THE FIVE PHASES TO PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING a Successful Blended Learning Program
Blended learning is a rapidly growing instructional model that is redefining the educational landscape. Schools across the country are using blended learning programs to personalize learning. These programs have resulted in greater productivity for teachers and better outcomes for students because students receive the attention, support, and resources they need and teachers can spend more time differentiating instruction. Before making a shift to blended learning, your school district should complete a thorough analysis and planning process to determine the best course of action to meet your unique goals. It is important to identify the necessary professional development, technological, leadership, and operational capabilities for your blended learning program. This introduction is designed to help your district leadership team begin to think through the process of implementing a blended learning program by identifying its benefits, components, and models. It also provides a high-level overview of the Fuel Education approach to implementing a blended learning program. Fuel Education offers a comprehensive Blended Learning Workbook program where we lead you through the steps to create or improve your program and provide you with a completed workbook that serves as a strategic guide and implementation plan. If you would like to learn more about the FuelEd blended learning solution, or about our comprehensive Blended Learning Workbook program, please contact 866.912.8588. What is Blended Learning? Blended Learning is a formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through online studentcentered online delivery learning with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace, at least in part in a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home, and the modalities along each student s learning path supported by onsite instruction within a course or subject are connected to provide an integrated learning experience. Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation modalities create integrated experience 2
Blended Learning Models ROTATIONS Students rotate between learning modalities, at least one of which is online learning. - LAB Students rotate on a fixed schedule or at the teacher s discretion among locations on campus, one of which is an online lab. - STATION Students rotate on a fixed schedule or at the teacher s discretion between stations in the classroom, one of which is for online learning. - FLIPPED Students rotate on a fixed schedule between direct teacher instruction face-to-face and online content, and instruction being delivered at a remote location (often outside of the classroom, either on campus or at home). FLEX The majority of student learning takes place online in the flex model, either at a school facility or at home. Teachers provide face-to-face support as needed in a flexible environment. This instruction can range from a lesson delivered to a whole group of students to differentiated instruction and tutoring delivered one-to-one. ENRICHED VIRTUAL This model is a whole-school experience where students divide their time between a brick-and-mortar campus and learning remotely using online delivery of content and instruction. The Enriched Virtual model differs from the flipped classroom in that the Enriched Virtual students seldom attend a campus every day. These programs often start as fulltime online schools. À LA CARTE This model, also known as the self-blend model, is where students take one or more classes entirely online, and other classes on-site at a brick-and-mortar school. The à la carte model allows students to select a preferred type of course modality for various subjects. Traditional Model Online Model Local flavor Serves everyone including non-traditional students Facility flexible Rich offering of extra curricular activities Individual, self-paced Student centered, teacher enabled Textbook replacement 3
What You Can Gain from Implementing Blended Learning When considering whether to bring blended learning into your school or district, keep in mind the many possible benefits these programs offer. Here are some of the reasons why schools and districts implement blended learning: Blended learning can improve student outcomes. It offers students individualized, personalized learning, and provides a differentiated educational experience. With blended learning, you are able to meet students where they are and provide the unique learning experience that they need. Blended learning can provide a cost savings. If there are courses only a few students are interested in, you can provide these cost effectively in a blended learning center. Blended learning also allows you to expand your course catalog without significantly increasing your budget. Blended learning can provide personalization. Students have unique learning needs, and through blended learning, they are able to experience personalized learning and receive the one-to-one instructional assistance needed to succeed. Blended learning can be an education equalizer. Regardless of whether students live in a rural or urban community, a blended learning program can provide access to the same courses. Districts in rural areas can dramatically and cost effectively expand their catalog so students don t have to worry about courses not being available. Client Views on the Benefits of Blended and Online Learning We needed an online program that built a bridge to the entire city of Colorado Springs by offering education options to students. The district chose FuelEd because we could provide their Full-Time School Comprehensive Program and Online Courses to our brickand-mortar schools through a variety of different programs to help serve every type of learner. Kim McClelland, Falcon School District 49 We ve seen people coming out of the woodwork to access these courses for a wide variety of reasons, including injuries, athletics, anxiety, special education, or because one class time conflicts with another. We also hear a lot about the benefits of class sizes, fewer distractions, and less time wasted because of distractions. The benefit of online flexibility is we re not telling the parents that they have to stay home all day and supervise their kid. Tres Tyvand, Bend-La Pine School District 4
The Five Phases of Implementing a Blended Learning Program Successfully implementing a blended learning program requires analysis and thoughtful planning. Your first step is to define your strategy for success. Do you Implement Evaluate need external support? Who will be on your core planning team? What are your funding needs? Once you ve outlined your strategy, your next step is to align your goals with those of your key stakeholders in order to build internal and external support for your blended learning program. Step three is the crux of your implementation creating the plan for your program. This is important because in order to have a successful implementation in step four, you need a clearly detailed, comprehensive plan. After your program has been operating, the final step of the process is to evaluate your program, and make adjustments. These are the high-level questions you need to think through as you progress through each phase of your blended learning program implementation. Strategy Alignment Plan Implement Evaluate What are your district s three biggest challenges or goals for the next one to two years? Rank in priority order the three stakeholders you need to get buy-in and backing from to make your blended learning program successful. What are the key milestones you need to reach to accomplish your plan and implement your program? What resources will you need to execute your blended learning plan? List the two or three ways you ll measure your program s success. 5
The Fuel Education Blended Learning Solution FuelEd s comprehensive blended learning solution for grades pre-k through 12 helps schools and districts improve student outcomes at an affordable cost and provides students with a more personalized learning experience and more course options. With years of experience in implementing online and blended learning programs, FuelEd has the expertise to help you create a customized blended learning program that includes professional development, implementation support, and certified online instructors to augment your own staff if needed. FuelEd s blended learning solutions will allow your school to: - Personalize learning for every student by allowing them to learn at their own pace and follow their own learning path while giving them greater flexibility in where and when they learn - Prepare students for college and high-skill careers by offering a full-range of courses, including hard-to-staff courses such as higher-level math and science, world languages, and Advanced Placement courses - Replace expensive textbooks and supplemental materials with high-quality, interactive online courses at a lower cost - Provide flexible credit recovery and remediation courses to help students catch up quickly and graduate on time - Retain students and families seeking greater flexibly and more choices through flexible part-time and full-time blended learning programs - Help fund a high-quality educational program that meets increasingly rigorous federal, state, and local requirements and improves student outcomes while reducing costs Districts that partner with FuelEd to create world-class blended learning programs benefit from our experience in implementing and operating blended programs in many districts across the country. Our subject-matter experts, instructional designers, and Client Services Team study how students learn and use this information to craft effective solutions to meet the challenges of personalizing education. Fuel Education partners with schools and districts to fuel personalized learning and transform the education experience inside and outside the classroom. We provide innovative solutions for pre-k through 12th grade that empower districts to implement and grow successful online and blended learning programs. Our open, easy-to-use Personalized Learning Platform simplifies administration and enables teachers to customize courses using their own content, FuelEd content, third-party partner content, as well as open educational resources. We offer the industry s largest catalog of flexible digital curriculum, certified instruction, professional development, and educational services tailored to district and student needs. FuelEd has helped more than 2,000 school districts to improve student outcomes, better serve diverse student populations, and expand students educational opportunities by leveraging the power of technology-enabled learning. WEB CALL 866.912.8588 Copyright 2014, Fuel Education LLC. All rights reserved. Third-party trademarks referenced herein are property of those respective parties. 6 BL6PS 1404