My school (Maine West High School in Des Plaines, IL) is embarking on a journey into the world of Blended Learning. Most educators have an shaky opinion about an accurate definition of blended learning because it is a new concept and schools implement it in various ways. However, most teachers can agree that blended learning is a needed change in education. A simple definition of blended learning is learning that combines classroom learning with online learning. Students can control the time, pace, and place of their learning. For my school, blended learning is a method to restructure our school day so student learning is more flexible and they might have more agency over their education. Will Richardson (an educational expert and TED talk speaker) spoke at our first day institute and he showed us this list:

Then, he deleted the first word of every line and only “learning” was left on the list. He was pointing out that it all boils down to learning and how we define it. George Couros also argues that Blended Learning should not be a separate category of learning. He writes, “I feel the same way about the term “blended learning”, in which many of our students might just simply call “learning”. To me, it would be the equivalent of referring to “reading a book” to “paper learning”. It is just learning” (Couros).

Blended learning has many different definitions but it can be summarized fairly simply. This video gives a clear explanation of this style of learning:

I especially agree with the speaker when he discusses face-to-face interaction and cloud learning. The speaker advocates that “The key is to get the right mix for you and your students”. Blended learning is not a new way to learn but it is a way to meet the needs of your students in our technology-rich world. I also thought the video’s ice-cream analogy was creative.

Chris Weber admits that some teachers are worried that blended learning advocates replacing the teacher with the internet. He argues, “Blended learning seeks to bolster the number one most valuable resource in any classroom, the teacher. In doing so, blended pedagogies, practices, and strategies create environments in which differentiation, individualization, and personalization are no longer idealistic concepts. They become very real elements in our instructional processes.” (Weber). Teachers can use technology to free up time to work one-on-one with students. They can use the “cloud” to share the information and then build stronger relationships with the students.

For a few years now, I’ve been interested in the idea of Ubiquitous learning and how we can apply it to the high school environment. So much of the students’ time is spent in the classroom and I feel that much of it is wasted. Why should they spend time memorizing dates and places when they will always have the world of knowledge at their fingertips. Instead of learning facts and figures, maybe we should start helping them gain skills that will lead to a successful life. For example, they could learn time management, communication, organization, learning agency and other executive functioning skills. Michelle Davis clears up any misconceptions of blended learning in her blog post, “Blended Learning Research: The Seven Studies You Need to Know.” She writes, “The whole power of blended learning, by contrast, lies in its ability to personalize education to meet individual students' needs” (Davis). Teachers can begin to blend the learning so we can better personalize the learning experiences in school.

 

In her book, Blended Learning in Action: A Practical Guide Toward Sustainable Change, Catlin Tucker writes, “The seismic shift that education is experiencing demands proactive planning, design, and implementation that is also systemic in nature” (5). My school district is using her book to build the system for the blended learning model in our district. According to Tucker, blended learning looks like this:

Blended learning consists of strategies and a system. Teachers can decide how they want to build their curriculum on this spectrum. They can adapt one or all of these strategies to organize their class.

In the Flipped Classroom, teachers send out videos or other forms of instruction to share the material with the students. Class meets every day to go over the material learned at home. During class, the teacher can clear up any confusion and students can collaborate on more authentic problems and projects.

Station Rotation consists of various stations set up in the classroom so that students can move from station to station and learn various parts of the material. Students either work together or by themselves. Students can learn at their own pace and some learning takes place online. Station rotation is used quite a bit at the Elementary school level but it can be time-consuming to create curriculum for high school classes. 

While students stay together in groups in Station Rotation, Individual Rotation consists of students rotating through stations at their own pace in the classroom. Students have their own “playlist” that they complete as they rotate through the stations but they do not need to stay with their group. Teachers guide on the side and assist any struggling learners.

Personally, I intend to adopt the Virtual Hybrid Blended System for my one class of seniors. In this system, I only meet with the students three days a week. The schedule follows a college schedule so it is perfect for High School senior students. I'm teaching a class called Chicago Literature and it's perfect because the students work on numerous projects in the first half of the semester. For example, they are researching buildings in Chicago and famous people buried in Graceland Cemetery. They can do the research on their own time and come back to class to present their findings.

Because they are only in class three days a week, they need a place to work on their school work when they are not with me. We recently repurposed a few rooms in our school to make this system work. I will be starting this hybrid schedule this week and plan to write my Work 2 on my experience.

This video also describes some of the theories behind Blended Learning. It compares Didactic Learning with Authentic Learning:

In the video, the speaker asks: How much do you want learning online or Face-to-Face? He argues that either the teacher or the building administrators can decide.  I appreciate that the speaker in the video gives us some autonomy to decide for our classroom instead of leaving it up to the administration. The speaker also stresses:

“What matters most is creating a community of learners”. Personally, this is one of my priorities for my classroom. I want to help my students learn how to learn.

Blended learning is not the answer to all educational issues but it can lead to a different mindset towards education. Blended learning can be didactic, authentic or transformative. Teachers can simply record lectures and let students learn information outside of class and then use that knowledge for classwork when they meet with the teacher. However, if used correctly, blended learning is authentic and transformative. According to Dr. Cope, "The major principles of authentic education are that learners should take a more active part in their learning, and that this learning should be closely and practically connected to their life experiences. Authentic education is more child-centred, focusing on internalized understanding rather than formal repetition of the ‘right’ answers." With blended learning, students can move at their own pace and learn on their own with the teacher as a guide.  Additionally, teachers can also blend their classrooms and create more authentic problems to solve and more “real-world” situations in which students can learn. Finally, the teacher can open up the world by using the internet to connect their students with others and create a more transformative learning environment. All three teaching theories are useful for Blended Learning environments. 

Blended learning follows closely to the constructivist learning theory because the learner constructs knowledge for themselves while they are actively involved in the topic. Students use background knowledge and ideas they already know to assist them in gaining new knowledge. 

The idea of blended learning has been around for some time. Educators have not done enough research yet to absolutely prove that blended learning is best but most examples point to positive outcomes. After a meta-analysis of 50 study effects, Barbara Means found “In recent experimental and quasi-experimental studies contrasting blends of online and face-to face instruction with conventional face-to-face classes, blended instruction has been more effective, providing a rationale for the effort required to design and implement blended approaches. When used by itself, online learning appears to be as effective as conventional classroom instruction, but not more so” (Means). Overall, most teachers and educators agree that schools should incorporate some aspects of blended learning if it is done well.

As I mentioned above, not all teachers and administrators agree on how to define and implement blended learning. Indeed, Davis writes, “Efforts to interpret the research on blended learning are complicated by a number of factors. Blended learning programs are often implemented in very different ways, under different conditions; many studies don't use a standard definition of what blended learning encompasses; and technology evolves so quickly that research can focus on a digital tool or system that is outmoded within a few years” (Davis). Even though educators have trouble defining Blended Learning, most can easily point out problems with the system:

Critical Analysis/Issues with Blended learning:

• Technology problems - not enough devices/unreliable wi-fi
• Teacher Professional Development - not enough teacher training
• Student Executive functioning skills - students not prepared to manage their own learning
• Quality of online learning - just because it’s online doesn't mean it is engaging and helpful
• Organizational issues - Students don’t know how/where to do the work/learning
• Unreliable/unwieldy Learning Management Systems - some are difficult for the teachers to use
• Student accountability

While this list is lengthy, with the right teacher/student training most of the problems will not occur. Teachers and students will make mistakes and the first year will not be smooth sailing but the model will develop and adapt over the years as the teachers learn what to expect. "Tradional" teachers might hesitate to incorporate technology in their classroom and they might worry that students need to learn the content. However, technology surrounds us. Very few jobs do not utilize technology in some form so it's important for students to learn how to manage their time with technology. With blended learning, students gain the skills to succeed in the future.  

In her book, Blended Learning in Action: a Practical Guide toward Sustainable Change, Catlin Tuckers argues, "Often professional development for teachers launches immediately into a new skill, practice, or product without first addressing why it is important or explaining the purpose of it. This approach undermines the importance of the learner actually being engaged in the process. If a teacher is not clear about the why of blended learning, it will be much more difficult to create the desire or willingness to actually try the practice in the classroom” (Tucker 39). Administrators must start with the WHY before they can expect teacher buy-in. At this point in the blended learning journey, I feel as if I am building the plane while I am flying in it. We do not have a complete plan but we are trying to figure out what will work in our school and what is best for our students. 

Applications for blended learning are numerous and powerful. Now that ubiquitous learning is taking hold and people look at gaining knowledge in a different light, schools need to change. Teachers need training in order to begin blending their learning to best meet the needs of their students. Students should learn collaboration, cooperation, creativity and critical thinking. The “old” three R (Reading, Writing, Arithmetic) skills are still important but schools need to incorporate more technology to better personalize the learning. In addition, students need help learning how to become their own agents in the learning process. They need to know what they want to learn and how they best learn.

As technology advances, Blended learning will change. Virtual Learning and other forms of technology might change the way we learn even more. We need to make sure we include constructivist, collaborative and transformative learning models in our classrooms so we can cultivate an environment of creativity, curiosity and life-long learning.

Catlin Tucker summarizes the need for future learning perfectly at the end of her book (Tucker 183):

This video better defines blended learning, lists benefits and explains a few ways teachers can use blended learning in their classroom. It also addresses some of the challenges of Blended Learning. 

We cannot depend on technology to improve our teaching and our relationship with the students. We need to evolve as teachers to create an environment in which the students want to learn. We do not know what type of jobs will be available in 20 years and we cannot even begin to imagine what kind of technology students will use as adults but we can help them think critically and globally so they will be ready for anything.

“Blended Learning & Flipped Classroom.” YouTube, YouTube, 9 Jan. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=paQCE58334M.

Cope, Bill, and Mary Kalantzis. “New Learning.” Learning Module | Scholar, cgscholar.com/bookstore/web_works/new-learning?category_id=higher-education-modules.

Couros, George. “Is It Really ‘Blended Learning’ or Is It Just ‘Learning’?” Georgecouros.ca, George Couros, 16 Feb. 2016.

Davis, Michelle. “Blended Learning Research: The Seven Studies You Need to Know.” Education Week - Digital Education, 28 Oct. 2015.

itslearning. “Blended Learning in 2 Minutes and 38 Seconds.” YouTube, YouTube, 24 May 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5txJfv2q0c.

Means, Barbara|Toyama, Yukie|Murphy, Robert|Bakia, Marianne|Jones, Karla. “Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies.” US Department of Education, US Department of Education. Available from: ED Pubs. P.O. Box 1398, Jessup, MD 20794-1398. 

Murphy, Robert, et al. “Blended Learning Report.” Micheal and Susan Dell Foundation, May 2014.

Tucker, Catlin R., et al. Blended Learning in Action: a Practical Guide toward Sustainable Change. Corwin, a SAGE Company, 2017.

Weber, Chris, and Weston Kieschnick. “RTI and Blended Learning: A Perfect Pairing.” International Center for Leadership in Education, 2016.

“What Is Blended Learning ?” YouTube, YouTube, 26 Mar. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIh4jJlvF44.