As we are quickly learning, the blended practice may take many different approaches and strategies.  This week, Edutopia presented an interesting profile on how blended learning is supporting math instruction at a high school in Oakland, CA.  You may find the article and video here.

Edutopia also shares many blogs and group discussions that pertain to blended learning, the following is a short list:

•  Additional Related Edutopia Blog Posts:
  • Blended Learning: We Are All New Teachers
  • Is Blended Learning Worth the Hype?
  • Connecting Project-Based and Blended Learning
  • From the Classroom: What Does Blended Learning Look Like?
  • Blended Learning: Combining Face-to-Face and Online Learning
  • Blended Learning: Adding Asynchronous Discussions to Your F2F Classrooms
  • How One District Implemented a Hybrid Learning Program
  • The 21st Century Socrates: How to Implement a Powerful Hybrid Classroom Model 

If you find any additional examples, please share!

The iNACOL teaching standards are an excellent overview of how educators in the 21st century may utilize technology, online learning, and new strategies for pedagogy and content for their instruction.  A range of professional online teachers, instructional designers, administrators, researchers, and course developers produced these standards, to offer a series guidelines for assessing online instruction and related efforts.

The standards are to be applied and utilized to assess instruction, to meet the needs of each unique learning organization and institution, as they see fit.

Each main standard has a subset of related expectations for teacher knowledge and understanding, teacher abilities, and corresponding rating scales for the performance of educators.

The following list represents the overarching National Standards for Quality Online Teaching:

• Standard A – The online teacher knows the primary concepts and structures of effective online instruction and is able to create learning experiences to enable student success.
• Standard B – The online teacher understands and is able to use a range of technologies, both existing and emerging, that effectively support student learning and engagement in the online environment.
• Standard C – The online teacher plans, designs, and incorporates strategies to encourage active learning, application, interaction, participation, and collaboration in the online environment.
• Standard D – The online teacher promotes student success through clear expectations, prompt responses, and regular feedback.
• Standard E – The online teacher models, guides, and encourages legal, ethical, and safe behavior related to technology use.
• Standard F – The online teacher is cognizant of the diversity of student academic needs and incorporates accommodations into the online environment.
• Standard G – The online teacher demonstrates competencies in creating and implementing assessments in online learning environments in ways that ensure validity and reliability of the instruments and procedures.
• Standard H – The online teacher develops and delivers assessments, projects, and assignments that meet standards-based learning goals and assesses learning progress by measuring student achievement of the learning goals.
• Standard I – The online teacher demonstrates competency in using data from assessments and other data sources to modify content and to guide student learning.
• Standard J – The online teacher interacts in a professional, effective manner with colleagues, parents, and other members of the community to support students’ success.
• Standard K – The online teacher arranges media and content to help students and teachers transfer knowledge most effectively in the online environment.

You may find and review iNACOL’s comprehensive National Standards for Quality Online Teaching and the corresponding rating scales here.

Now that you’ve seen the iNACOL standards, please do some research and submit written reflection on articles related to at least 3 different areas of assessment for online and blended instruction. Check out this rubric for topic ideas.

Blended learning is an methodological approach to instruction that mixes different environments:  classroom learning, online learning and mobile learning.

Learning in this multi-level environment may also be synchronous, in real-time, and asynchronous, at the pace of individual learners.

Indeed, blended learning, indeed, has several advantages and great attributes!

For students, blended learning

• meets their expectations for utilizing technology;
• develops independent learning skills;
• offers increased flexibility and convenience;
• provides better access to those with job, family, or distance barriers; and,
• helps reduce educational costs.

• gives them access to new resources;
• introduces them to online learning;
• is an opportunity for faculty development and lets them experiment with new pedagogies and techniques;
• helps meet student expectations and build student skills;
• allows for more flexible scheduling; and,
• retains the face-to-face aspect faculty may cherish.

And furthermore, blended learning offers administrators the following advantages:

• impacts the entire institution.
• offers a learner-centered pedagogy.
• may integrate with the strategic plan.
• improves classroom utilization.
• can help match delivery to academic need.
• can help fill under-enrolled courses and programs.

Here is an overview of blended learning from EDUCAUSE‘s EQ Quarterly.

The with the proliferation of blended learning, we are also seeing related research grow by leaps and bounds.

In many instances, blended learning takes on a variety of different meanings, depending upon the course level or institutional levels of online technology integration.  From iNACOL, the article “Blended Learning: The Convergence of Online and Face-to-Face Education” provides an overview and profile of several cases of blended learning, their range of professional practices, and lessons learned.

These schools include the following:

• Cincinnati Public Schools Virtual High School
• Odyssey Charter Schools
• Commonwealth Connections Academy
• Hoosier Academy
• Kentucky Virtual Schools
• VOISE Academy, Chicago Public Schools
• The Community High School of Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Omaha Public Schools

For further information on blended learning-centered research, please consult these resources:

• The Sloan Consortium’s “Blending In: The Extent and Promise of Blended Education in the United States”
• EDUCAUSE’s Research Bulletin on Blended Learning
• iNACOL’s “Summary on the Effectiveness of K-12 Online Learning”
• The Blended Learning Toolkit’s Bibliography on Blended Learning
• The U.S. Department of Education’s “Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies”

You may also find the following Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) to be useful in connecting with other individuals, resources, events, and opportunities relating to blended learning:

• Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)
• Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT)
• Classroom 2.0
• EDUCAUSE
• Schools of the Future
• Twitter
• Linked-In
• Facebook
• Ning

Feedback within blended learning can take many forms and serve many purposes, occurring through a variety of mediums at different instances throughout the duration ofa course.  At the heart of feedback is communication and social contact, which drives opportunities to refine and evaluate both learning experiences, instruction, and student performance from multiple perspectives.  Feedback also plays the crucial role of developing student metacognition towards their self-regulated learning processes and individual performance.

The communication component (Kerres &, de Witt, 2003) is one of the most critical components of all blended learning and is especially pertinent when:

1. Knowledge reaches a certain complexity;
2. A deeper understanding of a theoretical framework is required;
3. The knowledge consists of competing concepts;
4. Students should learn to formulate, express, and discuss a personal point of view; and
5. Students to learn to participate in discussions, to formulate and receive feedback in discursive settings.

Regardless of its specific purpose and particular setting (virtual or face-to-face), timeliness plays a significant purpose in determining the both impact and relevance of feedback.

Within face-to-face settings can also take on three distinct forms (Hwang et al., 2002) :

• Seeking feedback from instructors within class (InAsk);
• Seeking feedback from instructors outside of class (OutAsk);
• Seeking feedback from fellow students outside of class (OutCheck)

At the forefront of blended learning there are three main organizations:  iNACOL, ISTE, and EDUCAUSE.

iNACOL is the International Association for K-12 Online Learning, a non-profit organization that facilitates collaboration, advocacy, and research to enhance quality K-12 online teaching and learning.

iNACOL also has also created National Standards for Quality Online Teaching and produced a Summary of Research on the Effectiveness of K-12 Online Learning.

ISTE, also known as the International Society for Technology in Education, is the premier membership association for educators and education leaders engaged in improving learning and teaching by advancing the effective use of technology in PK–12 and teacher education.

ISTE represents more than 100,000 education leaders and emerging leaders throughout the world and informs its members regarding educational issues of national and global scope.

ISTE is also known as the “home” of the National Education Technology Standards (NETS).  The NETS have served as a roadmap since 1998 for improved learning and teaching. They help measure proficiency and set goals for what students (NETS•S), teachers (NETS•T), and administrators (NETS•A) should know and be able to do with technology in education.

EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology.  EDUCAUSE helps those who lead, manage, and use information resources to shape strategic decisions at every level.  A comprehensive range of resources and activities is available to all interested employees at EDUCAUSE member organizations, with special opportunities open to designated member representatives.

EDUCAUSE programs include professional development activities, applied research, strategic policy advocacy, teaching and learning initiatives, online information services, print and electronic publications, special interest collaborative communities, and awards for leadership and innovation.

You may also find the following blended learning resources useful as well:

• Blended Learning Toolkit
• Next Generation Learning Challenges
• EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) Blended Learning Workshop Guide
• EDUCAUSE resource list on Hybrid or Blended Learning
• EDUCAUSE Blended Learning Toolkit Bibliography