The Basics of Blended Learning

fundamentals of blended learning my name is Michael Thompson and I'm the director of school partnerships at education elements we work with schools across the country to help them think about blended learning and to design instructional models which use technology effectively our primary product is the H LMS which I will discuss in more detail in some of our other videos in this video I want to share the fundamentals of blended learning I'll explain what is meant when someone uses the term blended learning describe some of the blended learning models and discuss the results we are getting what is blended learning if you think about the traditional classroom environment on one end of the spectrum and on the other end of the spectrum is a student learning on a computer at home blended learning is somewhere in the middle now let's ask ourselves how do we differentiate an individualize instruction in the classroom frankly students are not engaged in lecture style instruction we know that small group instruction personal learning plans guided practice and inquiry-based teaching all lead toward a better and deeper understanding of concepts unfortunately differentiation and feedback doesn't scale without technology so blended learning is about leveraging digital content to provide students with skills and practice meanwhile the teacher focuses on depth and application of concepts to teach higher-order thinking skills so what if we can create an environment where one students can get individualized self-paced instruction two teachers can provide differentiated small group instruction based upon weekly or daily data and three schools can operate at a much lower cost per pupil which will allow them to reallocate resources this environment is blended learning what are some of the blended learning models let's go back to the spectrum of learning environments as we see it now there are four models emerging lab rotation class rotation flex and pod I'm going to go over each of these now lab rotation is where students move in and out of a classroom to a computer lab many people seeing this model will think it looks very familiar to a traditional computer lab however if you look under the hood the difference is that in a lab rotation the data from the content in the learning lab informs the instruction in the classroom in a class rotation model students are broken out into smaller groups so a class of 30 may be broken out into four small groups every 20 minutes the groups may rotate between stations one station is with the teacher two stations are with the computer and the fourth station may be guided practice in this environment a teacher has the ability to monitor the whole class manage behavior and maintain the class culture in the flux model the learning lab might look like a large call center with banks of computers around the edges of the lab might be smaller breakout rooms for classes in this model the students work mostly on the computers and a teacher might pull out a group of students for seminar intervention or direct instruction one of the newer models is the pod concept essentially it's a school within a school and each pod might have multiple grade levels in this model the role of the teacher may be redefined and broken out into discrete roles an advisor a behavior specialist or an instructor to support each pod all of these models are rethinking the traditional school giving students more control over their learning and providing students with targeted instruction what are some of the results from a student perspective students are more engaged using online content versus paper and pencil practice worksheets they like getting real-time feedback and knowing where they stand at any time students can control how fast or slow they need to go through a lesson in these schools we see students accelerating past the skills for their grade level and this is what we call unleashing their learning velocity also even though the class sizes may be larger students feel that their classes are actually pretty small because the experience they have with the teacher is in a small group now from a teacher perspective the teachers we've spoken to find it easier to plan for small group instruction versus trying to teach to the middle and differentiating top and bottom teachers find teaching in small groups more rewarding because the students are more engaged and finally teachers are surprised by how much easier classroom management is with students fully engaged on the computers vs. when students are doing things on pencil and paper thank you for watching our video on blended learning we are excited by the potential opportunities blended learning brings and I hope you found it useful as you think about your own school you

Channel: Education Elements

Views: 416,266

Rating: 4.8547692 out of 5

Keywords: Education Elements, Ed Elements, Anthony Kim, Blended Learning, Hybrid Learning, HLMS, edtech, ed tech, innovation, LMS, learning technology, personalized learning

Id: 3xMqJmMcME0

Length: 5min 50sec (350 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 24 2011