Monthly Archives: January 2012

Blending Learning: The Convergence of Online and Face-to-Face Education

NACOL – North American Council for Online Learning :: Promising Practices in Online Learning
Blending Learning: The Convergence of Online and Face-to-Face Education
http://www.15centnewspaper.com/resources/inacolblend.pdf

"…blended learning should be approached not merely as a temporal construct, but rather as a fundamental redesign of the instructional model with the following characteristics:

*  A shift from lecture- to student-centered instruction in which students become active and interactive learners (this shift should apply to the entire course, including face-to-face contact sessions);

*  Increases in interaction between student-instructor, student-student, student-content, and student-outside resources;

*  Integrated formative and summative assessment mechanisms for students and instructor.”

Most importantly, in this view, blended learning represents a shift in instructional strategy. Just as online learning represents a fundamental shift in the delivery and instructional model of distance learning, blended learning offers the possibility to significantly change how teachers and administrators view online learning in the face-to-face setting. “The widespread adoption and availability of digital learning technologies has led to increased levels of integration of computer- mediated instructional elements into the traditional F2F [face to face] learning  experience,” write Bonk and Graham, in the Handbook of Blended Learning."

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This is why I say there is a 'transformation' going on! It's not about things 'not working' or being 'broken', it's simply a necessary shift from doing things in a traditional school setting to doing things in a meaningfully different way. It's not about adding technology to teaching, it's about a transformation in what teaching means today. Exciting stuff!

Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology

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Wow! I love the very ending when he talked about developing a missing 5th sense…. It excited me about the potential for helping with special needs students.

Two other thoughts:

-What’s the next iPad? What’s the next device that everyone will want? What will it do?

-How do we create schools where students can explore and ‘tinker’ like Pranav?