Week 6 Blended Learning Environments

It’s week six and today I will be discussing blended learning environments.

                Blended learning is a relatively new topic in education and many classrooms around the U.S. are putting its benefits to use.  In my graduate level instructional technology class, I have already been a part of a blended learning environment.  My class is usually in person with direct teacher instruction but for one of our days we had a completely online class.  As well as experiencing an online class, most of our resources are found online through a University of Akron program called, Brightspace.  My class somewhat operates like this:

1.       Direct instruction

2.       Utilizing online resources

3.       Class Discussion

4.       Direct instruction

5.       Conclusion

6.       On your own/continue instruction/reflection

This classroom example is basically blended learning summed up.  In one educational video, it describes blended learning as the integration of brick and mortar learning and personally paced learning while creating an active and collaborative environment.  The only con of blended learning that I have experienced in my graduate class is students that benefit more from direct instruction and complete guidance from a teacher will have a harder transition because blended learning cooperatively shares the responsibly of learning with all rather then it all just being on the teacher.

I believe with today’s student, blended learning is a must.  In my opinion, I believe that we have somewhat coddled today’s student with regards to the learning process and this isn’t necessarily bad as long as there is an answer, which for this example would be a blended learning environment.  Technology has drastically increased the speed at which students send and receive information which I believe has created a new type of student then there was before this technology boom.  As with many topics I have discussed, there is a time a place for all this new technology, but it must not be overused.  I believe blended learned definitely has a place with today’s student because a teacher now has the ability to give the students learning responsibility which allows the teacher to work in smaller groups and focus more on individuals. 

One educator that I learned about in my graduate class is Stacy Hawthorne and she created a video/podcast titled Building Blended Learning Environments.  One great point I took away from this is Ms. Hawthorne states, “blended learning is more than electronic textbooks and productivity tools. It means inventing and adopting new learning environments that work better for teachers and students.”  This will impact my own learning because I will now try and understand what it is about the lesson that is most beneficial when being presented in a blended learning model. 

Another topic in Ms. Hawthorne’s video that I felt I connected with was the “10 Drivers of Blended Learning”.

In the topic she explained that the main goal of blended learning is to make learning more personal and not just in the sense of having lots of content to cover everyone’s interests but rather allowing the students to explore while the teacher is able to guide and focus on smaller groups of students.   

That’s all for this week! #staytuned