Blended learning is any time a student learns at least in part at a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home and at least in part through online delivery with some element of student control over time, path, and/or pace.
The report then labels six types of blended learning approaches: • face-to-face driver programs where teachers deliver most instruction in a live classroom and use online activities to supplement or remediate what goes on in the brick-and-mortar school; • rotation models where students follow a schedule that alternates between face-to-face class sessions and in-person instruction; • flex formats where most of the curriculum originates online, but an on-site instructor provides instruction as needed in individual and small group sessions; • online lab sessions where students do work online, but in a computer lab at a brick-and-mortar school with aides who offer supervision but little subject guidance; • self-blend schools where students may take online courses a la carte to supplement their brick-and-mortar school's curriculum; and • online driver constructs where students receive most of the course online and independently, but participate in required or optional face-to-face meetings.
By blending online and on-site learning in new productive and efficient school formats, it's easy to imagine quality affordable high schools with tuition of less than $10 per month.
A new report profiles 40 examples of contemporary blended learning, classifying them by the type of approach they use and attempting to show how each has reduced cost and boosted academic achievement.
Many inputs go into the costs behind a blended-learning school: the number of teachers and administrators; their specific salaries; the instructional materials and technologies; student services; and other school operations.
The paper reaches the conclusion that the costs of blended learning are significantly lower than the $10,000 national average for traditional brick-and-mortar schools. They find that, on average, the costs range from $7,600 to $10,200.
Our own view is that blended learning will and should help schools--and ultimately the public--save money. But the overriding reason to adopt a blended-learning school isn't because of its cost savings, but instead because of the benefits for students that can result. Ultimately blended learning should help schools and policymakers move our education system to a student-centric one that educates children both more effectively and efficiently.
The new taxonomy also identifies four sub-categories that are appearing, namely the Station-Rotation, Lab-Rotation, Flipped-Classroom, and Individual-Rotation models.
We can provide every student in America access to great teachers, but that won’t happen in a traditional classroom (as Public Impact has so clearly spelled out)—it will happen when we leverage talent with technology and blend the best of online and onsite learning.
To power these new models that combine local and national resources, Digital Learning Now calls for educational funding that is weighted, portable, and performance-based.
Another aspect of flipped classrooms that the panelists had in common was a desire to personalize and individualize learning for their students.
By using videos, students can then watch the lectures and receive educational content at their own pace
instead of spending an entire class period lecturing, teachers can then spend that time working directly with students—answering questions and facilitating activities.
"Allowing students to pursue learning experiences that are relevant to them -- including traditional seat-based environments and digital learning opportunities -- is the best strategy," Haglund said. "The same thing with adults, frankly. I don't want every teacher to be teaching in a virtual environment because not every teacher has the interest or skills to support that type of an instructional environment."
Research by the U.S. Department of Education shows that students in online learning environments perform modestly better, on average, than those learning the same material through traditional face-to-face instruction, and that blending online and face-to-face instruction increases that advantage.