Teacher-Led Blended Learning, Students Win

By Brian Page
There are three moments that addict me to teaching. When students have “light up,” “light bulb,” and “lead” moments. Creating an environment that fosters the space for these is becoming easier as the tools at our fingertips continue to improve.  I see technology as a cornerstone of education that can help bring to life content for students.  For the purpose of this article, I am defining blended learning as the combination of multiple approaches to learning, although as you can read in this article, it can be defined in many ways. Blended learning can be accomplished through the use of “blended” virtual and physical, with technology being used as another tool for educators to provide student centered instruction and interaction.  Most teachers are embracing these tools when they are being introduced as a student-centered approach to education.
I follow Diane Ravitch on my Twitter account, among many other education leaders. What I find consistent about Ravitch’s positions is her undying passion to protect what makes a classroom special – – the environment, the learning process, and putting students first. Clearly one of the country’s educational leaders, she fights for what she knows is necessary for a positive student experience and superior education.  In my opinion, she is fighting to prevent any disingenuous corporate and political infusion that could destroy education, which leads me to how I fear blended learning is being wrongly defined.
Across the country, charter schools and educational services are popping up that use computers to teach just as a VCR and worksheet could be used for hundreds of kids at once, being overseen by a few adults. I see this being done in the name of blending learning. Defining such a process as blended learning slaps a label on a process that should be more accurately defined as a “corporate-centered” or “politician-centered” approach to education. Both ignore overwhelming research that illustrates the quality of the educator is the most important variable in student achievement, and both seem to share a goal in providing educational services at the lowest possible price. I understand why some politicians are considering this approach, as residents of many states are forced to face austerity measures because of a loss of tax revenue. Raising taxes in this environment is a textbook macro-economic “no-no,” and would probably lead to an even greater loss in state revenue. It is a bind politicians are in that I am not sure I could ever face.
Pedagogy that uses technology as the primary leader in instruction sacrifice the critical social interaction that students receive with other students and teachers in promoting the goal to providing educational services at the lowest possible price.  We must ask ourselves what end product do these approaches envision?  Do we want graduates who can comfortably sit in front of a computer screen but freeze up when it comes to looking someone in the eye?  Will graduates of schools using these approaches be able to carry out coherent conversations?  Will they leave school prepared to be able to socially function in an increasingly complicated world? Our responsibility is to prepare our students for the 21^st century, and as you can read in this article, many 21^st century skills necessary for students to thrive cannot be learned in an online environment.
I am equally as fearful that a label associating blended learning with call center classrooms could stand in the way of a genuine evolution of education through blended learning. Imagine small classroom settings and educators who are supported and held to the same standard as the Finnish using interactive student-centered technology as a blended learning tool. Consider the benefits of the “flipped-classroom,” as illustrated in this article, which highlights how my friend Stacey Roshan is using the flipped-classroom in her classroom. This is an approach that makes sense when you have a classroom full of students who all do their homework, an approach that I am going to partially adopt in my AP Macroeconomics course.
Some corporations already provide valuable teaching tools that can be used to support a blended learning environment, and these tools need to be embraced.  To be clear, I believe technology provides educators with education’s greatest learning tool. For example, Khan Academy and Brainpop are widely accepted teaching tools that can be used for homework, hooks, or differentiated instruction. As you can read here, even M.I.T. is jumping on board providing free online course offerings. Surely other tools exist that have a more narrow subject matter focus such as in financial education. FinLitTV provides video clips for educators to use as hooks. Their FLiC’s offer students the opportunity to engage and inform each other. Budget Challenge is an online personal finance simulation that bridges content understanding with behavior modification.  Using tools such as these enhance the learning process for students.
Imagine the possibilities. Imagine students across the country creating their own video clips or instructional videos; students collaborating using Skype, wiki’s, or Google docs; Consider Vicki Davis’ flat classroom, who I hope to collaborate with myself in the near future. It almost goes without mentioning the countless benefits of 1:1 schools, originally developed by one of our country’s finest schools, the Cincinnati Country Day School. I have not even touched on game-based and project-based learning possibilities. I could go on and on. You get the point, and in many environments this is already occurring. To be clear, these are blended learning tools that can be used for students to experience light up, light bulb and lead moments.
Teachers do not fear technology, as most are embracing it. Teachers do not fear reform that is good for kids, as many are leading it. Teachers fear a political push that uses technology as a cost cutting tool, promoting processes that build learning walls impossible for students to climb. Teachers fear a politician-centered or corporate-centered approach to education that does not put the student first. Or as Tom Whitby put it here, another tarnished silver bullet.
When blended learning is teacher-led, student-centered and a part of the bigger picture rather than the bigger picture, students win.