Blended Learning for the “Multi-Track” Undergraduate Students in Ghana in an Adverse Era

The sudden emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a paradigm shift in the status quo of education. Institutions globally migrated from traditional face-to-face (F2F) learning to online learning to achieve the objectives of Sustainable Development Goal Four (SDG 4). However, Ghana and its peer countries experienced unique challenges which hinder smooth online instruction delivery. Since 2017, Ghana has subscribed to a multi-track year-round education (MT-YRE) for its students at the Senior High School level because of limited physical capacity. In the wake of COVID-19 with its social distancing norms, the failure of online learning compelled some universities in Ghana to adopt the multi-track system temporarily for its undergraduates. In this phenomenological qualitative study, a snowball sampling technique was used to solicit interview data from undergraduate students (n = 20) in some selected universities on their perceptions of the MT-YRE and future education delivery. Thematic analysis suggests that blended learning is a way to mitigate the “challenge-ridden” online learning and as a solution to the MT-YRE. In the MT-YRE, learners experienced academic anxiety and complained about its intensive nature although there was a positive teacher-student relationship and peer-to-peer relations. They perceived their online experience in 2020 as ineffective and called for a blended modality of instruction for better social interactions. The rapid use of mobile technologies and social media was considered an enabler of blended learning. It is recommended that policymakers, school authorities, and educators implement a blended learning model tailored to the needs of learners post-pandemic.

The ubiquitous nature of technology due to the industrial revolution 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT) has made teaching and learning in higher education more technologybased (Romli et al., 2020). The use of technology or information and communication technology (ICT) is more common in higher education than in primary and secondary education, especially in low and lower-middle-income countries. Undergraduates from different parts of the world generally have positive attitudes toward the usage of technology, the internet, and ICT tools (Alothman et al., 2017). A study in Nigeria found that undergraduates employed the use of mobile phones to study efficiently through authentic, personalized, and situated learning techniques (Ogulande et al., 2016). Undergraduates know how to use diverse technologies, it behoves school leaders to harness the usage of technology, computers, and social media by undergraduates for educational purposes, such as the adoption of a blended modality of instruction in this pandemic era .
The paper presents a blended approach to teaching and learning as an educational innovation and a necessity to ensure lifelong and progressive education, especially in developing countries like Ghana, which experienced unsuccessful online learning during 2020, and has temporarily resumed face-to-face (F2F) instruction in rounds. Karma et al. (2021) labelled blended learning as an educational innovation and solution during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bordoloi et al. (2021) also earmarked blended learning as a solution for providing education in the context of the twenty-first century and pandemic crises in developing countries like India. (Singh et al., 2021b) Also opined that blended learning seems to be the future of education in the post-COVID world, hence, educators are making efforts to develop this form of learning in this pandemic era and beyond.
As many sectors of society are adjusting to the culture of the "new normal", it can be said that things may never be the same, even with the prospect of potent vaccine development. Learning how to live with COVID-19 and safeguarding the educational career of the world's student population from future crisis/pandemics demand adopting new tools and pedagogical strategies that is cost-effective, efficient, and functional.
With the emergence of new strains of the virus in many parts of the world, there is almost no option for developing countries such as Ghana to adopt blended learning as a model-fit pedagogical approach in the post-pandemic era. Blended learning can serve as an effective crisis management tool for HEIs in the Sub-Saharan African region against future disasters or pandemics.
This study is one of the first to tackle the challenges of the multi-track year-round education (MT-YRE) in HEIs in Ghana and provide an alternative solution to education delivery, such as blended learning techniques for HEIs in Sub-Saharan Africa. The existing study that investigates the effect of MT-YRE on educational delivery focused on senior high schools prior to the pandemic (Takyi et al., 2019). Little effort has been put into examining students' experiences of MT-YRE in higher education and consideration of MT-YRE as a preferable approach for instructional delivery. Thus, as far as higher education is concerned, the MT-YRE system is a grey area in the Ghanaian context. The study also explored how blended learning can be the "new normal" of teaching and learning during a time when educational institutions are adapting to the culture of the "new normal" (i.e. COVID-19-related ways of living such as the mandatory wearing of face masks, homeschooling, working from home, social distancing, and quarantine and lockdowns) as opposed to the experimental MT-YRE system.
To better prepare for effective education in the post-COVID world, policymakers in education and school leaders have to be aware of the diverse needs of students and the best instructional practices. In the MT-YRE system, different groups of students attend school separately such that when one track is on break the others are in session with the breaks occurring throughout the year (Finnie et al., 2019). MT-YRE are often applied in overcrowded to delay the construction of new buildings by making use of available facilities. This approach was conducive for most of the second-cycle institutions in Ghana because of limited infrastructure and physical space after an increase in school enrolment in 2017.

Background Context
The online modality of instruction adopted by HEIs in Ghana was appropriate amid the COVID, but the other side of the coin is the contextual challenges that fraught the entire education delivery. Power outages, glitches in the e-learning system, lack of social interactions, limited ICT tools/facilities, poor network connectivity, high cost of data bundle, anxiety over academic outcomes, etc. were identified as major challenges that led to the failure of the online learning in Ghana (Adarkwah, 2021b;Adarkwah, 2020).
With the prospect of a potent vaccine and the unsuccessful nature of the online learning, the Ghanaian government resumed temporal F2F instruction in the early part of 2021 for tertiary students (Adarkwah, 2021a). One major concern to this solution was the limited physical capacity of the HEIs in the country to accommodate all students while at the same time observing the social distancing norms of COVID-19. To this end, the Ghana Education Service (GES) and other public universities in Ghana subscribed to a MT-YRE, popularly known in the country as the "double track system". This approach was initially implemented in the senior high schools (SHSs) in the country due to limited infrastructure to harbor students that gain admission to continue secondary education. However, this MT-YRE system adopted by the HEIs has posed challenges to some students, with some sects of the students calling for an end to this method .

The present study
In the current study, blended learning is advocated as an educational innovation during this COVID-19 pandemic period and as a panacea to the disruption in education and challenges of the MT-YRE (the concept is discussed in detail in the literature review section). Blended teaching and learning can be a "game-changer" for struggling HEIs in Ghana and beyond, whose undergraduate students' education was put at risk in light of the COVID-19 crisis. The failure of the fully online learning calls for a blended mode for HEIs in developing countries. The study sheds light on the effect of year-round education (YRE) systems such as the MT-YRE on students' academic outcomes and general well-being. It also adds value to the existing literature on blended learning and the conversations about the impact of COVID-19 on education. Specifically, the study investigates the experiences of students who first participated in the MT-YRE system during the temporal resumption of F2F learning and their perceptions of blended learning as a teaching modality in terms of education delivery post-pandemic.
Specifically, the research questions for the study are; RQ1. What are the learning experiences of students regarding the MT-YRE (F2F learning)? RQ2. What are students' perceptions regarding blended learning for future education delivery?

Multi-track year-round education in Ghana
The multi-track year-round education (MT-YRE) refers to allocating school days evenly across the calendar year and dividing the entire student body into separate tracks that rotate on and off break, permitting a school to serve a larger student body through continual use of the same school facility (Graves et al., 2018). At most times, MT-YRE is a response to overcrowding by increasing space in a school building without incurring the cost of building new classrooms and facilities . This was the case in Ghana when it was initially rolled out in SHSs in Ghana because of an increment in enrollment following the implementation of the "free senior high school" policy (a policy that was implemented by the incumbent government in 2017 to ensure free and equitable access of secondary education to junior high school graduates in Ghana who gained admission to the senior high school).
The COVID-19 social distancing protocol and limited physical capacity forced the hand of educational leaders of some public universities in Ghana to adopt the MT-YRE.
Although the MT-YRE has its positive effects, such as smaller classes and increased contact hours between teachers and students (Takyi et al., 2019), this method leads to a distaste among teachers because it robs them of their time and traditional vacation periods, and increase their workload (Graves et al., 2018). Additionally, the other track, which remains at home, spends a significant amount of time doing nothing if not enrolled in an internship or engaged in studies.
There are studies that show that MT-YRE has the propensity to cause an increment in weight and fitness loss among students (Brusseau et al., 2019). Takyi et al. (2019) revealed that the MT-YRE in SHSs in Ghana led to poor academic outcomes for students due to long hours in class, compromising quality education, and the possibility of not completing the syllabus for the academic calendar. As mentioned earlier, there are students in the HEIs in Ghana that opposed the MT-YRE adopted by their school amid the COVID-19 pandemic .

Blended Learning
Discovered many years ago, blended learning as a teaching methodology requires the amalgamation of traditional classroom-based instruction and online learning. Although the definition of blended learning is multifaceted (Darras et al., 2021), in the context of this paper, Jost et al.'s (2021, p.3098) definition of blended learning is adopted; "is an approach used in distance learning and combines online modes of learning (e.g., podcasts, materials and activities delivered online via learning platform systems) and offline modes of learning (e.g., face-to-face sessions at a given time in a physical classroom)." Thus, blended learning is a combination of virtual education and traditional classroom-based education (Jebraeily et al., 2020). It supplements F2F instruction by ensuring that aspects of the learning process occur with the aid of online tools .
The diverse teaching models and studying patterns provided by blended learning makes it applicable to any subject or field of study (Rachmadtullah et al., 2020). Blended learning results in better academic outcomes for learners and increases engagement (Agarwal, 2021;Lo et al., 2021). A blended learning approach facilitates equipping learners with skills to continue their education, helps them to self-diagnose their educational needs, and searches for appropriate educational resources while at the same time providing customization and flexibility in learning (Ayob et al., 2021). In the event of climate-related natural disasters or disruptive situations such as the COVID-19, blended learning allows the continuity of education .

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An advantage of blended learning over only full online or F2F courses is that it provides an interactive learning environment while at the same time allowing learners to manage the learning process (Jebraeily et al., 2020). The authors further stated that blended learning allows for an expansion of educational opportunities that go beyond the classroom by providing better access to learning content while bypassing space and time limitations.
Blended learning brings stability to the guidance role of university tutors and helps them to optimize teaching and evaluation methods through an independent, self-directive, proactive learner-centered education. The online component of blended learning affords learners more time and flexibility to study, wider access to learning materials, and a sense of autonomy than traditional F2F courses (Uzzaman et al., 2020). Popa et al. (2020) add that the mixed learning environment provided by blended learning is more efficient than F2F educational modalities when course materials are designed on sound pedagogic principles. Rajab et al. (2020) reported in their study that students heaped praise on blended learning adopted during the COVID-19 times and favored it more than only online and F2F instruction. There are numerous researchers from diverse disciplines who believe blended learning should be adopted in this COVID-19 era (Adarkwah, 2020c;Al-Balas et al., 2020;Ehrlich et al., 2020;Nijakowski et al., 2021).
Blended teaching and learning are advantageous in this pandemic era in the sense that it helps learners to maintain social distancing protocols through smaller class size, which helps to decrease the rate of coronavirus infection, provide access to educational content through web-based/computer-assisted teaching, and facilitate social interactions or an interactive learning environment through F2F instruction. Giovannella (2020) believes that the present generation of students at the university is ready to embrace novel educational processes which are largely grounded in blended learning activities.
A classic example is the adoption of blended learning in many universities in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic (Busto et al., 2021). In Nepal, students preferred the adoption of blended learning as opposed to only online learning during the COVID-19 . Agarwal (2021) concludes that blended learning is the future of higher education.
Notwithstanding the potential of blended learning to promote meaningful learning experiences, it has several limitations that educators and school leaders need to address to fully benefit from its positive attributes that enrich learning. For example, Kaur (2013) mentioned that blended learning has technical challenges (e.g. ensuring learners can successfully use technology), organizational challenges (e.g. difficulty in managing students' progress), and instructional design challenges (e.g. ensuring active participation of students and their commitment to follow-through "non-live" aspects). Harris et al. (2009) also mentioned that the blended learning mode requires critical evaluation, adequate time, and a wealth of resources to ensure its success. Thus, before implementing blended learning, it is important to consider instructional design issues, learner needs, and organizational resources. During the COVID-19 pandemic, limited interpersonal contacts (Nijakowski et al., 2021) and the inability of learners to get immediate feedback were highlighted as a challenge in blended learning (Mali & Lim, 2021).

Community of Inquiry (CoI)
To guide the study, the community of inquiry framework (CoI), which was developed from a study by Garrison and Archer in 2001, was employed. The premise of CoI framework is the work of John Dewey which is consistent with collaborative constructivist learning in higher education. The CoI framework is a prominent model which has been consistently applied in higher education in online and blended learning environment . In the CoI model, three core elements are encouraged in creating sustainable blended courses; social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence.
Social presence is defined as "the ability to project one's self and establish personal and Cognitive presence refers to "the exploration, construction, resolution and confirmation of understanding through collaboration and reflection in a community of inquiry" (Garrison, 2007, p 65). Cognitive presence is also characterized by four main elements; a triggering event which gives rise to curiosity and questions, exploration, which has to do with information gathering and sharing of ideas, integration, which also involves constructing meaningful solutions or explanations, and finally, a resolution phase which deals with examining the effectiveness of a problem . Cognitive presence demands both social and teaching presence. In an online or a blended learning environment, cognitive presence affords an instructor the luxury of creating a learning environment that promotes student engagement and high-level thinking through collaborative communication .
Lastly, teaching presence is an indicator that an instructor pays close attention to the needs of students (Wicks et al., 2015). The three sub-dimensions of teaching presence are design and organization, facilitating discourse, and direct instruction. Through direct instruction methods, a course instructor is able to facilitate learning activities. There is a consensus that teaching presence is a strong determinant of student satisfaction, a sense of community, and perceived learning. The CoI model in blended learning help to address the deficiencies in only fully online or F2F learning. It is believed that blended learning rooted in the philosophical princes of CoI model helps provide a good educational experience to both teachers and learners, especially in this pandemic era.
The CoI framework is applied to explore the nature of the MT-YRE and fully online learning in Ghana and how it can be implemented in a blended model for the future. A phenomenological qualitative approach is employed to examine how students perceived the MT-YRE and blended learning as a technological innovation and a necessity for education delivery amid the COVID-19 crisis. Phenomenological research design is appropriate when a researcher wants to study the lived experience of people .
Specifically, for the phenomenological inquiry, an interpretive approach (hermeneutic phenomenology) was utilized to enable participants to share their thoughts and feelings to make meanings from them (Palmer et al., 2010).

Participants selection
In the context of the research, undergraduate students who experienced only F2F instruction prior to the pandemic, only online learning during the pandemic, and the temporal resumption of onsite instruction which utilized the MT-YRE system postpandemic were recruited. The participants were from some randomly selected public universities in Ghana. In identifying the participants, a snowball sampling technique was used. Once a few participants who met the inclusion criteria were identified, they were asked to notify colleagues who were willing to participate in the study. Overall, data was gleaned from twenty participants (male = 15, female =5). The field of study of the participants was computer science (n = 5), nursing (n = 6), statistics (n = 3), accounting (n = 4) and development studies (n = 2) In qualitative research, the recommended sample size often ranges from 4-50 .

Data collection procedures
An introductory letter detailing the objectives of the study was sent electronically to each of the participants stating the aims of the study. The first author of the study scheduled a date to conduct interviews with participants who voluntarily agreed to participate in the study. Both the Zoom and WhatsApp platform were used as the main channels for conducting the interviews because the authors of the study were not physically present to take field data. Data collection began after informed consent was gained. The English language was used for collecting the interview data. The combined time interval for each interview was about 40-50 minutes.
To ensure the trustworthiness of the interview data, we followed the criteria of Guba and Lincoln (1994). Credibility was ensured by engaging the participants in prolonged conversations about each of the questions. The transferability of the study's findings was ensured by recruiting participants from different universities. Additionally, to ensure confirmability, participants were given the right to access their respective transcribed data to ensure the data is a reflection of their thoughts.

Instrumentation
The interview protocol followed a list of several questions that emerged from the purpose of the study. Studies on blended learning during the COVID-19 and MT-YRE

Ethical consideration
Participants were assured that they and their host institution would incur no risk in taking part in the study. Participants who partook in the study were assured of confidentiality. Also, when using the WhatsApp and Zoom platforms, participants were informed they were taped-recorded. To avoid tracing back data to the participants of the study, pseudonyms were used in place of a participant's actual name. The participants had the choice to withdraw from the data collection process at any stage of the interview.

Data analysis
The interviews were conducted using WhatsApp in English and transcribed verbatim into the MS Word tool. Thematic analysis, which is suited for the phenomenological study, was used . Braun and Clarke (2006) mention that thematic analysis is a fitting and powerful tool when a researcher seeks to understand a set of experiences, thoughts, or behaviors across a data set. In the current study, a set of experiences across the data set was explored. During the thematic analysis, the audios were replayed severally to avoid errors of transcription. As recommended by Kiger and Varpio (2020) and Braun and Clarke (2006), the first step was for the researchers to familiarize themselves with the data. The second step was generating initial codes in the excerpt by making connections between the data items.
The third step was searching for themes using the initial codes generated using an inductive approach. No new codes were generated after saturation was achieved-the fourth step was reviewing the themes for logical coherence and commonality.
Afterwards, themes were defined and named. Lastly, a report on the data gathered was produced using the representative themes of the study. All the themes were sorted into two predefined categories (MT-YRE and Blended learning) from the interview protocol to capture the response to the distinct research questions. The study provides an overview of undergraduate students' experiences of the MT-YRE as a result of the pandemic and how they perceive that a blended mode of learning can lead to better education delivery. The thematic analytical procedure was employed using the NVivo 11 software to provide an in-depth understanding of the learning experiences of the participants.

Results
Nine (9) main themes emerged from the study under the two categories MT-YRE and blended learning (Fig. 2). The first category, MT-YRE, comprised four (4) themes (syllabus completion, academic anxiety, teacher-student relationship, and peer-to-peer relations) and the second category, blended learning, comprised five (5) themes (online learning, mobile/digital technologies, social media usage, social interactions, and future of learning). Generally, participants believed the MT-YRE was implemented with a good motive but was experimental in nature and was accompanied by challenges. Also, from their perspective, they perceived blended learning to be more effective than the fully online learning they experienced in 2020 and called for its implementation in the future.

MT-YRE
The system advocated by the government of Ghana (GoG) and implemented by some of the HEIs in the country is rational but not free of contextual challenges. Participants of the study expressed their concerns about their uncertainty about completing their respective course syllabus for the academic semester, their anxiety about their academic achievement at the end of the semester, and how they perceived teacher-student/peerpeer relationships in their schools during the temporal resumption. Typically, course content is not repeated in classrooms in HEIs in Ghana. This means that, whether instructors were able to cover all aspects of the syllabus or not, they would not go back to what was previously thought in the previous academic semester/year. Students who are not able to grasp or miss what was being taught in class will have to self-study or seek alternative help to be at par with their mates in terms of course instruction. While this approach promotes self-regulation, it robs some "disadvantaged/weak" students of essential lessons in the class needed for them to enhance their skills to enter the labor market. Some of the participants expressed their disdain for the nature of the MT-YRE, which makes it impossible for them to cover all course content. A respondent mentioned; "The lecturers will let us complete this semester's course content by hook or crook even though we have limited time" (Jude). Theme 4: Peer-to-peer relations Some of the participants mentioned that they work together with their peers on school project work, and their peers help them in terms of their physiological health to alleviate boredom. In the CoI framework, the social presence of peer groups promotes collaboration. However, they mentioned that some of their dear mates whom they wished to have at school are on a separate track; "My current peers here help me a lot. We have good interactions, and we sometimes study together. But I miss my friend who will return to school after we depart because she is in the separate track and is currently home" (Walker).
"I have also made new friends this semester. In the past, we were many and you could not talk to some people. Since we came, I have been able to talk with some people I could not talk to before" (Bruce).

Blended Learning
The views of the respondents of the study were sought on the possible replacement of the full online learning/F2F learning with blended learning. Some of the respondents recounted their bitter experiences with the previous online learning, which ensued out of emergency. Additionally, the students mentioned how their rapid use of mobile/digital technologies could facilitate the adoption of a blended modality of instruction.
According to an ample number of participants, blended learning can ensure their cognitive and social development through course instruction and social interactions with instructors and colleagues. Blending learning was highly considered by the students as a way of ensuring both cognitive and social presence during instruction, as inscribed in the CoI framework. The majority of the participants expressed that although the traditional F2F instruction in the pre-pandemic era was effective, blended learning would be the best in this post-pandemic era because it reduces overcrowding, thereby maintaining the social distancing norms, it is cost-effective and gives learners to selfpace their studies while at the same time giving them the luxury of wider educational contents over the internet.
Theme 5: Online learning The online learning in the previous academic calendar was tagged as "challenge-ridden" online learning because of many challenges. A respondent put across that; "The e-learning system sometimes had problems when I had to submit my assignment. This is so frustrating and can make you anxious. You can lose a mark because of that which is no fault of yours" (Enoch). With my mobile phone, which has good battery power, I can study online for many hours and watch some videos" (Benjamin). would be the best for students and even the teachers" (Bruce).

"I already use my phone to learn because I watch a lot of videos on
"I think blended learning would be better than the online learning we experienced in the past. I feel my school was not ready for it but had no choice at the time. If we can study at home and at school in the same semester, it will reduce the intensity of learning. We can be more at ease studying than this" (Benjamin).

Discussion
In this study, participants found MT-YRE education to be fraught with challenges that have the capacity to affect syllabus completion. Often at times, MT-YRE approach leads to superficial learning instead of deep learning if not properly implemented.
Because of the limited time for students to study in the MT-YRE approach, it is highly possible that the stipulated syllabus for the academic semester will not be completed, adversely robbing students of essential knowledge and skills needed for future ventures.
There have been cases of delay in completing syllabus in some HEIs in Ghana (Adjabeng, 2017). As outlined in the CoI framework (Fig. 1), the less information gathering and constructing of knowledge by the students serve as an indicator of the lack of cognitive presence (Garrison, 2007;Wicks et al., 2015).
Students experienced academic anxiety because students spend limited time at school as compared to the previous semesters, lessons are taught at a great speed at the expense of other learners who would normally require a thorough class session to grasp what is being taught. Multiple intelligence among students is now an area of interest to researchers. Factoring the individual learning abilities of students into teaching will help diverse learners with different learning styles to fully understand course contents (Kubat, 2018). Academic anxiety is an antecedent of stressors that negatively affect university life and performance in examinations (Dobos et al., 2021). It could be argued that although teachers were present, there was no teaching presence because of the intensive nature of the instructional delivery.
Although students lamented their bitter experiences during the MT-YRE system, they expressed that they fostered good relationships with their teachers. A positive teacherstudent relationship is necessary for students' social development, motivation, and academic success (Sabol & Pianta, 2012). Additionally, a positive teacher-student relationship is integral to enhancing teacher self-efficacy and teaching quality (Hershkovzt & Forkosh-Baruch, 2017). It can be deduced from the participants' responses that there was fairly no lack of a social presence spelt out in the CoI framework. This is because teachers were proactive in eliminating feelings of isolation among students and ensuring their safety (Wick et al., 2015). Also, aside from the fact that some colleagues were missed because they were in a different batch for a separate session in the MT-YRE system, participants enjoyed the company of one another. It has been documented that peer-to-peer relations promote psychological well-being and are closely associated with academic outcomes, health status and acquisition of developmental competencies (Nesi et al., 2018). Peer-to-peer interactions allow for the positive use of the differences between learners, turning the differences into learning opportunities through peer learning and tutoring (Keith et al., 2017). As mentioned earlier, there was social presence during the MT-YRE system.
The online learning in 2020 was considered ineffective by the participants. Hence, the call for a new approach for post-pandemic instruction. Studies carried out on COVID-19-inspired online learning reveal that the emergent online learning in Ghana was not effective. Students lamented numerous challenges such as power outages, high cost of data bundles, poor internet connectivity, and glitches with the online learning platform (Adarkwah, 2021a;Adarkwah, 2021b;Adarkwah, 2020). The lack of an effective design of the learning management system (LMS) used, proper organization of course materials, and the failed facilitation of discourse attest to the paucity of teaching presence in the fully online learning modality of instruction. The CoI framework advocates for a teaching presence for any meaningful instruction to take place in education.
From the participants' perspective, they perceived they could leverage their digital devices and handled mobile phones for a customized form of blended learning. Because mobile technologies are handy in nature while at the same time possessing powerful technological features, learners are able to access diverse educational content online (Xue, 2020). Since a majority of the students have at least one handheld mobile devices, adopting mobile technologies for mobile learning during a blended approach is appropriate and better as compared to the high cost of laptops. Mobile technology is more realistic than the "one child, one laptop" policy which failed to be materialized when implemented (Adarkwah, 2020).
Because participants in the study were digital natives, it was discovered that they were active social media users. They perceived a good social media use can complement instruction in the sense that educational content can be accessed on Facebook groups and pages, Twitter-verified educational handles, and on YouTube channels. In this social media-saturated world, an ample number of learners at HEIs in Ghana use one or more social media applications. There are pages and platforms that provide educational content to visitors and subscribers. In a blended mode, pages and platforms can be created at no/little cost by host HEIs for instructing students. Chawinga (2017) mentions that social media learning has taken higher education by storm. There are accessible blogs online where learners can update themselves. Social media-based teaching, when properly deployed, can have a positive effect on teaching and learning.
The COVID-19 lockdown affected effective communication between lecturers and their students. The social environment, which is prevalent during the traditional face-to-face learning was lacking during the online learning adopted in the initial days of the pandemic. A blended approach provides an opportunity for students to have physical interactions with their tutors and peers. Social interactions between teachers and students promote a sense of belonging, create a conducive atmosphere for learning and influence academic success (van Herpen et al., 2020). That is, in a blended modality of instruction, there is a combination of social, cognitive, and teaching presence recommended in the CoI framework.
To sum up the discussion on students' preference between MT-YRE and blended learning, participants agreed that blended learning should be adopted in the future for education delivery if COVID-19 will not die out soon and HEIs are still struggling with adequate physical capacity. As mentioned earlier, students heaped praise on a blended approach to instruction during the COVID-19 lockdown as opposed to online or offline instruction only (Rajab et al., 2020). Participants were happy with this approach because blended learning ensures self-regulated, self-paced, and self-directed learning (Jebraeily et al., 2020). Blended learning could be an educational innovation and solution in the post-COVID world (Karma et al., 2021).
Furthermore, to fully enjoy the benefits of blended learning, there are issues relating to course delivery, course management, time and course re-structuring, the consideration of active learning, etc. that needs to be adequately addressed. In terms of course delivery and management, blended learning allows for personalized learning, a thoughtful reflection of what is taught, and provides differentiation of instruction according to the learning needs of different learners (Kaur, 2013). Chou and Chou (2011)  Relatively, blended learning can also optimize cost and time because totally online or virtual learning might require more time, skills, and resources whereas combining virtual components with simpler self-paced materials, recordings, and PowerPoint presentations may be just as effective or more effective and balance out time and cost (Singh, 2021a).
Because the evolution of blended learning is still in an early stage, constructing an effective blended learning program can be challenging (Singh, 2021a).
Regarding re-structuring courses and the facilitation of active learning, the online portion of blended learning can be confusing for learners and there can be difficulty ensuring their maximum participation in relation to both "live and non-live" elements (Kaur, 2013;Shand & Farrelly, 2017). Instructors must ensure the active participation of learners and employ assessment methods that help them to monitor the progress of students. The course structure in the learning management system must be clear, concise, and organized (Shand & Farrelly, 2017). Shand and Farrelly expounded that a clear and logical course structure put students at ease for them to focus on course content. According to them, a coherent course structure is indispensable to quality blended learning design. A good course structure promotes cognitive, social, and teaching presence as put forward in the CoI framework.
Blended learning has several models such as the four models recommended by Staker and Horn (2012); 1. the rotation model (students rotate between online learning and other modalities such as full-class instruction, individual tutoring, and group work), 2.
The flex model (learning management system is used to deliver content online and learners moved on individually customized learning modalities), 3. A La Carte (students take an online course to accompany other experiences from F2F activities), and 4.
Enriched virtual (students have a F2F learning session and are free to complete remaining coursework remotely). School leaders must adopt a model of blended learning tailored to the needs of learners in their context.

Implications
The reduction of contact hours in the classroom and the intensive nature of instruction as a result of the MT-YRE had led to anxiety over academic outcomes by students, as well as syllabus completion. Undergraduates require comprehensive teaching in higher education, especially when it comes to research, in order to pursue further studies or become marketable in the global world. This raises concerns about the impact of the MT-YRE on the educational careers of undergraduates in Ghanaian HEIs. If problems associated with the MT-YRE are not addressed, educational quality in the HEIs might be compromised .
Adopting a blended approach to teaching and learning can help HEIs in Ghana to address some of the problems of the MT-YRE while maintaining the safety of its undergraduates amid the COVID-19 outbreak. The blended learning will make it possible to present the same lecture to the two separate tracks without incurring the cost of expanding building infrastructure (Busto et al., 2021). Comparatively, blended learning is more cost-effective than the recent online learning, which was adopted by the HEIs. The HEIs in Ghana can save funds for other projects or use them to maintain e-learning systems for a better online learning experience for its undergraduates (Garrison, 2007;Garrison & Archer, 2000;Wicks et al., 2015;Zhang, 2020).
In a blended approach to instruction, the F2F aspect ensures that students can get clarification of incomplete content or acquire answers to questions bothering them during the online instruction . Thus, in comparison to only online learning, blended learning increases student engagement (Al-Balas et al., 2020). According to Natour and Woo (2021), blended learning is affordable, improves pedagogy, and increases access to learning content. As a majority of the students believed, Darras et al. (2021) assert that blended learning is a possible solution to the disruption of education caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Blended learning helps to enhance and preserve the educational and traditional values of higher education .
To this end, in the midst of the raging COVID-19 crisis, blended learning can be a technological innovation for most HEIs in sub-Saharan African countries, such as Ghana, which struggled and still experiencing challenges with implementing fully opened online learning. A blended approach to instruction and learning can help mitigate the challenges associated with the MT-YRE and help safeguard undergraduates against the rapidly spreading coronavirus. Increasing the use of technology in education, such as a blended learning modality, can help Ghana achieve its vision of creating a "technological and knowledge-driven" economy. Blended learning, although has an inperson learning aspect, can help prepare the minds of learners to embrace a technologyoriented pedagogy.
A theoretical consideration when implementing blended learning as a form of technology-enhanced education is to test the assumptions of sophisticated models such as the CoI framework to ensure deep and meaningful learning. The need to also search for a learning management system that is situational is a concern for instructional technologists to address. Although at the heart of blended learning is technology, there is a need to provide sources of learning support to users, such as good course materials.
Because blended learning is more of an umbrella term, the different forms of blended learning, such as flipped classrooms, need to be explored to provide clarity on the concept. The "untapped" prospects of blended learning call for a continuous investigation.

Conclusion
Throughout this paper, blended learning is positioned as a "game-changer" for HEIs in low and lower-income countries, such as Ghana. The core objective of the paper was to ascertain how undergraduates from some selected public universities perceived the MT-YRE policy implemented by their schools and their views of blended learning adoption amid COVID-19. A significant body of the participants expressed negative feelings toward the MT-YRE policy adopted by their schools, although they mentioned it never affected their interactions with their teachers and peers. Specifically, the students lamented the intensive nature of instruction which can lead to the inability to complete the syllabus for the semester, feelings of anxiety over academic outcomes, and lack of the physical presence of some mates who were on a separate track.
The problem of limited physical capacity can be fixed wholly or partially by subscribing to a blended mode of teaching and learning. The respondents of the study believed that blended learning can enhance their engagement in the classroom through lively interactions due to the F2F aspect. Also, their handheld mobile devices can help them to engage in the online dimension of blended learning. In summary, many of the participants recommended that blended learning be adopted by the HEIs. They believed blended learning could better foster the social, cognitive, and teaching presence enshrined in the CoI framework.
This study explored students' perspectives on blended learning. In future studies, it is recommended that teachers' perspectives on blended learning adoption should be explored to provide a holistic view of its adoption amid COVID-19. Additionally, the didactic openness of blended learning is not fully captured in the present study. Future researchers can investigate/test different models of blended learning to arrive at the one which is context-specific and effective in achieving quality education as enshrined in SDG4.

Recommendations
One recommendation for educational practice is that professional development programs should be organized for instructors on blended learning prior to implementation. Policymakers in education should also initiate tax reductions on devices used for blended learning since Ghana and other countries in the Sub-Saharan African region are not known for manufacturing such devices. To foster acceptance of blended learning, school authorities/teachers need to educate students on its potential benefits in facilitating teaching and learning in times of crisis.
Due to the evolving nature of technology, instructional technology experts and researchers can monitor changes in the learning management system (LMS) and the perceptions of learners towards blended learning when it is implemented. Future studies are also needed to examine the effect of the current F2F learning on the academic outcomes (such as the grade point average) of the learners.

Limitations
A limitation of the study is that the number of participants is few and is not equally distributed in terms of gender. Future studies can explore or survey a large body of participants while ensuring gender equality. Not all HEIs in the country adopted the MT-YRE system. This means that the findings in this research cannot be generalized to other institutions in the country. The views of instructors and students in the other HEIs are needed on their preferences for future education delivery. Future studies should look at alternative forms of instructional delivery, such as mobile learning since most undergraduates in the region have access to handheld mobile devices.