'''Module 1 - What is a Blended Classroom'''
Objective
- You will be able to understand the setup of a blended classroom
- You will be able to explain the benefits blended classroom brings to students.
Lesson
Blended classrooms are the classrooms of modern teachers, they offer teachers the opportunity to customize student learning, maximize student engagement, and foster an environment the prompts high concept problem solving. A classroom is blended because it splits the class into two different sections, the traditional time with the teacher in the classroom and a section of online learning. What happens in each section and how large of a percentage each section will take in your classroom is up to you as the teacher, the important aspect is that each section is an important part of your classroom.
In a traditional classroom the only learning happening at home was student answering homework questions. For many subjects this involves students mindlessly searching for answers to the questions without actually learning the material. The online portion of the blended classroom looks to take the place of this old method. Blended classrooms can involve students communicating their opinions online about the material instead of answering questions. This communication fosters higher order learning instead of the traditional memorization or questions that don't help the student's learn the material. Teachers could also do video lessons or notes online students should watch at home. These type of assignments allow teachers to free up class time by eliminating or reducing the time spent the teacher typically goes over the notes. Students are more responsible for learning the basics of the material at home. This teaches these students to take ownership and responsibility of their learning. This does not mean teachers should eliminate the notes entirely and leave it up to the kids to learn the material on their own. Instead it means teachers can customize their time in class clarifying areas students are struggling in. The communication over material or video notes allow the teacher to check the students understanding and focus in on areas they might be struggling and quickly go through the areas the class understand. This frees up more time in class for other activities while still allowing the students to learn the material required for the course. This also allows the teacher to spend more time helping a student one on one in an area they are struggling. The online discussions and videos can also be viewed anytime and provide a good resource for students to use when studying (How to Flip Your Classroom).
There is still a large portion of any blended classroom that needs to take place in the classroom. The classroom setting in blended classroom has more time for hands on and problem solving or collaborative activities. These activities can be short term assignments or long term projects but by being able to make your time giving notes or doing what is traditionally done during a classroom setting more effective students are now allotted more time to focus on higher order learning. The time in the classroom could also be used to go into further detail on a subject the students of the class find interesting. The classroom setting now becomes a time the teacher can customize the lessons based on student interests and struggles.
One potential area that could lead to struggles with this method is students not having internet access at home. The best way to help these students is to set up times in which these students can use the school computers to view the material online. You could also talk with a local library and set up times when these students could visit and view the material.
A blended classroom allows teachers to get in all the material the curriculum requires of them while also allowing enough time for students to learn the problems solving skills an educational career or profession require.
Activity
You have decided to transition your classroom from a traditional setup to a blended classroom. You will have to write a letter home to parents of your students explaining to them the change.
In the letter you should:
- Inform the parents what a blended classrooms entails
- How his setup will benefit their child's educational future.
- What you will be doing to help those without internet access
You can submit the letters here.
Module 2
'''Module 2 - Effective Strategies of Blended Classrooms'''
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Blended Classrooms