Sharing ideas on Education, Leadership and Life



Monday, December 22, 2014

The Bottom Line

picture: twitter.com

This is an  edited post from a post originally posted in 2013

This is last post in my series on Technology and blended learning and this in a series of educational topics. In previous posts we have discussed differentiation as well as creativity and innovation. I find it interesting tat when you peel away the layers all of these topics have a similar bottom line. I believe that line to be having students engaged  and in control of their learning so that learning is meeting their needs and that it allows for individual creativity and expression.

You cant talk about technology without mentioned blended learning. 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 somee element of student control over time, place, path and/or pace.” 
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 by some schools.

I would like to stop using the term blended learning. For many it has become a buzz word and for some it has become the be all and end all. I would rather look at the bottom line and focus on Student Learning 

We need ask ourselves; How can we maximize: 

  • Learning
  • Engagement
  • Creativity
  • Innovation 
  • Critical Thinking 
While meeting the needs of all of our students. 

It may very well be the blended model accomplishes that and for other schools it may be a 1:1 approach and yet for others it may look like a more traditional approach. 

All of these  are tools to accomplish our goals and my hope is we use these tools and perhaps a combination of these tools so that our students can learn and grow!

No comments:

Post a Comment