AS
I
SEE“
IT”
As I See “IT” is an edito-
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By Don Hall
A Whole New Blend of Learning
Rotation model. Within a given course or subject,
students rotate on a fixed schedule or at the
teacher’s discretion between learning settings,
at least one of which is online learning.
Other settings might include activities such
as small-group or full-class instruction, group
projects, individual tutoring, and pencil-and-paper assignments.
Flex model. Teachers deliver content and instruction
primarily over the internet. Students move on a
customized, fluid schedule among learning settings,
and the teacher of record is onsite.
A la carte model. Students choose to take some
courses entirely online to supplement their traditional classes, and the teacher of record is the
online teacher.
Enriched virtual model. Within a whole-school
experience, students divide their time spent in
each course between attending a brick-and-mortar
campus and learning remotely using online delivery
of content and instruction.
The Best Blend
Unfortunately for many, blended learning means
putting students in front of computers for part of
the instructional day in a learning center and then
having them spend the rest of the day interacting
with the teacher in traditional direct instruction.
Another popular model is the flipped classroom,
where students participate in an online learning
experience at home that they will then explore in
Now we face yet another instructional
trend—blended learning. Does this repre-
sent a sustainable, transformational way of
learning, or is it just another fad that will
circle back around in 20 years under another
name? I assert that this movement is different
from the others and may represent the new
face of education.
What Is Blended Learning?
Blended learning is a formal education
program in which a student learns at
least in part through online delivery of
content and instruction with some element
of student control over time, place, path,
and/or pace as well as a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home. The
Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive
Innovation ( www.christenseninstitute.org)
identifies four core models ( bit.ly/ZUN2qh)
that encompass a well-balanced blended
learning program:
