be financially empowered and start their own businesses on the Youthful Savings Marketplace (YSM) together – as a community of empowered youth. YSM was created in 2020 as a way to provide experiential learning to youth during the pandemic for our most popular program – My Own Business Challenge.

Currently, the pandemic cases are on the rise with newer and stronger variants which is causing more distress in the world. The future of how Covid will change our economy and how we operate as a society is unknown. However, it offers the chance for industries to innovate and provide solutions that can increase socioeconomic empowerment. Hybrid learning is an approach to education that integrates both online education and formal in-person learning experiences. It allows learners to feed their curiosity and be taught at their own pace. TLM offers self-paced learning as well as the option for a Google Classroom live instruction for all learning exercises. Furthermore, we offer monthly sponsored Live Experiences where youth can receive $10 in bitcoin from the Youthful Savings Foundation.

“It is important to implement the hybrid learning system as Covid continues to grow. This allows us to learn while remaining in a safe environment.”

– Catherine Zhou; a high school student, YSM vendor and youth content creator at Youthful Savings

We, as a world, will only get better if we make the changes necessary to continue learning, working, and growing inclusively. How we innovate to better serve humanity is the true fight against Covid.