Solutions: If this, then that.

 If you guys are looking for several practical ways to convert proven face to face activities into an online format, please check out our "If this, then that" page.

In the far left column you'll find face to face actives that many teachers use.  In the center and right columns you'll see online approximations of those activities and how to make them (in the far right column).  

Have fun pursuing through this resource.  If you happen to have an online activity you'd like to share, just reach out to us and we'll add it to the growing list!

Is Blended Learning Really for Everyone?

I’ve been part of this blended learning world for quite a while now, and I’ve trained a lot of educators on blended learning.  Sometimes teachers have great success with blended learning and it all goes great.  Other times teachers come back and tell me things like, blended learning just isn’t for my kids.  That made me start to wonder.  Is that really true?  Are there certain kids who blended learning is good for and others who it is not good for?  Well, let’s dissect this a little bit and think about it.  The purpose of blended learning is to provide a personalized learning experience for all students by using data to guide learning and leveraging technology to help facilitate this personalized learning experience.  If I use that definition, is there any student you can think of that blended learning wouldn’t benefit?  I can’t think of any.  So, if blended learning really is good for all learners, then why are some having success while others are not?

Procedures and routines. We all know these are important and we work really hard on them at the beginning of the school year.  Once our kids get into the swing of things, it’s pretty much smooth sailing for the rest of the year.  One thing that we often don’t realize is that every time we do something new with our students, this becomes a new procedure for them to learn.  Let me give you an example from my first day of teaching.  I had been a student in public school for 12 years, so I knew what school was like.  I had student taught, so I knew how to be a teacher.  You could say that I learned all the routines and procedures of being a teacher.  On my first day of teaching I got started with my adorable little 3^rd graders doing what I had been taught to do on the first day – go over routines and procedures.  About 15 minutes into class, one cute young lady raised her hand.  When I called on her she said, “Aren’t you going to take us to breakfast, Mrs. Shaw?”  I just stood there looking at her not even knowing what to say.  I mean, was I supposed to take them to breakfast?  Should I take all of them?  I finally said, “Am I supposed to?”  All the students nodded their heads – probably because they were all starving.  So, I lined my students up and trotted them over to the cafeteria.  The other teachers were all in the cafeteria already when we arrived.  They came over to me asking why it took me so long to get down there and I was holding everything up by not showing up.  I just stared at them blankly because I had no idea what was even going on.  So, I bombed my first 30 minutes as a teacher.  I caused a little bit of crazy town on the first day of school, but did that mean that I was a terrible teacher?  No.  I simply had not been taught the routines and procedures of taking my students to breakfast each morning.  Once I understood the routine, then my mornings were great and I never caused chaos in the cafeteria again. 

This is the same thing we do to our students.  We are going along teaching them in a traditional manner such as lecturing, giving them notes, having them complete worksheets, etc.  Then all of a sudden we tell them to do a station rotation where the kids rotate through 8 stations over the course of a week.  On top of that, each station has different tasks for the kids to do – some that they have never done before and some that use completely new technology tools.  Then we sit back and watch.  What is it that we see?  Kids who are confused.  Kids who don’t get finished.  Kids who are off task.  So, we decide that blended learning doesn’t work with “our kids.”

If you have the right procedures and routines in place, blended learning can be done successfully anywhere.  I’ve seen it done very successfully in the poorest schools where kids have to walk through metal detectors just to enter their own school building.  What do these schools have that other schools do not?  High expectations, routines, procedures, and strong relationships. 

Let’s take a look at four ways that we can make blended learning a success in all classrooms. 

1. Explicit Teaching and Practice, Practice, Practice!

We must intentionally teach students the new structure that you are going to be using and then have them practice doing a “walkthrough” of the structure.  For example, if you want to have your students do a station rotation then practice splitting them into groups and having them move to their first station.  For the sake of practicing give each group a fun, review task to complete while at the practice station.  Meanwhile you can walk around to each station to make sure that students know what they are supposed to do… 1. Read the task card at your station.  2. Work as directed on the card (groups, pairs, individual, etc) to complete the task. 3. Stay on task while at the station.

2. I’m Stuck!  Now What?

Students need to know what to do if they don’t understand something or have a question.  I’ve seen different ways to handle this such as having an expert in each group that can help while the teacher is working with other students.  Another strategy I’ve seen is using colored cups – green goes on top if you are doing well and red goes on top if you need help.  A lot of teachers use the strategy 3 before me where students must ask 3 other students for help before asking the teacher.  Any strategy that you want to use here is fine, you just need to make sure to have a procedure in place so students are not constantly interrupting you while you are working with small groups of students.

3. Student Roles

Create systems that put students in the driver’s seat to manage their own learning by creating job roles for the students.  If you are doing stations, then have a student who is the “time keeper.”  Their job is to set the class timer so the whole class can see how much time they have left in that rotation.  Have “cruise directors” who can help manage the transition from one station to another.  This frees you up to reset the teacher station and prepare for the next group.  Assign one student in each group to be the “materials manager.”  Then this student can make sure to get all needed materials when the group starts at a new station and minimizes extra movement within the classroom.

4. Data, Data Everywhere!

One important last step that will cement all of this together is to make sure you are collecting some sort of data every day.  It could simply be a quick exit ticket or a Quizizz, but you need something to hold the students accountable for learning and also a way to guide the learning for the next day.  Basically, you need to know who got the concept today and who didn’t.  By collecting data each day, you always have that information at your fingertips and can use that to create groups, guide re-teaching and inform enrichment.

What Do You Mean This Isn't Blended Learning???

image from 123RF

Have you ever heard this… “We use the computers a lot so we are already doing blended learning.”  You and I both know that there is more to blended learning than just adding some computers to the
mix or we would have been doing blended learning back in the 1980s every time we played Oregon Trail on the one and only computer in the back of the classroom, right?

Blended learning is not about technology.  It’s a meta-strategy used to help personalize the learning for all students.  Really the reason that computers need to be brought into the mix is because 1 teacher in a room with 30 kids can’t do it alone.  The computer becomes a way for the teacher to multiply his/herself in order to work with students in smaller groups or even 1-to-1.  Now, let’s not get carried away to the other extreme and decide that blended learning is putting a student on a software program and letting them learn completely online.  This has a name, but that name is not blended learning.  This becomes either enriched virtual or full on virtual learning.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not bad-mouthing this type of learning. There are situations where this is necessary and works well. But we're talking about blended learning in your regular old 21^st century classroom.

Let’s dig in and take a look at blended learning vs. tech integration.  Tech integration is great and can be very useful and engaging in the classroom.  One useful example of tech integration is by providing students with an online test or quiz. This is helpful because it can help you get grades done either instantly or more quickly and students can get feedback much quicker.  If I did this at the end of a unit for a summative grade, then this is just tech integration.  It was useful, but it didn’t meet any of the criteria for blended learning.  

So, let’s look at our blended learning image again and think about how we can use this same example in a blended learning model.  First, I need data.  That’s easy.  I will have data readily available after the students take the test or quiz.  Then I need to take that a step further and use that data to guide flexibility in pace, place, path or time to personalize the learning.  So, how can I change the scenario to meet this expectation? I could switch up my summative test and make it a pre-assessment to provide starting point data. Now I can use this data to guide how I group students and how I offer flexibility to each group. Maybe a group that is really struggling needs to spend more time with me, the teacher, to get more direct instruction.  Others who have a stronger foundation in the new unit might be successful with a teacher-made video that they can watch then get started on their activity.  Others might not even need a video, but instead they may need some other options that challenge them.  By incorporating the use of technology, I am able to multiply myself as a teacher and meet the needs of more students at one time.

image from 123RF

Now I bet you are wondering, what is the magic formula to know that a lesson is blended and not tech integration. There isn't a magic formula, but you can definitely ask some questions about the lesson using the image above as a guide.  First, are you using some type of data to drive decisions on students needs, groups and activities?  Second, how are you offering flexibility in pace, place, path or time?

Let's look at another example and use these questions to guide our decision.  I set up 3 stations that my students will rotate through.  Station 1 is a video with questions.  Station 2 is a computer simulation game.  Station 3 is a worksheet to practice the concepts.  I will be walking around and answering questions.  Is this blended learning?  Well, let's take a look.  Did I use any type of data to inform my groups or the work each group is doing?  When looking at this scenario, I don't see any data being used.  Already I can tell that this is not blended learning because I did not use data, but let's look a the next question just for fun.  Did I offer any flexibility in the stations based on the data?  Again the answer is no.  All the students are doing the same 3 stations just in a different order.  This is not flexibility.  There is no purpose or reason for the stations other than having students working together in groups as they complete the tasks.

When creating blended learning lessons, just remember to keep these questions at the forefront of your mind and you'll have a great way to gauge if your lesson is tech integration or blended learning!