WHAT WORKS IN EDUCATION The George Lucas Educational Foundation
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Blogs on Blended Learning

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6
Games and the Common Core: Two Movements That Need Each Other
Milton ChenApril 16, 2013
Tags Blended Learning, Common Core Standards, Game-Based Learning, All Grades

Recently I witnessed two expert panels discussing critical issues for our educational system -- on the same day. The first one was on implementing the Common Core for English-language learners; the second was on how games offer an exciting new frontier for student learning and engagement. In the morning, I listened in to an Alliance for Excellent Education panel including Stanford professor Kenji Hakuta and Carrie Heath Phillips, director of Common Core implementation at the Council of Chief State School Officers. That evening, I went to Stanford to hear a panel on Education’s Digital Future that included professors James Paul Gee of Arizona State and Constance Steinkuehler of the University of Wisconsin - Madison.

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1
Khan Academy's Discovery Lab: Summer Camp Where STEM Meets PBL
Minli VirdoneDecember 18, 2012
Tags Blended Learning, Project-Based Learning, Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle (6-8), Math, Science

Khan Academy is primarily known as an online portal of videos and exercises (we have delivered over 207 million lessons to date). We believe that online learning goes hand in hand with hands-on, project-based learning -- and that’s why we decided to run a summer camp, the Discovery Lab, to try out the deeper explorations that can be done in a physical space. As we fine-tune the lessons that work in this setting, we will try to integrate them more deeply into the core Khan Academy platform, so students and teachers around the world have the infrastructure and tools to fully explore their creativity.

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5
A Principal's Perspective: Getting The Most Out of Classroom iPads
Ben JohnsonNovember 12, 2012
Tags 1:1 Implementation, Blended Learning, Teacher Development, Technology Integration, Middle (6-8), High (9-12)

For the first two months of school, "When are the iPads going to be handed out?" was a continual mantra from students and teachers. But finally, when we were able to tell them a day, frustration turned into anticipation. Southside High School's goal was to efficiently assign an iPad to each ninth- and tenth-grader, without seriously impacting the regular instructional day. Boy, was that off target!

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1
Blended Learning: Behind the Scenes
Heather Wolpert-GawronOctober 22, 2012
Tags 1:1 Implementation, Blended Learning, Classroom Technology, Teacher Development, Middle (6-8), High (9-12)

It feels like we're on the precipice of a more common, universal implementation for blended learning, but for a while still, blended learning is still dependent on teachers knowing what to teach and how to teach it. It still feels still like a grassroots movement from key teachers who are looking ahead to the future. We know that being able to function online is a 21st-century skill, but for some teachers, it's still as futuristic as Logan's Run.

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7
A Principal's Perspective: Preparing to Distribute Student iPads?
Ben JohnsonOctober 22, 2012
Tags 1:1 Implementation, Blended Learning, Digital Divide, Leadership, Technology Integration, All Grades

Yes, let's give students iPads so they can be smarter and learn better. It sounds so easy. The reality is that there are many unknowns, like how do you hand out 800 iPads and keep track of which student has which iPad, and how do you get 800 students to register with iTunes so they can use their iPads on the school system? (The school system: How do you provide enough bandwidth for 800 iPads? That's another challenge entirely!)

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2
Google's Open Course Builder: A Giant Leap into 21st-Century Online Learning
Todd FinleyOctober 16, 2012
Tags Blended Learning, Learning Environments, Online Learning, , Technology Integration, High (9-12)

"Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." -- About Google

Google is the most powerful nonhuman teacher ever known to actual humans. Implicitly and ceaselessly, Google performs formative assessments by collecting the following data: the content, genre and media that interests you most; when and for how long you access your external cloud brain; what your hobbies and routines are; with whom you work and communicate; who will get your November vote; and whether you prefer invigorating clean mint or enamel renewal toothpaste. By continuously refining the nuance of your sociogram, Google has already customized your next web exploration and taught itself to teach.

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5
Blended Learning: Strategies for Engagement
Andrew MillerOctober 12, 2012
Tags 1:1 Implementation, Blended Learning, Technology Integration, Middle (6-8), High (9-12)

There are methods and models for implementing blended learning -- from the flipped classroom, to the flex model. All of them are on the continuum of just how much time is spent online and in the online classroom. Blended Learning can provide a unique way of not only engaging students in collaborative work and projects, but also personalizing and individualizing instruction for students.

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5
Blended Learning: We Are All New Teachers
Lisa Michelle DabbsOctober 1, 2012
Tags 1:1 Implementation, Blended Learning, Teacher Development, Technology Integration

The challenges facing a new teacher are clear: how to write a strong lesson plan, how to master the fine art of lesson delivery and how to keep kids engaged in a positive classroom environment are all high on the list. Add to that list the addition of mastering the use of technology tools to support instruction with students, and many a new teacher might go running for the hills!

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3
Virtual Schools: From Rivalry to Partnership
Tony BaldasaroMay 30, 2012
Tags Blended Learning, Charter Schools, Education Reform, Integrated Studies, Online Learning, Technology Integration, Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle (6-8), High (9-12)

As a junior in high school, I was finally able to enroll in the photography class. Offered only every other year, this was the only time the course was available to me (it was not open to freshman), and since there was only one section, the period three class was my only shot.

So, when my guidance counselor pulled me into his office on the second day of school to tell me I had to drop photography to take a more college-friendly Spanish class, I knew my opportunity was lost. This was in 1988, five years before Mosaic was introduced to the world, seven years before Netscape made the World Wide Web available to the masses, and a decade before virtual schooling was an option. Unless I could find a private mentorship, my only access to formally learning photography was period three during my junior year of high school and, since I had to take Spanish, that was no longer an option for me.

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2
Blended Learning: Adding Asynchronous Discussions to Your F2F Classrooms
Eric BrunsellMarch 2, 2012
Tags Blended Learning, Classroom Technology, Project-Based Learning, , Student Engagement, Technology Integration, Middle (6-8), High (9-12)

This post was co-authored with Elizabeth Alderton, Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.
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We have all done it: "participated" in a face-to-face discussion, nodding along in agreement, but not really present. Many of us have sat in discussions, afraid to throw in our two cents because we might sound silly. On other occasions, we have had a fantastic idea to share, but the conversation passed by before we had a chance to contribute.

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