Blog posts inspired and reflective of blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools by Michael B. Horn and Heather Staker . (Referred to hereafter as Blended.)
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| WHAT?!! You mean I've been using the incorrect terms all along?! Ugh. |
Technology Rich VS. Blended Learning
In the first part of Blended, Horn and Staker shake my understanding of how the word "blended" is applied to a classroom that uses technology. I have erroneously referred to the use of technology in a classroom as a "blended" method. I couldn't have been more misguided.
The district for which I work is a 1:1 environment, and some of our teachers and students have been in this environment for a solid six years. The teachers have received professional development before the devices were given to students, and they continue to have support from the district. For the first few years, support and development was mainly centered around "how-tos" of the devices. wk0 tools come and go and become more robust and meet the needs of education environments specifically. But using a technology tool doesn't make a blended classroom or a blended school. At the time, it was paramount to get teachers and students in a routine with the technologies available and a focus on the tools became the logical choice. Using a 2.0 tool or any other software may stretch the creativity of the students and teachers, it may allow students to explore content in a new way or discover content that could not have been accessed without the technology; however, these are all tech-rich examples. To be truly blended technology is indeed a part of the blend but more than that, it is putting the gear shift and steering wheel of learning in the students' hands.
Horn and Staker are clear in what a blended environment is and what it entails:
1) Students have some degree of control over time, place, path, and pace, and this ability to control comes through a component of online learning;
2) There is still the physical space of a building; and
3) The content the student engages with in the online component informs the learner's individual path where there is true integration of online activities and extensions/support of those activities in the classroom.
Once we understand what blended learning is, we can begin to make strides into taking the tech-rich classroom and choosing the most successful components of that and incorporate it in a blended classroom. In order to make this happen, there has to be willingness to shift our teaching practices and a willingness to allow learners to shape their own path--with guidance from content experts. Additionally, teachers will need the vision of strong leaders who see how education of today's students must change to meet the demands of our ever-changing, technical world. Teachers and students need professional and growth development models to lean on during the transformation, they need to open themselves to the learning process. The factory model upon which our public education system grew from is extinct yet has not been fossilized.
In the introduction of blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools, is a quote that embodies how I've come to think about learning and education: "We are all learning how to learn and teaching how to teach" (Horn and Staker, XX).
The district for which I work is a 1:1 environment, and some of our teachers and students have been in this environment for a solid six years. The teachers have received professional development before the devices were given to students, and they continue to have support from the district. For the first few years, support and development was mainly centered around "how-tos" of the devices. wk0 tools come and go and become more robust and meet the needs of education environments specifically. But using a technology tool doesn't make a blended classroom or a blended school. At the time, it was paramount to get teachers and students in a routine with the technologies available and a focus on the tools became the logical choice. Using a 2.0 tool or any other software may stretch the creativity of the students and teachers, it may allow students to explore content in a new way or discover content that could not have been accessed without the technology; however, these are all tech-rich examples. To be truly blended technology is indeed a part of the blend but more than that, it is putting the gear shift and steering wheel of learning in the students' hands.
Horn and Staker are clear in what a blended environment is and what it entails:
1) Students have some degree of control over time, place, path, and pace, and this ability to control comes through a component of online learning;
2) There is still the physical space of a building; and
3) The content the student engages with in the online component informs the learner's individual path where there is true integration of online activities and extensions/support of those activities in the classroom.
Once we understand what blended learning is, we can begin to make strides into taking the tech-rich classroom and choosing the most successful components of that and incorporate it in a blended classroom. In order to make this happen, there has to be willingness to shift our teaching practices and a willingness to allow learners to shape their own path--with guidance from content experts. Additionally, teachers will need the vision of strong leaders who see how education of today's students must change to meet the demands of our ever-changing, technical world. Teachers and students need professional and growth development models to lean on during the transformation, they need to open themselves to the learning process. The factory model upon which our public education system grew from is extinct yet has not been fossilized.
In the introduction of blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools, is a quote that embodies how I've come to think about learning and education: "We are all learning how to learn and teaching how to teach" (Horn and Staker, XX).
