Now that technology is being used more and more in the everyday classroom, Blended Learning is becoming very popular. Blended learning is a formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through delivery of content and instruction via digital and online media with some element of student control over time, place, path, or pace (Wikipedia).
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There are many versions of blended learning but from reading the literature it appears that the rotation model is the most common especially in the primary school classroom. This is likened to the ‘Learning Stations’ pedagogy that many primary school teachers use in their classrooms.
I came across five really interesting videos that allow one to visit a blended learning classroom and see it in operation. I am adding them here.
1. Blended Learning: Making it Work in Your Classroom
This is one of the Edutopia videos in their Blended Learning page on their blog. It shows a high school classroom participating in Blended Learning instruction. However the focus of the video is that it illustrates how a school-wide approach to blended learning allows teachers the flexibility to define and implement online instruction that meets their students needs.
2. Aspire ERES Academy: Blended Learning in Action
Aspire Public Schools is one of the nation’s top-performing large school systems serving predominantly low-income students. Aspire seeks to transform underserved communities and it has a track record of success, with 100% of graduating seniors accepted to four year colleges. Always pushing the boundaries on innovation in teaching and learning, Aspire decided in 2011 to introduce blended learning into two of its schools. This video showcases blended learning in action at Aspire ERES Academy, a K-8 school located in Oakland, CA.
3. What Blended Learning Looks Like in the Classroom
This video was made in Ontario, Canada. Ontario has been engaging in a province-wide collaborative research study on effective technology-enabled teaching and learning practices. This video shows the reflections of the Huron-Perth Catholic District School Board.
4. Redesigning the school day at KIPP LA using a Station Rotation
This video has been uploaded by the Khan Academy. It shows a second grader class doing their blended learning programs throughout the day.
5. Blended Learning in Spokane Public Schools
An increasing number of Spokane Public Schools teachers are using Blended Learning, which employs online learning, student pacing and small group instruction to give a more personalized educational experience. Learn more at www.spokaneschools.org
All these videos highlight some of the benefits of blended learning, the main ones being that students are engaged, they can work at their own pace and get help from peers as well as from the teacher, and they can direct their own learning.