Blended Learning

The Definition

Oxford Dictionary Definition Of Blended Learning: a style of education in which students learn via electronic and online media as well as traditional face-to-face teaching.

Another meaning of Blended Learning

Blended learning is an approach to learning that combines face-to-face and online learning experiences. Ideally, each (both online and off) will complement the other by using its particular strength.

Based on the definition above some instruction may happen in:

• Class 
• Online / in a remote teaching environment

So we need to be ready and be prepared to shift from these two environments whether in class or online.

Planning your Blended Learning

1. Prepare your Learning Management System (LMS)
   
   There are plenty of LMS available and free, the most important is the way of using it. It must be well organised and easily navigable. Above all, it should be the exact replicas of our “in-person classroom”. There are so many things that we need to include in our LMS, such as resources, assignment, lesson, worksheets, tutorials …
   
   
2. Flip instruction (flipped classroom
   
   Flipped classroom is where students are introduced to content at home, and practice working through it at school supported by a teacher and/or peers. In this way, traditional roles for each space are ‘flipped.’
   
   
   
   
   
3. Interactive lesson

   
   Of course we need live Video conferencing but there are strategies that we can put in place to insure that the videos conferences are much more engaging and effective. Most of the time during our class time we just talk and students are passively experiencing class.

   So here, it is very important to use different programs that allow students to constantly be engaging of the content of a live video lesson. Some of them are promoting interactivity such as: Padlet, Flipgrid, Kahoot, Nearpod…
   
   
4. Focus on lesson design
   
   

   Strategically sequence lesson

   Use a suit of technology programs matched with goals  

   
   
5. Prepare to teach Students foundational technology skills
   
   

   Nowadays is pretty different from our era where our students as the called “digital natives” are much better than us as a digital immigrant.

   If necessary we can do a pre-assessment bout our digital tools that can support this strategy by asking “which foundational tech skills are necessary to introduce to our students?” 

• Touch typing
• Web navigation
• Search engine: mathematics of Google (introduce the use of good keywords, +, -, finding documents online in easy way)

Types of blended learning

Tools for Blended learning

My favorite Tools

Google classroom: https://classroom.google.com/

Schoology: https://www.schoology.com/

Kiddom: https://www.kiddom.co/

Moodle: https://moodle.org/

IXL: https://www.ixl.com/

ABCYA: https://www.abcya.com/

Flipgrid: https://info.flipgrid.com/

Padlet: https://padlet.com/

Does Blended Learning Work?

Strengths 

Not all students learn the same way. It encourages self-paced learning, providing benefit to both - the slow learners as well as the fast learners (Maniar, 2017).

• Students are actively engaged and they are learning by doing
• It transforms a largely “transmissive” method of teaching into a truly interactive one.
• It promotes independent study.

A 2010 meta-analysis published by the U.S. Department of Education suggests it does. According to the report, students exposed to both face-to-face and online education were more successful than students entirely in one camp or the other.

Limitations 

• Digital literacy skills are needed
• Management of group work
• A potential for some to fall behind.

Sources

• https://www.teachthought.com/learning/the-definition-of-blended-learning/
• https://www.teachthought.com/technology/37-blended-learning-resources-you-can-use-tomorrow/
• https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/the-definition-of-differentiated-instruction/
• http://youtu.be/hvYFToF97RA
• https://videomaker.simpleshow.com/video-technology-enhance-blended-learning/

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