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Edgenuity Inc. 8860 E. Chaparral Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85250

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As school districts look for ways to give their students a personalized learning experience without expanding their budgets, blended learning can be an effective option. This approach to schooling combines face-to-face instruction with online learning and has yielded strong results since officially being researched as an education strategy. In fact, according to a 2010 study from the U.S. Department of Education, blended learning classes produce statistically better results than their face-to-face, non-hybrid equivalents. This may be partly due to the fact that this rapidly growing model not only increases the flexibility and individualization of student learning experiences, but also allows teachers to expand the time they spend as facilitators of learning. Schools make the switch to blended learning for a variety of reasons. In addition to considering the age of the students, the reasons for choosing a blended model generally dictate which of the six models they choose to implement:
1) Face-to-Face Driver Model
Of all the blended learning models, face-to-face driver is the closest to a typical school structure. With this approach, the introduction of online instruction is decided on a case-by-case basis, meaning only certain students in a given class will participate in any form of blended learning. The face-to-face driver approach allows students who are struggling or working above their grade level to progress at their own pace using technology in the classroom.

Some schools have also found this model to be a helpful way to engage English language learners (ELL), who sometimes fall behind not because they are incapable of understanding a concept, but because they're not native speakers. A 2009 study of the Round Rock Independent School District in Texas found that the math and reading test scores of third and fifth grade ELLs increased following the implementation of blended learning and the use of interactive whiteboards.
2) Rotation Model
In this form of blended learning, students rotate between different stations on a fixed schedule - either working online or spending face-to-face time with the teacher. The rotational model is more widely used in elementary schools - 80 percent of elementary schools in California that use blended learning follow the rotational model - because many are already set up to have students rotate between stations.

In a case study of IDEA Public Schools in Texas published by DreamBox Learning, the rotational model of blended learning was determined to be an effective means of increasing the achievement of students in this Title 1 School. IDEA students rotated between learning labs, where they used intelligent adaptive learning software to learn math concepts, and a traditional classroom. The result? Students became more active learners and often challenged themselves to work harder and learn material that had not yet been introduced in their math classroom.
3) Flex Model
Schools who are supporting a large number of non-traditional or at-risk students often choose the flex model of blended learning. With this approach, material is primarily delivered online. Although teachers are in the room to provide on-site support as needed, learning is primarily self-guided, as students independently learn and practice new concepts in a digital environment. The flex model is an approach used by the AdvancePath Academy, a blended learning school, which works with school district partners to address the needs of students with behavioral, academic and/or socio-economic challenges.

Students at AdvancePath spend most of their time in a computer lab learning online. However, certified teachers are also on-site to work with students on reading and writing, lead small-group work, and provide help as needed. More than 90 percent of students enrolled at AdvancePath either graduate from high school, transfer to other schools to complete their studies, or are on track for graduation. These are promising results, considering that only three out of 10 students who drop out of high school manage to earn a degree by age 25.
4) Online Lab Model
As schools face increasingly tighter resource constraints, the online lab model of blended learning is a viable option for helping students complete courses, including those not offered at the specific school site. In this scenario, students learn entirely online but travel to a dedicated computer lab to complete their coursework. Adults supervise the lab, but they are not trained teachers. This not only allows schools to offer courses for which they have no teacher or not enough teachers, but also allows students to work at a pace and in a subject area that suits them without affecting the learning environment of other students.

In a case study published by DreamBox Learning, the Inner City Education Foundation demonstrated how vital online lab programs can be for school districts facing budgetary and resource shortfalls. The ICEF Vista Elementary Academy in Los Angeles faced significant state funding cuts in 2010, so school leaders instituted learning labs in an attempt to give students quality digital learning experiences because they had fewer teachers. The result? Students in need of intervention had more face time with teachers and the school's second and third graders demonstrated improved math skills.
5) Self-Blend Model
Popular in high schools, the self-blend model of blended learning gives students the opportunity to take classes beyond what is already offered at their school. While these individuals will attend a traditional school environment, they also opt to supplement their learning through online courses offered remotely. In order for this method of blended learning to be successful, students must be highly self-motivated. Self-blend is ideal for the student who wants to take additional Advanced Placement courses, or who has interest in a subject area that is not covered in the traditional course catalog.
6) Online Driver Model
At the opposite end of the spectrum from face-to-face driver we have online driver, which is a form of blended learning in which students work remotely and material is primarily delivered via an online platform. Although face-to-face check-ins are optional, students can usually chat with teachers online if they have questions. This model of blended learning is ideal for students who need more flexibility and independence in their daily schedules. This approach is becoming increasingly popular - each year, the number of students participating in online driver programs increases by about 15 percent.

Which blended learning model have you been using to improve the education of your students? Share your stories with us!

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6 Models of Blended Learning - DreamBox Learning

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As school districts look for ways to give their students a personalized learning experience without expanding their budgets, blended learning can be an effective option. This approach to schooling combines face-to-face instruction with online learning and has yielded strong results since officially being...Read more ›

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Teacher will create different online learning stations for developing grammar skills, vocabulary, literary terms, poetry exercises, short stories. Students will rotate to different stations online to complete teacher assigned activities. Students may complete at own pace either at school or at home.

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Teacher will discuss the Pythagorean Theorem with students. They will then use a website to further explore and solve situations

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Create a comic strip to explain a concept

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Create a comic strip to explain a concept

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(Passion-Based Learning)

Here are some free sites....

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In the days of cold, hard newsprint, only people who could draw were successful comic strip authors. In some cases, this resulted in comic strips that had very nice pictures, but weren't all that funny (cough, Blondie). Thankfully, the Internet has taught us not to accept an inferior form of comic artistry, but a more flexible one.

Comic strip enthusiasts who want funny but don't care about pretty drawing can have their strips, those who want artistry have theirs, and even those with very specific tastes can find something just right.

The best part about these developments is that they allow you, regardless of any talent as an artist or comedian, to create your very own comic strip. Depending on what you're going for, you can use one of these six sites to help you do it.

MakeBeliefsComix.com is easy enough for children to use, but there are enough options for adults to get a message across, too. Users can choose from 25 characters to fill a two-, three-, or four-paneled comic strip. Currently, the site supports typing in seven different languages. There are plans to add Chinese, Japanese, and Korean characters in the future.

One limiting factor is color. Though you can choose a background color, the characters remain black and white. If you're planning on printing your comic strip, this could be a good opportunity to pull out the old-fashioned box of crayons. But if you're planning on sharing it online, it's a bit restricting.

The pre-set options that make the site so easy to use can also be slightly limiting. Your comic strips will look pretty generic. There are only about four different expressions for each character. The upside of this is that you can finish a perfectly respectable online comic in about 10 minutes.

The creator, Bill Zimmerman, is the author of 18 books - including Make Beliefs: A Gift For Your Imagination. "My hope is that by giving you a choice of characters with different moods and the chance to write words and thoughts for them," he writes on the site, "you will tap into your creativity and explore new possibilities."

If there's any company that knows what it takes to build great comics, Marvel Characters does. So it's no surprise that its DIY comic site is pretty awesome, considering its simplicity.

Features that make it awesome include choices for different styles of panels (not into boxes? try zig zags), the set-up for creating up to a 22-page comic book, and the Photoshop-esque tool dock that moves around the page. Your character choices include the stars of the Super Hero Squad Show, including The Hulk, Falcon, and Wolverine.

The site does have some rough patches. If you're hoping to create an original-looking comic strip, you're out of luck, because you are limited to Marvel characters. There are a measly five options for objects, and you can't change the background. With no option to save your work on the site, it's also unlikely you'll be completing a full 22-page comic book in one sitting.

This is the comic strip creation website for artists. The site allows for as much customization as possible without the need to build from scratch. Instead of just choosing the color of a character's shirt, for instance, there are options to adjust the collar, shape, sleeves and size of the shirt. Instead of relying on preset poses and emotions for each character, users are able to click and drag character limbs into new postures and can customize eyes, ears, noses and hairstyles. It's also convenient to add images from Flickr or Google images.

Successful comics vie every day for a spot in the prestigious Pixton top 10.

ToonDoo hits the fine balance between creative versatility and user friendliness, ensuring that the final results look sharp. While there's still an extensive library of characters and objects to use in your comic strip, there are also tools to create your own touches. The TraitR tool allows you to create custom characters and DoodlR lets you paint freely. If you want to use your own photos or another image in your comic strip, you can manipulate it through the ImagineR photo tool.

Unlike other sites, there's an option to save your project mid-creation so that you can come back to it later. When you finish a handful of ToonDoos, you can compile a book. It's easy to embed individual cartoons in a website or share them over networks, and you can buy print-quality images of your favorites.

The stoic characters of Strip Generators lend themselves to sarcastic commentary. There's not a whole lot of opportunity to create a personal style - you need to work with what the site gives you - but that doesn't mean you can't be creative. The community topic-themed galleries are testimony to this (check out the current theme, " Autumn").

One unique capability is adjustable frames. If you need a specific cell to be a bit wider or longer, you can just drag the wall. Another stand-out trait is the personal library. When you tweak an image to get it just right, you can save it to use again later.

Pikistrips takes your photos (er..."Pikis?") and turns them into comic strips. Once you upload your favorites into a customizable comic cell format, you're free to add text bubbles, speech bubbles and objects. The object gallery is pretty extensive, and its contents aren't random. Many of the categories - like hairstyles, hats, mustaches, scars, and tattoos - wouldn't be much fun without using your own photos as a canvas. If you miss the cartoon look, you can apply the "comic" effect to your photo or choose from seven others.

All in all, this site is fun for tweaking your photos (also see the related Pikipimp.com), but is intended to boost the company's custom printing business (you guessed it, "pikiprint"). On the other hand, if you want a custom mouse pad, bag or cup with your photocomic on it, this aspect works nicely.

More Design Resources from Mashable:

- Top 5 Web Font Design Trends to Follow
- 6 New Mac Apps for Designers and Developers
- 5 Free Resources for Learning Photoshop
- 10 Captivating Time-Lapse Design Videos
- 10 Stories Beautifully Told with Animated Typography [VIDEOS]

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6 Free Sites for Creating Your Own Comics

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In the days of cold, hard newsprint, only people who could draw were successful comic strip authors. In some cases, this resulted in comic strips that had very nice pictures, but weren't all that funny (cough, Blondie). Thankfully, the Internet has taught us not to accept an inferior form of comic artistry, but a more flexible one.

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Instructor will discuss beef breeds. Students will investigate and discuss which breeds would be best for their agriculture projects. Students will list three points of why they chose that breed over other breeds.

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Seven Essentials for Project Based Learning

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Seven Essentials for Project Based Learning

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As Ms. McIntyre walked around her high school science classroom, she plopped a packet of papers on each student's desk and announced a "project." Each student would create a poster about a water-borne bacterium that can be harmful to humans, the bacterium's effects, and disease prevention and treatment. The handouts included an assignment sheet with due dates and grading policy, a guide for designing the poster, and a list of websites and books. The teacher would display the best posters.

Sound familiar? When you were in school, did you make posters, dioramas, and models of buildings or volcanoes? If you are a teacher, have you asked students to research a topic and present information with PowerPoint slides? These are all-too-common examples of the kind of meaning-lite assignments that teachers bill as projects. A classroom filled with student posters may suggest that students have engaged in meaningful learning. But it is the process of students' learning and the depth of their cognitive engagement-rather than the resulting product-that distinguishes projects from busywork.

A project is meaningful if it fulfills two criteria. First, students must perceive the work as personally meaningful, as a task that matters and that they want to do well. Second, a meaningful project fulfills an educational purpose. Well-designed and well-implemented project-based learning is meaningful in both ways.

As educators with the Buck Institute for Education, we provide professional development to help schools set up a sustained program of in-depth project-based learning throughout a district, network, or state. In our work with teachers, we have identified seven essential elements of meaningful projects. Let's look at each element by considering what the fictional Ms. McIntyre could have done to create a meaningful project instead of handing out prepared packets.

Imagine that on the first day of the infectious disease unit, Ms. McIntyre showed a video depicting a beautiful beach, which ended with a shot of a sign reading, "Beach Closed: Contaminated Water." Suppose watching this video led to a lively (and sometimes disgusting) discussion in which students shared their experiences with suspicious water quality, discussed times when beaches had been closed and why, and talked about how much pollution bothered them. The teacher could then introduce the project by telling students that they would be learning more about ocean pollution and proposing actions to combat it.

Teachers can powerfully activate students' need to know content by launching a project with an "entry event" that engages interest and initiates questioning. An entry event can be almost anything: a video, a lively discussion, a guest speaker, a field trip, or a piece of mock correspondence that sets up a scenario. In contrast, announcing a project by distributing a packet of papers is likely to turn students off; it looks like a prelude to busywork.

Many students find schoolwork meaningless because they don't perceive a need to know what they're being taught. They are unmotivated by a teacher's suggestion that they should learn something because they'll need it later in life, for the next course, or simply because "it's going to be on the test." With a compelling student project, the reason for learning relevant material becomes clear: I need to know this to meet the challenge I've accepted.

After the discussion about beach pollution, Ms. McIntyre led students in brainstorming possible solutions, such as enacting laws, designing better waste-treatment systems, and raising public awareness about the need to reduce contaminants. Students created a driving question to focus their efforts, focusing on a specific local area: How can we reduce the number of days Foster's Beach is closed because of poor water quality?

A good driving question captures the heart of the project in clear, compelling language, which gives students a sense of purpose and challenge. The question should be provocative, open-ended, complex, and linked to the core of what you want students to learn. It could be abstract (When is war justified?); concrete (Is our water safe to drink?); or focused on solving a problem (How can we improve this website so that more young people will use it?).

A project without a driving question is like an essay without a thesis. Without a thesis statement, a reader might be able to pick out the main point a writer is trying to make; but with a thesis statement, the main point is unmistakable. Without a driving question, students may not understand why they are undertaking a project. They know that the series of assigned activities has some connection with a time period, a place, or a concept. But if you asked, "What is the point of all these activities?" they might only be able to offer, "Because we're making a poster."

Once her students' interest was piqued by a challenging question, Ms. McIntyre explained the requirements for the "Don't Close the Beach" project, which included an individually written paper, an oral presentation of students' work accompanied by media technology, and a product of students' choice created by teams. Students chose to develop media kits, public service announcements, web pages, brochures, and letters to government and industry officials, among other products.

This element of project-based learning is key. In terms of making a project feel meaningful to students, the more voice and choice, the better. However, teachers should design projects with the extent of student choice that fits their own style and students.

On the limited-choice end of the scale, learners can select what topic to study within a general driving question or choose how to design, create, and present products. As a middle ground, teachers might provide a limited menu of options for creative products to prevent students from becoming overwhelmed by choices. On the "the more, the better" end of the scale, students can decide what products they will create, what resources they will use, and how they will structure their time. Students could even choose a project's topic and driving question.

Once Ms. McIntyre's students had decided on actions that would help them respond to their driving question, they got to work. Collaboration was central to the project. Students formed teams of three or four and began planning what tasks they would do and how they would work together.

As they worked, each team regularly paused to review how well they were collaborating and communicating, using rubrics they had developed with the teacher's guidance. To boost collaboration skills, Ms. McIntyre used role-playing and team-building activities. She showed students how to use time and task organizers. They practiced oral presentation skills and learned to produce videos and podcasts. In writing journals, students reflected on their thinking and problem-solving processes, which they knew they would need to explain in their oral presentation.

A project should give students opportunities to build such 21st century skills as collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and the use of technology, which will serve them well in the workplace and life. This exposure to authentic skills meets the second criterion for meaningful work-an important purpose. A teacher in a project-based learning environment explicitly teaches and assesses these skills and provides frequent opportunities for students to assess themselves.

After their discussion about encounters with pollution, in addition to choosing a driving question, Ms. McIntyre's students as a whole class generated a list of more detailed questions about diseases, bacteria and their effects, and sources of water contamination. Questions included, What diseases can you get from water? Do you have to drink it to get sick? and Where do bacteria come from? The teams fine-tuned their questions and discussed how to find answers from the teacher, books, articles, websites, experts, and visits to Foster's Beach.

As these learners found answers, they raised and investigated new questions. Students synthesized the information they gathered and used it both to inform their individually written papers on the driving question and to help create their team's product related to that question.

Students find project work more meaningful if they conduct real inquiry, which does not mean finding information in books or websites and pasting it onto a poster. In real inquiry, students follow a trail that begins with their own questions, leads to a search for resources and the discovery of answers, and often ultimately leads to generating new questions, testing ideas, and drawing their own conclusions. With real inquiry comes innovation-a new answer to a driving question, a new product, or an individually generated solution to a problem. The teacher does not ask students to simply reproduce teacher- or textbook-provided information in a pretty format.

To guide students in real inquiry, refer students to the list of questions they generated after the entry event. Coach them to add to this list as they discover new insights. The classroom culture should value questioning, hypothesizing, and openness to new ideas and perspectives.

As they developed their ideas and products, student teams critiqued one another's work, referring to rubrics and exemplars. Ms. McIntyre checked research notes, reviewed rough drafts and plans, and met with teams to monitor their progress.

Formalizing a process for feedback and revision during a project makes learning meaningful because it emphasizes that creating high-quality products and performances is an important purpose of the endeavor. Students need to learn that most people's first attempts don't result in high quality and that revision is a frequent feature of real-world work.

In addition to providing direct feedback, the teacher should coach students in using rubrics or other sets of criteria to critique one another's work. Teachers can arrange for experts or adult mentors to provide feedback, which is especially meaningful to students because of the source.

In Ms. McIntyre's class, teams presented their analyses of water contamination issues and proposals for addressing the problem at an exhibition night. The invited audience included parents, peers, and representatives of community, business, and government organizations. Students answered questions and reflected on how they completed the project, next steps they might take, and what they gained in terms of knowledge and skills-and pride.

Schoolwork is more meaningful when it's not done only for the teacher or the test. When students present their work to a real audience, they care more about its quality. Once again, it's "the more, the better" when it comes to authenticity. Students might replicate the kinds of tasks done by professionals-but even better, they might create real products that people outside school use.

The hypothetical project described here was inspired by a real project, "Media Saves the Beach," carried out by students at High Tech High in San Diego, California. In this real-life project, students worked alongside established local groups to advocate cleaner seashores. Several government agencies eventually came through with funding for water monitoring at local beaches.

In truth, one of the products students created was a poster. What made that poster different from the meaning-lite one Ms. McIntyre assigned? The High Tech High students chose to do their poster because it was an effective way to communicate their message at Exhibition Night-and the team stood nearby to explain it. To create the poster, students engaged in an extended process of inquiry, critique, and revision. They learned important things in the process. In short, even a poster can be meaning-heavy if it's part of a project embodying the seven essential elements of project-based learning.

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Seven Essentials for Project-Based Learning

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Some "projects" border on busywork. Others involve meaningful inquiry that engages students' minds.

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Teacher will instruct the students on the human body and connection points. Students will use the assembly and disassembly app to see how the bones of the body connects. Depth of Knowledge visible by photography of connection points and/or competition of the assembly of the human body.

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-Poe profile page

-Biography PowerPoint

-Facebook template for novel character

-Lab safety PowerPoint video

-Research historical ballads and then create

a ballad reflecting current times

-Create a model of an element on the

Periodic Table

-After reading Julius Caesar, students will

compose a speech

using either Antony's rhetorical strategies

or Brutus' direct, plain language

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7 things you should know about flipped classroom

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7 things you should know about flipped classroom

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Flipped learning takes what is normally taught in the classroom and requires students learn it at home. Class time is reserved for higher level thinking activities and projects.

Students watch video and take notes at home on photosynthesis.  In class they work in groups on an inquiry project looking at effects of different substances on the rate of photosynthesis.

Students listen to the story at home and hold a group discussion on literary elements in class.

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Teacher will lecture on French revolution/Students will then research key players in Revolution and share images,details of their lives,before,during,and after.Students will then debate results of Revolution for France,England, and German States.

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Pick a controversial social issue and have the students pick the topic they want to write about.

Create a project about anything the students want. (ex- Powerpoint, research paper, movie, etc..)

Have students with the same passions develop a collaborative project.

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Students learn about function families and then create a Facebook profile page for each function type using a PPT template

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Blended Learning

Flipped Classrooms

Project Based Learning

Problem Based Learning

Passion Based Learning