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   I

I believe blended learning varies in each setting/grade level. Blended learning is when the teacher uses all of the resources available to meet the needs of each of her students. A large component of blended learning occurs when the teacher has the course expectations and academic goals planned in a manner so that students are aware of what is required of them and what is expected of them. Blended Learning is also a combination of face to face and online. It can also be an arrangment where the teacher is a facilitator while students drive their own learning at their own pace. Blended learning embodies the concept of differentiated instruction. From a teacher's point of view, blended learning is the way educating students will be primarily done in the near future for most grade levels. According to current research, it is the most effective way for students to be academically successful. Teachers are no longer seen as the "Masters of knowledge". Students can learn at their own pace from various sources to obtain the optimum knowledge about specific subjects. The future of learning and the future of teaching is here! Blended learning is the best of both situations.

 

Believe

Don't Be Fooled

 

I have learned from trying blended these last few months that it is very important to manage my time and teach my students the reality and importance of time management. To help with being successful in implementing blended learning into my classroom I have to stay organized and realize that I will have to alter or eliminate tasks that I enjoy doing during my personal time. I have learned that I will have to continue to balance my responsibilities that I have to my family, class, and myself. The most important thing that I learned is that it is very beneficial to have a class calendar that my students can have access to from home and in class. I think it is a great idea to share the calendar with students' parents. I will continue to use Remind 101, email, upadated web, letters, and phone calls as a way to keep the parents of my students informed.  It is always best to begin building bonds with the parents as soon as classes begin and contuniue throughout the course in order to make blended more successful.

 

 

Are Students Ready????

After reading some information in this module and by observing students in my own class, I know students are not "automatically" ready to learn and use online tools for success in learning. I often "teach" students how to use various online tools and if they do not get several opportunities to practice using the tools they often forget how to use them. Some of us teachers have experienced "brain drain" moments when we had to navigate through Moodle since it is new to us even though a lot of us are tech savvy. I also read that most students are consumers of technology and are basically tech communicators and in reality they are quite ineffective when it comes to using online tools when they need to use the online tools for educational purposes. You as a teacher will need to decisde whether you class will be ready for to achieve in a blended environment.  You as the teacher will have to decide how and when you blend your class.  Just because you have tech available doesn't meant that your students will be able to "handle" using it in a productive and responsible manner!

 

 

 

 

 

My Final Thoughts

I know that just like face-to-face classes teacher’s wanting to implement blended learning will have to create a balance of managing their time effectively to meet the demands of work, home/chores and family. This has always been the case for educators. The difference that I have noticed is that now blended learning teachers will have to squeeze out even more time to implement blended learning into their classroom. Implementing Blended learning did require me to spend time planning and creating lessons and videos to meet the needs of my students.  Classroom management is an important component to the blended learning environment. The teacher will have to plan how much of the curriculum will be blended and how much will be face-to-face.  She will still have to make sure all assignments are turned in and turned in on time. The blended learning teacher will need to set deadlines and due dates for her students. She will need to create assessments and provide support and prompt feedback to her students. If most her blended environment is online It is crucial that the teacher have an online time that she is available to communicate with her students. She will have to make sure all students are able to effectively navigate what ever online environment she has set up. She will also have to make sure instructional course materials are truly accessible to all learners. Teachers wanting to implement blended learning will also have to utilize a variety of communication tools besides the traditional paper newsletter. There are great tools like email, Remind 101, Twitter, Facebook, Google Hangout, Skype, Facetime, and message channels within websites like Edmodo, Blackboard and Moodle to use as comunication tools. I started small and I am only doing what I would call a tip-toeing in version of blended. The most important skill that a blended learning teacher will need to is to be organized and the best advice I can give to someone who is thinking about blending is to start small.What I mean by startign small is pick one subject to blend first and then add another subject. Don't forget to do self-reflections.  You will need to analyze what went well, what did not, why and of course how can you change to be more effective next time.  Go forth and blend because the world is your students audience!

 

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