Let’s
start with a definition. What exactly is blended learning? Here’s a
great, generally useful definition found on the City Prep Academies
website that clarifies the term: “[Blended learning] integrates
face-to-face classroom time with online learning (facilitated at all
times by a classroom teacher), combining the effectiveness and
socialization of the classroom with technology-enhanced online
materials.”
What makes blended learning especially appealing is that it provides
students with courses that wouldn’t otherwise be available; teachers get
near-instant student assessments and the opportunity to provide their
students with individualized instruction. It gets students up to speed
and on track, challenging talented students and engaging individual
learners in differentiated instruction. What’s more, the technology
component inherent in a blended learning environment isn’t merely an
attractive distraction, but an integral approach to acquiring knowledge
and engaging in curriculum that’s simply second-nature for today’s
21st-century learner.
Now, with some general idea of what blended learning
means—essentially a blend of the best of in-classroom and online,
technology-enhanced learning—let’s look at several different specific
areas of rapid change in education and see what they add to the mix.
1. SaaS, or “School as a Service”. Yes, normally
this acronym means Software as a Service. But apply it to schools and
some of the key elements include: an engaging media library of learning
objects and experiences, instant feedback from lots of content-embedded
assessment, enhanced student profiles, customized learning experiences
driven by “smart recommendation engines” and online student support
services tailored to individual student needs. School as a service?
Sounds like a great mindset and model and it certainly only adds to
improving our schools by ensuring student-centric learning.
2. Apps. There are literally thousands of
educational apps for the iPod, iPhone and iPad available on the Apple
site. Some states are launching digital curriculum aligned to history
textbooks. Students can use apps to learn about the National Gallery in
London, they can watch and learn with mini-movies from BrainPOP apps, do
battle with an app called Multiplication, use Netter’s Anatomy Flash
Cards, or even improve on their important test terms with the SAT Vocab
Challenge. With apps perfectly suited for bite-sized, handheld learning
experiences that connect students to the real world, we’ll begin to see
what digitized textbooks, and digitized learning really means for
students.
3. Edmodo. This
learning platform feels a little like—and could easily be positioned in
one’s mind as—the Facebook of Education, with some Twitter elements
thrown in. Brilliant, and probably why Edmodo is growing at a phenomenal
rate: in the 2009-2010 school year, Edmodo experienced 10X growth to
outpace all other players in its category. With several thousand
sign-ups per week, the company projects they’ll hit the 1 millionth-user
mark by December 2010. That’s 499 million to go and not bad for an
education-specific platform directed mainly at students and teachers.
4. Credit Recovery. Using online learning to assist
at-risk students to recover missing or flunked credits that would
otherwise impede them from graduating with their cohorts is a great
idea, and there are several companies that have not missed targeting
this segment. The main concern here is rigor. Do the online courses have
the rigor offered by something on the order of a small-class sized,
intense summer seminar at a well-regarded university? Or are they a
diploma-mill style money machine for capitalizing vultures? The truth
lies closer to a positive outcome when students and schools use known or
trusted entities that show results.
5. City Prep Models. City Prep Academies is a
blended learning service provider to schools and districts. You might
think of it as a hands-on consulting firm to “21st-century-ize” a school
district, they offer help with education management, operations human
resources, budgeting and finance, compliance and accountability. As
other education consulting firms assist in developing next generation
secondary schools, more in-class and online learning blends will follow.
6. Content Going Mobile and 1 to 1. An interesting
trend: content companies such as Discovery Education are increasingly
branching out into the mobile learning arena, creating apps that take
direct advantage of the mobility of cell phones, tablets and other
mobile devices. For example, the U.S. Geography by Discovery Education
app is designed for middle and high school students. With videos,
interactive games, a global competition and sharing, users can explore
various regions of the country and learn about different aspects such as
bodies of water, cultures and major cities. But think about it: this is
1-to-1 learning at its best. The learning goes to the student, the
learning is personalized, the learning is tailored to what the student
wants to know and where that student wants to click. All of this can be
tracked and assessed.
7. Deeper Learning. Are we really dumbing down our
kids with video games and increased Internet time? Student can drill
down on a subject and come out an expert; a mom can educate herself and
know more than her child’s doctor might know, a teacher can present the
world to his students—quite literally.
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