Training Teachers to Integrate Technology Stacey Davis, Ron Beazer and Mike Smith used to do a lot of "drive-by training." They, along with their colleagues in Baltimore City Public Schools' Teacher Student Support (TSS) group, would conduct two-hour workshops and get teachers excited about using technology in their classrooms. But within a day or two, as workloads mounted, the teachers would resume their old habits and those training sessions would fade from memory. Some of the district's 204 campuses and programs have made major investments in technology, making the wheel-spinning all the more troubling. It's a common concern among instructional technologists: Bringing technology tools into the classroom doesn't necessarily mean that teachers are leveraging them to develop students' 21st century skills. "The key to integrating technology successfully is to convince teachers that they can do something with it that they can't do without it," says Dr. It's about creating excitement in the schools, Poling continues. Dream Team
Blended learning Blended learning is a student-centered approach to creating a learning experience whereby the learner interacts with other students, with the instructor, and with content through thoughtful integration of online and face-to-face environments. A well-designed blended learning experience thoughtfully organizes content, support materials, and activities via synchronous and asynchronous learning events, all of which are delivered in a variety of modes ranging from traditional lecture to online tutorials. Communication and collaboration are necessary functions of a blended approach. Because formative assessment is embedded throughout learning events, the learner assumes responsibility for his or her learning. In contrast to teacher-centered, rote-learning approaches, blended learning environments provide multiple ways to access content and to demonstrate mastery. History of blended learning Contemporary definitions of blended learning take into account the role that technology can play.
Top 10 Reasons that Blended Learning is Worth the Hype! This is a partial re-post of an article by Catlin Tucker from her blog at CatlinTucker.com Image from learningonlineinfo.org Using an online learning platform, online discussions, and/or work online to complement your class can: 1. Save Time Teachers spend hours each week creating, copying, collating, stapling, and hole punching handouts, assignments and activity sheets for students. 2. Copy machines, ink, paper and repairs cost school districts thousands of dollars annually (monthly for some larger districts). In less fortunate districts, teachers are forced to spend hundreds— if not thousands – of dollars of their own money to supplement classroom resources. Teachers can save money and paper by posting assignments, directions, notes, reading materials online. 3. Online discussions and collaborative group work free teachers from their role as the only source of information and feedback. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Teachers can use the online space to build student relationships. 10.
How Blogs, Social Media, and Video Games Improve Education I've just been reading this interesting publication from the Brookings institution titled How Blogs, Social Media, and Video Games Improve Education. At the beginning of the report there is a quote from Alan Daly, at the University of California at San Diego, who predicts that "Education innovation will shift away from experts and capacity building to focus on networks… We have to start thinking about the expertise that resides in the system, and we have to be connected in order to make use of it. [Education] is moving away from large-scale prescriptive approaches to more individualized, tailored, differentiated approaches.” This is a concept that is dear to my heart – the transformation of our current school system and its focus on the individual 'schoolhouse, into a networked schooling system, with its emphasis on the inherent strength of the network, on collaboration, sharing, synergy etc.
Blended Learning: Combining Face-to-Face and Online Education There's this myth in the brick and mortar schools that somehow the onset of online K-12 learning will be the death of face-to-face (F2F) interaction. However this isn't so -- or at least in the interest of the future of rigor in education, it shouldn't be. In fact, without a heaping dose of F2F time plus real-time communication, online learning would become a desolate road for the educational system to travel. The fact is that there is a purpose in protecting a level of F2F and real-time interaction even in an online program. In education, the components of online and F2F are stronger together than apart. The power is in a Blended Learning equation: Face-to-Face + Synchronous Conversations + Asynchronous Interactions = Strong Online Learning Environment And if distance learning is to have the level of quality that we dream for it, we as educators need to proactively be a part of the Blended Learning that is inevitably coming our way. The Threat Ahead in Teacher Interaction $%#^$^&?!!! 1.
Blended Learning at GrayHarriman.com What is Blended LearningWhy use Blended Learning?How does one create Blended Learning?What medium can be used in Blended Learning? What is Blended Learning? 1. 2. Why use Blended Learning? 1. 2. 3. 4. How does one design Blended Learning? To design blended training, the instructional designers start by analyzing the training or course objectives and braking them down into the smallest possible pedagogically (for children) or andragogically (for adults) appropriate chunks (learning object). After the course or training has been chunked, the best approach to deliver each segment of instruction (learning object) is identified. The course is then aggregated by grouping the instruction logically while taking into account the medium of delivery. What medium can be used in Blended Learning? The medium is not limited to technology and can include: Here is a table that categorizes the type of learning that may be used: What are the challenges of Blended Learning? Blended Learning Resources:
7 Reasons Why Blended Learning Makes Sense SMARTER SCHOOLS | by Michael Spencer Education no longer comes in rows and textbooks, but from a combination of sources. 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. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. If we’re excited and responsible in how we use technology for learning—then, like never before—the future of education is ours to create. Like this: Like Loading...
Beyond blended learning: Reaching every student At the 2010 NCTIES conference in Raleigh, LEARN NC’s Bobby Hobgood delivered a presentation about blended learning. The archived session is available at the following link: Access to the archived session requires Microsoft Silverlight software. About this presentation Presentation title Beyond blended learning: Reaching every student Presenter Bobby Hobgood, LEARN NC — UNC School of Education Target audience Elementary, middle, high, K-12, administration Presentation goals Viewers of this hour-long presentation will learn what blended learning is, why blended learning is important, current research findings about blended learning, a theoretical framework underpinning the value of blended learning, what blended learning “looks like” in a classroom, and ten ways to improve teaching using a blended approach. Presentation abstract Dr. Dr.