BLENDED LEARNING

The blended classroom is designed to meet the individual needs of student by allowing teachers to personalize instruction.  This strategy can be used for any subject and any grade level.

Blended Learning has some pros and cons.

Pros:

·         Provides for individualized support for the students

·         students can access material at anytime, anywhere, to review the material

·         provides richer, more interactive learning experiences

·         provides more time for collaboration with the students and teachers

·         parents have access to what students are doing - better communication and support

·         studies show it increases student and teacher productivity, improves teaching and learning, and provides more and better data, and helps customize learning.

·         more and more colleges and even workplaces are using this model

·         gives students more time to learn - extends the learning beyond the end of the school day

Cons:

·         Teachers will need time to create and/or select content.

·         Teachers will need training on using this method of instruction to make it effective

·         students will need to be shown how to access, use the technology and what is expected of them

·         Students need to be able to do work outside of school hours

·         do they have access to technology at home?

·         do they have access to internet at home?

·         do they have other things that take up their time (job, etc.)

·         students need to be self-directed to work at home

The majority of blended-learning programs resemble one of four models: Rotation, Flex, A La Carte, and Enriched Virtual. The Rotation model includes four sub-models: Station Rotation, Lab Rotation, Flipped Classroom, and Individual Rotation.

1.      Rotation model — a course or subject in which students rotate on a fixed schedule or at the teacher’s discretion between learning modalities, at least one of which is online learning.

2.      Flex model — a course or subject in which online learning is the backbone of student learning, even if it directs students to offline activities at times. Students move on an individually customized, fluid schedule among learning modalities. The teacher of record is on-site, and students learn mostly on the brick-and-mortar campus, except for any homework assignments. The teacher of record or other adults provide face-to-face support on a flexible and adaptive as-needed basis through activities such as small-group instruction, group projects, and individual tutoring.

3.      A La Carte model — a course that a student takes entirely online to accompany other experiences that the student is having at a brick-and-mortar school or learning center. The teacher of record for the A La Carte course is the online teacher. Students may take the A La Carte course either on the brick-and-mortar campus or off-site. This differs from full-time online learning because it is not a whole-school experience. Students take some courses A La Carte and others face-to-face at a brick-and-mortar campus.

4.      Enriched Virtual model — a course or subject in which students have required face-to-face learning sessions with their teacher of record and then are free to complete their remaining coursework remote from the face-to-face teacher. Online learning is the backbone of student learning when the students are located remotely. The same person generally serves as both the online and face-to-face teacher. Many Enriched Virtual programs began as full-time online schools and then developed blended programs to provide students with brick-and-mortar school experiences.

There are 6 Blended Learning Techniques Infographic