"The most important thing that schools can do is not to use technology in the curriculum more, but to use it more effectively."
John G. Palfrey and Urs Gasser
www.geckoandfly.com
Beyond the Classroom:
Building a Blended Learning Community
Melissa Richards
February 22, 2025
Professional learning among educators is a necessity in implementing new teaching strategies to help positively impact our learners. With that said, the method of delivering this learning to our teachers is not always effective. In a previous post, Future-Ready Learning, I shared knowledge behind why our organizations should change the way we provide continued learning to our educational professionals. Education is a constantly changing landscape, so we must continue to adapt our practices to keep up. Read on to explore how I plan to navigate through transitioning our campus to a Blended Learning Community.
What is Blended Learning?
The blended learning model is a growing trend in k-12 schools, higher learning, and even corporate settings. This model provides us with an opportunity to learn from others face-to-face, while also getting to experienced personalized instruction based on our needs. Blended learning takes place in a formal education setting where learners access education through face-to-face sessions in addition to online learning where the student controls some element of the path, pace, place, or time (Horn & Staker, 2015). If you are interested in learning more about the benefits of blended learning, access my Literature Review on how blended learning impacts student motivation, provides personalized learning experiences, and offers authentic learning experiences. My hope is that I can take what I have learned through my Innovation Project and expand the impact of blended learning across my campus.
Course Goals and Outcomes
In designing an effective course, it is important to keep in mind three practices. We must identify the desired results, determine acceptable evidence of learning, and lastly plan the learning experiences and instruction (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). After analyzing a few different methods of design, I chose to plan this course using Fink's 3-Column Table to outline the course learning goals, learning activities, and assessments. Fink shares (2003), that a strong learning-centered goal should identify several types of learning. This column breaks down how learners will experience foundational knowledge, demonstrate application knowledge, use tools to integrate their learning, learn using a human dimension, explore caring through learning, and focus on learning how to learn.
5 Principles of Effective PD
If our organization wants to impact student academic achievement through teacher training, we need to follow certain practices that have been proven effective. In an article, Gulamhussein (2013) describes 5 key principles for effective professional learning.
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Professional learning should be ongoing to allow for teachers to learn the strategy and apply the strategy.
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Teaches should be supported during the implementation stage so that they can problem-solve any challenges that they may encounter.
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The learner's exposure to learning should be engaging and varied versus passive.
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A highly effective strategy for teaching a new concept is to modeled the desired strategy.
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The content being shared with teachers should be tailored to their needs.
I have broken down the ways in how my professional learning plan will include these impactful practices in delivering effective PD.
Course Pacing and Activities
Building a Blended Learning Community will take place over the course of 4 semesters. In place of a one-time workshop opportunity, learners will experience where they will actually be able to change their teaching practices. Research tells us that learning a new practice is not the challenge, but that the implementation is (Gulamhussein, 2013). In this model, learners will gain information on tools and best practices for blended learning, and they will also receive coaching and mentorship to support them in implementing newly learned skills. In addition to our learners being supported, teachers will actively participate in their learning through exploring their learning management system and practicing with a variety of digital tools all while experience a collaborative environment. Teachers will be able to collaborate with their peers to share their learning, but will more importantly be paired with a mentor or learning coach from the instructional leadership team. Acting as the professional learning developer, my goal will be to ensure mentors and instructional leadership coaches are using guiding questions during collaborative discussions. Research shows that when teachers are met with guiding questions, coaching sessions are more productive (Goodwin, 2015).
Resources Needed
References
Fink, D. (2003). A self-directed guide to designing courses for significant learning. Jossey-Bass.
Goodwin, B. (2015). Research Says/Does Teacher Collaboration Promote Teacher Growth? Educational Leadership,
73(4), 82–83. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec15/vol73/num04/Does-
Teacher-Collaboration-Promote-Teacher-Growth%C2%A2.aspx
Gulamhussein, A. (2013). Teaching the Teachers Effective Professional Development in an Era of High Stakes
Accountability. Center for Public Education. Retrieved from
http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/system/files/2013176_ProfessionalDevelopment.pdf
Horn, M. & Staker, H. (2015). Blended: Using disruptive innovation to improve schools. Jossey-Bass
Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design. Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development.