Is blended learning the future classroom?

Blending learning is an education practice that is quickly gaining momentum thanks to its potential to increase personalized student learning and to decrease per-student cost expenditures. Realizing this potential is the best case scenario but most blended learning models have not be in practice long enough for substantive research to exist on the impact of blended learning on student achievement. Despite the shortage of research, schools across the country continue to implement blended learning. So what exactly is blended learning? Students in a blended learning environment experience a blend of traditional teacher-led classroom instruction and students-led online instruction. This learning experience exists on a broad spectrum ranging from mostly online student-led instruction to mostly teacher-led instruction that is supplemented with online materials within a single class. This variety has created an incredible about of diversity in the field that is both exciting because of the ability to explore options but also worrisome because there aren’t any enforced quality standards. Blended learning has evolved over the past decade with the increased content creation and availability of online learning programs.

Understanding the demand for blended learning

Blended Learning: The Convergence of Online and Face-to-Face Education by John Watson provides an excellent overview of why schools are taking to implement blended learning in K-12 education. According to Watson, high student demand for online learning options is driving rapid growth of online courses available to schools. He states, “Thirty states and more than half of the school districts in the United States offer online courses and services, and online learning is growing rapidly, at 30% annually. This growth is meeting demand among students, as more than 40% of high school and middle school students have expressed interest in taking an online course.” In addition to pure student demand, many schools are also motivated to explore blended learning options because of the potential cost savings. Given the flattening of, and even reductions to, education funding (Roza, Lozier and Sepe, 2010) schools do need to identify means to reduce costs and blended learning offers the possibility of reduced costs while still offering personalized instruction for students. A handful of states (AL, FL, MI and UT) have even go so far as to require online learning as a state high school graduation requirement because they attest that online learning establishes a practice for life-long learning. Although this may sound surprising to some people, initiatives like Digital Learning Now, founded and led by former Governors George Bush and Bob Wise, encourage more states to make online learning a priority so there may be more than four states with online learning graduation requirements in the not-to-distant future.

Understanding the potential

Wherever a single blended learning practice falls on the pedagogical spectrum, Watson asserts that the goal of blended learning is to “combine the best elements of online and face-to-face learning.” Watson goes on to say that the blended learning approach will “emerge as the predominant model of the future — and to become far more common than either [online or traditional face-to-face instruction] alone.” If Watson is correct and blended learning is the future of education then it is important to better understand the potential benefits that I mentioned briefly at the beginning of this blog. First, blended learning models offer possible per-pupil cost savings. Rocketship Education, located in Palo Alto, is perhaps one of the best know examples of how a blended learning model has resulted in cost savings that Rocketship is then able to reinvest into their schools (i.e.: facilities, professional development) and to scale the model. A basic overview of their cost savings demonstrates $515K in annual savings on salaries and classroom costs versus a typical K-5 school model. Rocketship is just one example but it does demonstrate a significant amount of savings within a single year.

The second potential outcome for blending learning is the possibility of further personalizing a student’s learning experience. Technology has the capacity to increase a teachers’ effectiveness by providing students with online modules that will challenge students at the appropriate level – whether that means revisiting concepts that the teacher has already covered but the student didn’t fully grasp or offering more challenging opportunities to a more advanced student. The results of students’ online work can then be shared with the classroom teacher and that will inform the teachers’ instruction because the teacher will know more about the student – such as what gaps persist in their understanding of a concept.

It is important to note here that technology for cost savings or to promote personalization is a means to an end; technology is not a panacea for improving student achievement. Technology, in this case applied through blended learning, has unbelievable potential but it is important to apply technology through a student-centered approach. Technology can support a student but it is not the be-all-end-all.

Resources:

1) Michigan Department of Education, Michigan Merit Curriculum: Graduation Requirements FAQ (2007) www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/faq19_178611_7.pdf

2) Roza, Marguerite, Chris Lozier and Christina Sepe K–12 Job Trends Amidst Stimulus Funds: Early Findings. Accessed on November 24, 2011 from http://www.crpe.org/cs/crpe/view/csr_pubs/332

3) Staker, Heather et al. The Rise of K-12 Blended Learning: Profiles of emerging models (2011) Accessed on November 30, 2001 from http://www.innosightinstitute.org/innosight/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/The-Rise-of-K-12-Blended-Learning.pdf

4) Watson, John Blended Learning: The Convergence of Online and Face-to-Face Education (2008).

--Phil