Work with technology, not against it
Blended learning environments are becoming more prevalent in America's classrooms, but one should never discount the role of a school or a teacher. Teachers are important, and there are many benefits to brick and mortar schools. Teachers provide a safe place for students, and they engage students in social time with friends. They serve as a valuable resource in assisting students and interacting with them. Technology is advancing rapidly and has no plans to leave us, so we must learn alongside technological advancements. They work best hand in hand. Districts do not need to spend millions of dollars on technology to be “blended” if we have no results to show. My suggestion is we work to the max with what we already have, and it doesn’t hurt to add a few more tools to our work belts. In their article, “Five Skills for Blended-Learning Teachers,” Michael B. Horn and Heather Staker encourage teachers to acquire just a few skills to successfully implement blended learning environments in their schools.
REFERENCES
Bers, M. U. (2012). Designing digital experiences for positive youth development: from
playpen to playground. New York: Oxford University Press.
Horn, M., & Staker, H. (2012, October 4). 5 Skills for Blended-Learning Teachers. Retrieved
April 24, 2018, from https://thejournal.com/articles/2012/10/04/5-skills-for-blended-learning-teachers.aspx
Horn, M. B., Staker, H., & Christensen, C. M. (2015). Blended: Using disruptive innovation to
improve schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- Comfort with Chaos: For decades, a traditional classroom has looked a certain way. With blended environments, that will change. Up will be down, left will be right, and we need to get used to that. Just because a student is not working on things like we would typically see them, it does not mean they are not being productive and learning a great deal. “If teachers invest in creating a strong culture up front with clear norms and expectations, blended learning will amplify that culture. If there is a negative culture in place, however, blended learning is likely to amplify that as well” (Horn & Staker, 2012).
- Student-Learning Data Analysis and Decision Making: Blended learning environments require more frequent formative feedback for our students. “Responding to individual student data in real time--or even on a daily basis, as happens in many blended-learning models today--is a significant and important shift for teachers to master” (Horn & Staker, 2012). Teachers won't have to be actively collecting every piece of data; instead they will be able to spend more time analyzing and figuring out what to do about it, in addition to their own student "data" they collect from their observations. Teachers will have a span of time and multitude of assignments to monitor the growth of their students.
- Targeted Learning Opportunities: Teachers will need new skills to learn how to support students who are learning different things, at different paces, through different approaches. They will need to be able to facilitate different learning opportunities for students--such as one-on-one tutoring, small-group instruction, project-based learning, and lectures. So it is important to begin becoming masterful at that skill rather than spending time planning lessons.
- Specialization: Teachers will eventually free themselves of being all things to all people and will have opportunities to specialize. As blended-learning environments evolve, there will be opportunities for team instruction and differentiated roles for teachers. Opportunities can include content gurus, learning coaches or facilitators, or even non-academic teachers who act more like caseworkers. Specialization means you will be a pro at something, but you won’t have to be a pro at everything.
- Technological Prowess: Fear not. Technology is so simple to use and more prevalent than ever in our daily lives. Teachers are already using the skills to teach in a blended environment. These skills involve communicating via a variety of mediums, exploring, identifying, and using a plethora of online tools to meet students’ needs. Also, basic troubleshooting is a plus, like helping students reset passwords, downloading plugins, etc. The ability to effectively teach offline as well as online is crucial.
REFERENCES
Bers, M. U. (2012). Designing digital experiences for positive youth development: from
playpen to playground. New York: Oxford University Press.
Horn, M., & Staker, H. (2012, October 4). 5 Skills for Blended-Learning Teachers. Retrieved
April 24, 2018, from https://thejournal.com/articles/2012/10/04/5-skills-for-blended-learning-teachers.aspx
Horn, M. B., Staker, H., & Christensen, C. M. (2015). Blended: Using disruptive innovation to
improve schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.