Now that we have discussed online learning, let's turn our attention to blended learning. Online learning certainly has a place in customized learning, but it isn't all about putting a student on a computer and just giving them screen time. They need collaboration and communication. Sometimes, they need some direct instruction and classroom discussion.

Unit Outcomes

• Understand how to blend classroom learning, using what is best for learners.

Read & View

View - ‘Blended Learning”
Read “Using a Web-Based Course Management Tool to Support Face-to-Face Instruction”
Read “Design and Delivery Principles”
Read “Arriving at a Definition of Learning”
Read/View “A School Built on Personalization”
View “Blended Learning: Making it Work in Your Classroom”
Read “27 Tips to Set Up Your Blended Learning Classroom”
Read “6 Ways Teachers Are Using Blended Learning”
Read “Becoming a Blended Learning Teacher: The Changing Role of the Classroom Educator”
Read “Classifying K–12 Blended Learning”

Assignments

1. After having read and viewed all the materials above, what is your definition of blended learning? What do you believe about this approach? How can you see it playing out in your classroom? Remember, it will look different in a lower elementary classroom than it will in high school. Write a couple of paragraphs answering these questions and summarizing your thoughts on the resources. Email Sherry.Crofut@USiouxFalls.edu

2. You already have an online class set up, show me how you would use it with a blended approach. You can either send me a lesson plan or write it in a narrative, I need to know why you are doing it this way - why you chose certain parts for certain delivery. Email Sherry.Crofut@USiouxFalls.edu.

3. I want you to do some research into how you can use the blended learning approach to meet the needs of all the students in your class. What strategies will you have to use to make them all successful? What are some of the obstacles you may face? What about the technology or lack of technology? What are the benefits?

Please write at least a page and cite your sources. I also want your opinion of blended learning in the paper. Email Sherry.Crofut@USiouxFalls.edu.