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The following was written by summer intern Michael O'Neill through Mayor Rob Dolan's office.

Melrose High School library media specialist Tom Scudder and academic facilitator Josh Cristiano feel the new Learning Commons will help further integrate 21st-century education techniques and tools into the everyday learning of Melrose students.

"What we're really moving towards is redefining learning [by] doing things with technology that would be impossible without it," Scudder says.

The Learning Commons, which opened in September, replaces the old resource center.

"Not a lot of high schools have an opportunity to get a brand new educational space of this size, and it's an incredible opportunity for the district," Scudder says.

The new Learning Commons features state-of-the-art technology in the form of a new computer lab and television studio. All computers in the lab are equipped with Adobe Creative Suite, which includes programs such as Photoshop and InDesign, providing additional tools to students. The television studio features entirely new equipment and will be used for the school's television classes and productions.

Cristiano is using the technological capabilities of the Learning Commons for the school's blended learning program, which integrates online and classroom instruction. The Learning Commons were designed with blended learning techniques specifically in mind.

"Blended learning takes the best parts of traditional learning and combines them with the best parts of online learning," Cristiano said. "We get to use massive online courses that are run through colleges such as Harvard, and then as a teacher I build in different sorts of high school checkpoints," such as classroom discussions and inquiry projects.

Cristiano, who is now in his fifth year at Melrose High School, helps facilitate these discussions and organize the online media for students to use. He also researches new software and apps for educational use, and he trains teachers in grades 6-12 in how to use them in the classroom.

Scudder, entering his third year at Melrose High School, supervises the Learning Commons and works closely with Cristiano to develop and modernize the school's approach to education.

"There are important skills that students need to develop in order to be successful in the 21st century, and one of our main roles is helping teachers integrate technology in a more engaging and productive way for students," Scudder says.

While the Learning Commons has high-tech capabilities, there are also areas designated for more traditional education. Semi-open study spaces provide students a quiet place to study in groups. Several classrooms line the perimeter of the commons, including a double classroom that allows a teacher to combine two separate classes for collaborative purposes and a classroom with an enormous whiteboard that spreads across three walls and makes sharing information between students easier.

As the weeks go by, Scudder and Cristiano expect students to become more familiar with the Learning Commons and put all of its available tools to use.

"We haven't even begun to scratch the surface of what we can do in here," says Scudder.

Student tech leaders will be taught about the various capabilities of the Learning Commons and can then show fellow students how to use them, which should bring in more and more students to take advantage of the tools being offered.

"I really envision students taking ownership of this place," Scudder says.

Scudder and Cristiano are excited about the way the Learning Commons has turned out and what it will mean for Melrose High.

"I'm really glad the city voted to give kids the opportunity," Scudder says.

"We are so excited to use this place to bring the best teaching practices into Melrose," added Cristiano. "We have a 21st-century space so that we can do some 21st-century learning."

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Learning Commons staff pleased with new space

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The following was written by summer intern Michael O'Neill through Mayor Rob Dolan's office.Melrose High School library media specialist Tom Scudder and academic facilitator Josh Cristiano feel the new Learning Commons will help further integrate 21st-century education techniques and tools into the everyday learning of Melrose students."What we're really moving towards is redefining learning [by] doing things with technology that would be impossible without it,

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Dave and I created a google site template for my hybrid health students.They will use the template to create an E-portfolio showcasing what they learned during the class.

https://sites.google.com/a/isd624.org/health-class-e-portfolio/

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Language Arts & Media: Working Together to Help Students be Better Researchers 

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Language Arts & Media: Working Together to Help Students be Better Researchers 

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https://docs.google.com/a/isd624.org/document/d/1Dom8kiO1USlI8FNjVx-7YeA_Ap0JlemkvDY9BREnTTU/edit?usp=sharing

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Blended Learning

Using Websites and Videos to Support Hybrid Programs

This is the second in a series of articles describing 10 ways teachers at White Bear Lake High School - South Campus and the school library are working together to enhance learning in hybrid classes. (The first installment is available here.) Hybrid courses can provide new, exciting and effective learning experiences. They also provide flexibility in terms of time and place of study. We have hundreds of students visiting the school library each week who benefit from the resources and the help of our staff. One of the first things we did was develop a hybrid course website and hybrid orientation video.

Hybrid Helper Website
The Hybrid Helper website is designed to be a "one stop shop" for students to assess their readiness for hybrid classes along with information and links to develop their independent study skills. Here is a brief description of each of the Hybrid Helpers sections.

White Bear Lake High School's Hybrid Helper site is designed to be a "one stop shop" for students to assess their readiness for hybrid classes along with information and links to develop their independent study skills.

Hybrid Home
This section includes a definition of hybrid learning with a description of how hybrid learning was started and its current and future growth. For example, a 2011 Pew survey found that approximately 77 percent of the nation's higher education institutions offered online courses. Also provided are links to several self-assessments to help students decide if they are ready to take a hybrid class. Finally, four essential questions used by the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee are posted to help students determine their chances of success in a hybrid class.

Program Description
This section provides an overview of White Bear Lake Area High School's commitment to providing hybrid learning experiences for students. In addition, student expectations are described in detail. Emphasis is placed on making sure students know they will need to work as hard in this course as they would in a traditional face-to-face course. Among the expectations are: checking Schoology, the learning management system (LMS), often before class meetings, scheduling regular times for online activities, being an active participant and completing all readings and activities on time.

From reading The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, we included student and teacher checklists to make sure essential procedures are completed. Adding student checklists helps prevent missing assignments and activities and promotes effective communication. Among the checklist items are: contact and course information, communication methods, policies, assignments, grading and technical and Schoology requirements.

Student Resources
This section provides an overview of active listening techniques such as being non-judgmental, giving undivided attention and using silence effectively. Also included is a description of the seven norms of collaboration from The Center on Education covering topics like: posing questions and putting ideas on the table. There are tips regarding online etiquette or "netiquette" for interaction with other students and teachers online. For instance, spell checking and considering tone before posting.

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university of vermont center for teaching & learning

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Using Websites and Videos to Support Hybrid Programs -- THE Journal

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Blended Learning This is the second in a series of articles describing 10 ways teachers at White Bear Lake High School - South Campus and the school library are working together to enhance learning in hybrid classes. (The first installment is available here.) Hybrid courses can provide new, exciting and effective learning experiences.

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Learning & the Library

How the School Library Helps Build Strong Blended Classes

White Bear Lake Area High School - South Campus is in its third of year of offering a variety of hybrid or blended classes from economics to health/physical education. This suburban St. Paul school of 11th and 12th graders is committed to providing blended in-class and independent study. With more than 265 students in nine hybrid classes coming to the school library and learning commons, there is a wealth of opportunities to work together. As Michael Wesch states, "to connect, organize, share and collaborate,... we have to move from knowledgeable - that is just knowing a bunch of stuff - to being actually knowledge-able; that's being able to find sort, analyze, criticize, and ultimately create new information and knowledge."

This is the first in a series of articles describing 10 ways White Bear Lake High School teachers and the school library are working together to enhance learning in hybrid or blended classes. There are many roles being played by teacher librarians in working with traditional and hybrid classes including: blended librarian, instructional designer, resource linker and teacher/subject matter expert. We are striving to incorporate all these in building strong hybrid classes. In future installments we'll cover hybrid orientation, deep Web online lessons, Web 2.0 applications and ELL hybrid classes.

Learning Commons: Collaboration Stations
For both hybrid and traditional classes our goal is to go beyond offering great reads and distributing textbooks to building and maintaining strong helping relationships with our students and staff. With so many hybrid students spending their out-of-class time in the media center, it made sense to rethink the design and layout of the library. We wanted to, as Scott Bennett puts it, "foster a culture of intentional learning."

Bear Commons

One of our first projects was to begin the process of transforming the library into a learning commons. Since our book club visited the University of Minnesota Rochester Library and Information Commons, we had a pretty good idea of how we wanted the library to look. The U of M Rochester has at least a half a dozen areas with comfy chairs and high tables that gave it the feel of a bistro/info center.

My principal, Tim Wald, and I also toured the high school media center in Chaska, MN to get a better idea of how flexible seating is being used there. Then we met with representatives from several commercial furniture companies. This resulted in a plan to add a commons area to the entrance to the library, which we affectionately called the "front porch." With ample space in the corridor at the front to the library, it was possible to incorporate booths, comfy chairs and ottomans that students can arrange to work in groups.

In addition, we discarded more than a thousand old professional development and nonfiction books. This made it possible to tweak the layout of the book shelves to accommodate more commons areas in the library. We added several high tables and chairs in the library with more comfy chairs with writing tablets. We also purchased about a dozen essay chairs. These are student desks that have swivel seats, caster wheels and writing tablets. They are very flexible and great for individual and small group work. In an instant, students can create a space to collaborate. Also added were several more quiet areas to give students a place to work independently without interruptions.

We added several high tables and chairs in the library with more comfy chairs with writing tablets.

With the front porch completed, we had a "Name that Space" contest, where students could go to our library Web site and enter their suggestions. The winning name for the area was The Bear Commons.

We have also made space for teacher work areas in the library. There are five workstations for teachers to work outside the classroom, meet with their hybrid students and also work with colleagues to plan and develop lessons.

Collaboration Stations:
Collaboration Stations are designed to make it easier for students to present and work with each other in small and larger groups, "transforming passive meeting areas into dynamic team spaces." Betsy Habich, administrative operations manager at Northeastern University Libraries, says, "We are excited the library is able to offer this innovative way to support student collaboration. In a shared digital information environment growing richer by the day, libraries need to include facilities that support research and creativity in new and exciting ways."

The collaboration stations are ideal for group work because everyone can plug in their Chromebooks or laptops and take turns displaying their screens on the monitor.

We believe this applies to our high school library as well.The Collaboration Stations in our library enable students to display the screens on their Chromebooks and other devices to a large monitor. The stations are ideal for group work because everyone can plug in their Chromebooks or laptops and take turns displaying their screens on the monitor. We use Chromecast, VGA or HDMI connectors to connect to the monitors. The collaboration station housed in our media office will accommodate up to six users with additional seating for up to eight essay chairs so that as many as 12 students can meet at one time.

Our first project was with our hybrid American Government class where students completed the "I Side With.com" survey. Using the "I Side With" site, students can take a simple survey covering eight categories and be presented with a list showing how their specific interests and beliefs match up with each candidate. Each student completed the online questionnaire independently. Once the students had finished, they recorded their results in their journals and prepared for online discussions.

Two American Democracy classes used the large collaboration station to share Google presentations. After each groups had finished, they reviewed their summaries with the entire class. Hybrid students have also accessed their shared Google documents to have a complete record of their meetings.

The new collaboration stations and the learning commons were acquired with our district, building, and library sharing the cost. We are continuing to work with staff and students to make decisions about types of space and furniture needed for quiet work and group activities for traditional and hybrid classes. We plan to expand the collaboration stations as students become more familiar with the technology.

About the Author

David Olson is a media specialist at White Bear Lake Area High School - South Campus in White Bear Lake, MN.

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the role of the school library in blended learning

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How the School Library Helps Build Strong Blended Classes -- THE Journal

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Learning & the Library White Bear Lake Area High School - South Campus is in its third of year of offering a variety of hybrid or blended classes from economics to health/physical education. This suburban St. Paul school of 11th and 12th graders is committed to providing blended in-class and independent study.

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Sustainability Co-Project with  Carl Åhlander Allvar Gullstrandsgymnasiet, Landskrona, Sweden. 

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Sustainability Co-Project with  Carl Åhlander Allvar Gullstrandsgymnasiet, Landskrona, Sweden. 

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Looking for the right mix of face-to-face instruction with technology-mediated activities? Find tips and resources for structuring learning across a range of blended-learning models.

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Looking for the right mix of face-to-face instruction with technology-mediated activities? Find tips and resources for structuring learning across a range of blended-learning models.