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Commentary

Battles between different philosophical camps in education are nothing new.

Whether it's knowledge vs. skills, memorization vs. project-based learning, small schools vs. comprehensive ones, the debates in education are often framed as a choice between "either-ors."

From John Dewey to Chester E. Finn Jr., countless education researchers have documented the fallacies in these dichotomies and the dangers of being too beholden to an "-ism," as Dewey wrote.

Many educators sense the folly as well. They know that at different times and in different circumstances, different approaches are best for students.

Despite this understanding, teachers are often handcuffed in their ability to steer their way toward a pragmatic middle ground. With limited blocks of time in a public school day and a set curriculum to work their way through, as well as the need to serve many students, each with unique learning needs, teachers must make trade-offs. More of one thing means less of another.

Blended learning-the mix of online and in-school learning-represents a way to break away from the trade-offs mentality, as Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen explains in the foreword to our new book, Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools. (Christensen is also the co-founder, with Michael B. Horn, of the Christensen Institute, where both of us work.)

Done right, blended learning breaks through the barriers of the use of time, place, path to understanding, and pace to allow each student to work according to his or her particular needs-whether that be in a group or alone, on practice problems or projects, online or offline. It preserves the benefits of the old and provides new benefits-personalization, access and equity, and cost control.

The question is how educators can capture these benefits. Blended learning is not inherently good or bad. It is a pathway to student-centered learning at scale to allow each child to achieve his or her fullest potential, but it is not a guaranteed success.

More generally, too many schools have crammed computers into their classrooms over the years-spending many billions of dollars, with little to show for it. It is not unusual to see a district adopt educational technology only to see costs rise and student achievement decline.

So, how to proceed? The first rule is simple, even if it is counterintuitive. Do not start with the technology.

Instead, schools should follow a tried-and-true design process to innovate successfully. The first step is to pick a rallying cry by identifying the problem to solve or the goal to achieve. Some problems relate to serving mainstream students in core subjects, while others arise because of gaps at the margins-where schools cannot offer a particular course, for example. Both areas are worthy of innovation. In either case, though, the problem or goal must not be about technology-such as trying to solve a "lack of devices"-and lead to a deployment of technology for technology's sake.

With the problem or goal identified, it is important to state it in a "SMART" way-specific, measurable, assignable, realistic, and time-related-such that an organization will unambiguously know what success is and if it has been realized.

One common mistake is failing to bring the right people to the table to lead the effort. The result is that teachers are either stuck with tasks beyond their reach or too much bureaucratic oversight. Schools must match the right type of team and the right people to the scope of the problem.

The Milpitas, Calif., school district, for example, has created coordinating teams to support teachers innovating within their classrooms, and brought together heavyweight schoolwide design teams to rethink the very structure of some of their schools.

With the rallying cry in place and the right team organized, it is time to design. The starting point is to look at school from the viewpoint of students to understand what they are trying to accomplish in their lives and thus what motivates them. When leaders get the design right from their pupils' perspective, such that young people feel that school aligns perfectly with the things that matter to them, students arrive in class eager to learn.

This is not to say that educators should not instill certain core knowledge, skills, and dispositions in students, but that to accomplish these objectives seamlessly, schools should be intrinsically motivating. This means not only understanding what students are trying to accomplish, but also understanding the experiences they need to get those jobs done, and then assembling the right resources and integrating them in the right way to deliver those experiences.

We know that teachers are a crucial part of the student experience. But to gain teachers' buy-in, schools must work for teachers as well, which is why designing the teacher experience is the next step. Teachers have personal jobs to do in their lives, and the magic happens when schools offer experiences that are fulfilling for both students and teachers. Ensuring that teachers have opportunities to achieve, receive recognition, exercise responsibility, and advance and grow in their careers is critical. To provide teachers these motivators, institutions using blended learning are experimenting with extending the reach of great teachers, assigning teachers specialized responsibilities, employing team-teaching, awarding micro-credentials for achievement, and granting teachers increased authority.

The next step is the one where technology and devices finally enter the equation. The objective is to design the virtual and physical setup to align with the desired student and teacher experiences.

Some of the important questions that schools should ask when selecting content and software are: Should we build our own? Should we use one or multiple outside providers? Or should we adopt a facilitated-network solution-a platform that integrates modular content from a variety of sources? Considering devices-what type and how many-to match the software and student and teacher experiences is equally important.

Finally, teams should think through the physical environment in which students learn. Will the traditional egg-crate factory-model school design enable students and teachers to be successful? Or is a more modular environment that enables increased customization desirable? Increasing numbers of blended-learning programs are embracing the latter.

From here, it's time to put the vision into action. That means taking the choices from these different steps and piecing together a coherent instructional model.

After a team finishes designing, its work is still not done. Execution matters.

Schools must create the right culture. Blended learning accelerates a good culture and makes it great, but it will also accelerate a bad culture and make it terrible. Schools should also implement their designs with humility and acknowledge that it is unlikely that they will get the design right on the first try. Taking a discovery-driven approach to help school leaders identify and mitigate risks as they kick off a blended-learning program-and iterate accordingly-will help avoid costly mistakes both for students and a school's limited budget.

Blended learning is no panacea. It's a scalable strategy that can break the trade-offs inherent in the traditional school design to allow teachers to reach students in ways never before possible. But for it to work, school leaders must not start with blended learning or technology for its own sake, but instead undertake a careful design process to unlock its potential.

Published in Print: December 10, 2014, as For Blended Learning, Look Beyond the Technology

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Blended Learning Is About More Than Technology

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Commentary Battles between different philosophical camps in education are nothing new. Whether it's knowledge vs. skills, memorization vs. project-based learning, small schools vs. comprehensive ones, the debates in education are often framed as a choice between "either-ors." From John Dewey to Chester E.

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contributed by April Giarla

The teaching landscape is rapidly changing, the technological rise of the 21 st- century and widespread integration of those technologies into our society, combined with access to the internet has integrally changed teaching in just a few years.

Our children and their following generations are already and will continue to grow up in a world that's a stark reminder of how rapidly the human civilization has changed, a society and world where smartphones and tablets are widespread, affordable, and replacing most computers and laptops.

The rapidly changing landscapes should be a marker to show that teaching methods need to evolve to keep up with the times and incorporate integrated technologies into the learning modal, these technologies aren't going to go away, they'll continue to be integrated into our society and it's time to embrace them for the advantages they bring.
What Is Blended Learning?
TeachThought provided a definition of blended learning in the past. Blended Learning is a mixture of learning methods that incorporate multiple teaching modals-most frequently eLearning and traditional face-to-face learning.

Blended learning is a natural development to the growing accessibility of eLearning, online resources, and the continued need for a human component in the learning experience. A blended learning approach ensures that the learner is engaged and driving his or her individual learning experience. This approach also helps cater to the individual needs of the learner, most students have unique learning styles and a blended approach is more likely to cater to those needs than a traditional classroom teaching experience.
Blended Learning Models
You can read more about the different kinds of blended learning models in more depth here. As a quick overview, know that due to its modular design, blended learning can come in numerous shapes and sizes and be personalized to fit the individual. These types of modals can include:

Online - Instruction occurs via an online platform, with periodic face-to-face meetings.

Rotation: Student rotates between self-paced online learning and face-to-face instruction. Schedules are fixed but flexible.

Flex: Most instruction is delivered online, with teachers providing as needed support in small-group settings.

Personalized blend: Teacher designs face-to-face and anywhere, anytime learning options that straddle the physical classroom and virtual spaces. Learning is the constant and time is the variable.

Online lab: Instructions takes place in a brick and mortar lab. Delivered by an online teacher and supervised onsite by paraprofessionals.

Self-blend: Students take online courses to supplement their tradition schools face to face course catalog.

Face-to-face: Teacher offers primarily face-to-face instruction, supplemented with technology in the classroom or computer lab.
Why Is Blended Learning Important?
Blended learning is important because it breaks down the traditional walls of teaching, ones that don't work for all students and now with access to present-day technologies and resources we can tailor the learning experience for each student. Blended learning also offers flexible time frames that can be personalized to each person, offering them the ability to learn at their own pace.
Advantages Of Blended Learning For Teachers
Teaching is less expensive to deliver, more affordable, and saves time.

Blended learning offers flexibility in terms of availability. In other words, blended learning enables the student to access the materials from anywhere at any time while enjoying the benefits of face-to-face support and instruction.

Access to global resources and materials that meet the students' level of knowledge and interest.

Self-pacing for slow or quick learners reduces stress, increases satisfaction, and information retention.

E-learning allows more effective interactions between the learners and their instructors through the use of emails, discussion boards and chat room.

Students have the ability to track their progress.

Students can also learn through a variety of activities that apply to many different learning styles.

E-learning could improve the quality of teaching and learning as it supports face-to-face teaching approaches.

Blended learning also improves other factors for the teacher including:

More engaged students

Better information and feedback on work

Team teaching

Extended time with students

More leadership roles

Focus on deeper learning

Motivate hard to reach kids

New options to teach at home

More earning power

Individualized professional development plans
Improved Teaching Conditions
Blended learning tears down the traditional bricks and mortar approach to teaching, which can improve conditions such as:

Reduced Isolation

More opportunities for collaboration

Meaningful professional development

Better student data

Improved Time efficiency

Role-differentiation
Advantages Of Blended Learning For Students
Increase student interest: when technology is integrated into school lessons, learners are more likely to be interested in, focused on, and excited about the subjects they are studying. Subjects that might be monotonous for some - like math and science, while also increasing information retention.

Keep students focused for longer: The use of computers to look up information & data is a tremendous lifesaver, combined with access to resources such as the internet to conduct research. This engagement and interaction with the resources keeps students focused for longer periods then they would be with books or paper resources, this engagement also helps develop learning through exploration and research.
Provides student autonomy: The use of eLearning materials increases a student's ability to set appropriate learning goals and take charge of his or her own learning, which develops an ability that will be translatable across all subjects.
Instill a disposition of self-advocacy: Students become self-driven and responsible, tracking their individual achievements , which helps develop the ability to find the resources or get the help they need, self-advocating so they can reach their goals.

Promote student ownership: Blended learning instills a sense of 'student ownership over learning' which can be a powerful force propelling the learning, It's this feeling of responsibility that helps the feeling of ownership.

Allow instant diagnostic information and student feedback: The ability to rapidly analyze, review and give feedback to student work, gives the teacher the ability to tailor his teaching methods and feedback for each student while improving time efficiency.

Enables students to learn at their own pace: Due to the flexibility of blended learning and the ability to access internet resources allows students to learn at their own pace, meaning a teacher can help speed up the learning process or give more advanced resources if necessary.

Prepares students for the future: Blended learning offers a multitude of real-world skills, that directly translate into life skills, from:

Research skills

Self-learning

Self-engagement

Helps to develop a 'self-driving force'

Better decision making

Offers a larger sense of responsibility

Computer literacy
Conclusion
All students no matter their age learn differently and teaching methods should reflect this, by designing teaching programs in a way that reaches visual, auditory, and kinetic learners alike.

With the heavy integration of technologies, we'll be able to improve teaching, information retention, engagement, responsibility, and enjoyment. Students never outgrow their learning styles, meaning blended learning is more important than ever, no matter what the industry is, from schools to corporations, from all walks of life.
is a management development firm that delivers top 500 global companies engaging customized learning solutions. Visit StratX Exl at http://stratxcorporate.com/

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contributed by April Giarla The teaching landscape is rapidly changing, the technological rise of the 21 st- century and widespread integration of those technologies into our society, combined with access to the internet has integrally changed teaching in just a few years.

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As one of today's most promising models for learning, blended learning is growing rapidly across the country. But what is blended learning, and how can educators use it to improve student outcomes?

In a blended learning environment, students learn through a combination of online instruction - with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace - and instruction in a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home. There are several different blended models that schools and districts can customize or combine to meet their specific needs.

Blended learning makes it possible to adapt the classroom model to better support both the teachers' ability to differentiate instruction and their more frequent use of data to inform instruction. By connecting the modalities along each student's learning path in a course or subject, educators can then provide their students with an integrated learning experience. This learning model also engages students in ways that they are already accustomed to, thanks to today's technology-driven world and the increasing focus on personalized experiences. It also empowers teachers to be student-centered providers of learning.

One of the reasons blended learning holds great promise is that it magnifies the impact of a single teacher who is responsible for many students, all at different stages of readiness for learning. Educators have been trying to personalize learning and focus on competency for all students for decades. Only now that there are new technology tools that can empower differentiation for all students do teachers have the means to create dynamic individual learning pathways.

With blended learning models, rich data on student competency can be provided to educators in ways never before possible, saving time and effort while simultaneously permitting real-time feedback.

This plethora of data serves as an embedded formative assessment: an essential, ongoing, highly integrated component of the learning process.

Given the competing demands on teachers, leveraging this new influx of data to support their current efforts and better meet the needs of their students is essential. By using the data as assessment "for learning" rather than "of learning," teachers can tailor their instruction to target specific skill or concept deficits. At the same time, students are empowered to continuously assess their own progress, which in turn fosters a greater sense of ownership and responsibility - important habits of mind needed for college and career readiness.

The emergence of these improved adaptive technology systems to support personalized learning is a game-changer, expanding the degree to which instruction can be differentiated. Among the many digital options available, I believe that Achieve3000 is the only solution that delivers a patented, adaptive approach that combines assessment and instruction to deliver effective online differentiated instruction.

The teaching profession is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Policy shifts, new assessments, and increased scrutiny have led to the need for a close inspection of current practices. Blended learning offers a way to maximize the time spent in classrooms by creating additional opportunities for teachers to deliver small-group or individualized instruction, while allowing students to self-direct their learning through digital content. It represents a transformative change in the traditional school model to meet the more rigorous challenges of today's world.

In other words, blended learning is changing the face of PreK-12 education because it is more than a technology fad; it is a fundamental shift in instructional practice that will improve student outcomes for future generations.

This post is adapted from an original article in Achieve3000's 2016 Education Trends Report. Achieve3000 is the leader in online differentiated literacy instruction, serving over two million students worldwide. Based on decades of scientific research, Achieve3000's cloud-based solutions for grades PreK-12 reach students at their individual reading levels to accelerate their learning, improve high-stakes test performance, and prepare them for college and career success.

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As one of today's most promising models for learning, blended learning is growing rapidly across the country. But what is blended learning, and how can educators use it to improve student outcomes?