What's blended/virtual learning got to do with it?

Chapter 5 of Sheninger’s Uncommon Learning provides teachers with an abundance of ways to integrate technology based blended learning into the realm of education. Some of the ideas, like flipped classroom, where students watch instructional videos at home and do activities and active work in the classroom with teacher assistance, are common terms heard around faculty break rooms and are buzz words in the education community. Other blended learning models, like the a la carte model where classes are all online and accompanied by other types of in person experiences at the school itself, may be a foreign idea to many. The point is, learning in the 21st century is far past a teacher in front of a chalkboard and students taking notes and regurgitating memorized answers for a pencil and paper, multiple choice test. We have to adapt and we must change.

That word – change. I truly believe that is at the heart of the challenges that might plague the concepts of blended and virtual learning. In order to take on any of the models Sheninger suggests, teachers have to be committed and willing to change what they are used to doing in the classroom. For veteran teachers who were not taught to teach using technology, it can be a scary process, and it’s easy to shy away and stick what they know and are comfortable with. I would argue they MUST engage in the blended and virtual learning arena because that is what the students of today need. They were born into a digital/virtual world, and that is what they know. Teachers must adjust their attitude and realize that the teacher needs to adapt to be able to teach the 21st century student, the student should not have to adapt to 20th century techniques. Once that mindset is achieved, and teachers have an open mind, they can then begin to investigate the world of blended/virtual learning and really start to incorporate it and have a truly blended, active and engaged 21st century classroom!

#Education #Teaching #Technology