This post was written for our school newsletter
This week OCA hosted a visit from members of the TheAlvo Institute. One of the leading blended learning design
firms in the Nation, and currently works with over 45 Jewish Day Schools through
the Jewish Education Project.Through a generous grant from the Avi Chai Foundation,
the The Alvo Institute will be working with OCA over the next year to develop a
blended learning pilot program in support of OCA’ s vision to provide rigorous
and supportive instruction to help all students thrive. We believe that blending traditional
instruction with the very best of technology enhanced and data driven practices
will help us realize this vision.
According to the Innosight Institute, a primer think tank
looking to apply innovation to education, blended learning is “a formal
education program in which a student learns at least in part through online
delivery of content and instruction with some element of student control over
time, place, path and/or pace.” We will be working with the team at Alvo to
pilot and define what blended learning will look at Ohr Chadash.
Blended learning is an educational approach that combines of
teacher driven instruction and online learning.
To properly differentiate, we need to truly understand each student and
tailor the blended learning program according to their needs.
Rebecca Tomasini, the Founder and CEO of The Alvo Institute,
believes that, “Blended Learning brings together the best from traditional
instruction together with the most relevant and appropriate online and
technology-supported instructional innovations to create a variety of
integrated instructional experiences. In a blended model, teachers and
students make decisions about a student’s instructional experiences based on
close and regular analysis of real time student data.”
According to the Avi Chai Foundation, blended learning makes
individualization and differentiation easier, faster to implement and more
cost-effective”( PEJE : “According To His Way: Blended Learning “;a white paper
about how Jewish Day Schools are using blended learning)
In addition to traditional curriculum, online resources can
open up many new instructional opportunities that otherwise could not be
offered in a smaller school such as OCA. For example, we are working with the
organization BonyimB’Yachad to offer a course in music appreciation to our 6th
and 7th grade girls once a week. If this pilot is successful we are
looking at expand into other creative and interesting opportunities for next
year.
While taking on a new project like blended learning is both
exciting and overwhelming, this educational approach is the means by which OCA
will meet the needs of all of our students and enhance the education at OCA.
