Next Generation Learning Challenges - NGLC

How student empowerment drives blended learning and other tips from experts in the field Blended learning can lead to student agency — the enabling of informed, empowered learning — when it gives students choices about what, where, when, and how they learn. A group experts* recently shared blended learning strategies in Next Generation Learning Challenge’s #NGLCchat on student agency. (NGLC’s founding partners include The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is also a funder of The Hechinger Report). Their ideas follow. Blended learning leads to student agency when it is about the learner, not the technology, the test, or even the school, but when it reaches ALL students. Education consultant Chris Watkins has identified performance-focused practices he calls “space invaders” because they take up space in the classroom that should be devoted to learning practices. Classrooms that engage in blended learning practices free up time and space for students to be true agents of their learning. Blended learning facilitates active, authentic student roles.