This week we read the article Four Models of Blended Learning by the Innosight Institute.
Post your responses to the article and allow these questions to help guide you: what experience do you have with the four models of blended learning? What would you like to try? What have you used in the past? What seems impossible in your setting?
Our next meeting will be held on January 27 at 4:00pm.
It was very nice to meet everyone yesterday.
ReplyDeleteWith the Code.org curriculum, I use the station-rotation model of blended learning. The students come together for full class instruction then move on to an "unplugged activity" and then on to the online learning portion of the lesson.
I would like to try the Lab-Rotation model. I think something like this would work really well with high school and middle school students. I like that it is still pretty structured but that the students also have plenty of individual lab time too.
Then Enriched-Virtual model seems like it would be tough for any students who weren't highly motivated learners. I think even many adults would have a hard time learning with a model like this one!
Kelly Jeffcoat
I don't have much experience with blended learning. I have helped some students take courses online when I worked in high school. In my current position as a middle school librarian, some of my students use Khan Academy which I think is a rotation model since the assignments are given online but most of the learning takes place in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in using blogs in the library to discuss topics with students which I suppose is also a rotation model.
Nothing is impossible. I would like to discuss what I can do with my students in the library using blended learning. I am trying to open up the use of LibGuides to my students and staff which could serve as a reinforcement for various topics they are covering in their classes. Students could also use this site as a creative outlet. This could also fit into rotation model.
Karen Levy
Dear Colleagues,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your experience and ideas at our first meeting. It is a valuable opportunity to learn from each other.
I took a full time online courses using Moodle and EdTech Online Program (via iLearn) and can confess that Enriched-Virtual model requires self-motivation, self-discipline, self-monitoring, self-assessment, etc. I agree with Kelly that this model could be risky for school-age students.
In my teaching practice, I tried Flex model and rotation (individual. For example, we did a Book Club online as I couldn't fit a face to face Book Club in the Library schedule. Last year, I tried Information Literacy course with my Special Ed class using iLearn but it didn't work out. The reason was a content of the course not a choice of modality. Unfortunately, I couldn't find time to adjust or create a new content.
I would like to try other modalities this year and I am glad that I have support from all of you.
Alla Umanskaya
I used Read 180 remedial reading program in the past with my students. It is similar to the rotation model program described in the article. Students were put into 3 groups based on the online pre-test. There was a short whole class instruction in the beginning. Then one group worked with a teacher, one worked independently, and one worked on the computers. Each group rotated, spending 15 minutes each at their station.
DeleteI think that flexible classroom model is not easy to implement. It must be a challenge to manage a big number of students in one room, providing them with instruction in three different subjects, have them appropriately grouped, and design personalized instruction. It requires both great teaching skills and a high level of independent learning skills. It may imply that the positive outcomes of blended learning depend equally on a teacher and a student readiness. I would like to try enriched virtual model in which students work almost solely from home.
Ewa mentioned that a virtual model will allow students work solely from home. Imagine if a snowy blizzard day would happen during a school week and not during weekend what we experienced today-tomorrow (January 23-24). It would be a lost day of instruction and learning. with established online model, when students are trained, the problem of possible loosing instructional time would be completely solved. Everyone can work from home and classes can be conducted virtually syn-chronically. I have read that some states use virtual teaching during snowy days.
ReplyDeleteWhat experience do you have with the four models of blended learning?
ReplyDeleteMy experience with blended learning primarily consists of attempts to complement learning in the classroom and a understandings of current events by using Accelerated Reader and teacher-made articles.
What would you like to try?
I would like to try to increase engagement and self-directed learning outside of the classroom/library, but I'm still not sure what form it would take.
What seems impossible in your setting?
I don't think that a fully flipped setting is possible where in the majority of learning happens independently.