Topic: Is blended coursework, a combination of face-to face class time and online study, a viable option for secondary education?

I had a little catch-up work to do before this week’s discussion, mostly because I had no idea what “blended coursework” (or Blended Learning, BL, as it was referred to by most) actually was.  So, assuming that you might be a newbie like I was, let’s do a quick review of some definitions.

Blended learning (also referred to as hybrid learning, but that’s less common nowadays) is education by way of a combination of in-person classes and online coursework.  It differs from distance learning in that the students do meet with their professor in person, regularly.  And it differs from “standard learning” (my own silly term) in that not all required coursework is done in the classroom with the instructor.

“Now, hold on a second,” you might be thinking.  “That sounds a lot like what my kids already do at school!  They go into school to work with their teachers all day and then they come home and do homework on the computer.”  And I must admit, you have a point.  Indeed, it would be difficult to imagine a school that doesn’t make some use of the massive educational resource that is the internet for high-school and college students.

But the question is: should we increase our reliance on the internet?  Can some classroom time be ditched in favor of online education?  And, of course, would the change be a positive one?

The question is a timely one.  More and more schools are taking advantage of the plethora of free or very cheap resources available online as a way to maintain educational standards while cutting education budgets.  Others are embracing technology simply because they recognize the awesome potential of it.  And then, of course, there are those that are reluctant to change.

It was a lively discussion – and one that teachers, administrators, and education bloggers will be continuing for years and years to come.

Main themes from the discussion:

• We already do this.  There were a good number of teachers who pointed out, quite rightly, that they already take a blended approach to their classrooms.  They have “flipped” their classrooms to allow students to work on what is traditionally homework in class and watch/listen to lectures at home.  Or they have incorporated wikis and blogs into the curriculum.  Or they have made assignments and notes available online, and require their students to turn things in via email or a drop box.  Truly, the possibilities are limitless, and what’s nice is that you can choose what you want to “outsource” and what you want to keep old-school.  It’s very adaptable.
• What do we lose with less face-to-face interaction?  This question was brought up later in the discussion by David Wees, but I put it towards the top because I think it merits a prominent place in our thoughts as we head down this road.  It is undeniable that face-to-face interaction is a big part of education.  I remember being told by my parents (both teachers) that college was mostly about interacting with a lot of smart people; not so much about classes.  Preserving that sense of community in school is important, and we need to take care not rely too heavily on technology and forget what people add to the equation.
• What do we gain with blended learning?  On the other hand, using the internet and other technology for educational purposes carries with it some undeniable and awe-inspiring advantages.  For one thing, you get to draw from a much larger pool of knowledge when you’re not limited to just what the teacher knows.  Students also can work at their own pace more, push themselves in more diverse directions, and collaborate with people that would normally be totally left out.  Truly, the possibilities are endless, and I highly recommend going through the archive of the conversation (when it’s up) and reading all of them, as most people in the conversation chose to focus on the positives.
• What about the underprivileged?  Of course, no #edchat would be complete without a discussion of what to do for those students without access to the internet or a computer at home.  This is a theme that comes up week after week in #edchat, and while I don’t think it is an issue that can or should be easily or quickly dismissed, it is also one that I think is partially irrelevant.  Should we limit progress until everyone can join?  If so, that puts serious restrictions on what progress can be made.  Also, several people brought up some good ideas for what to do to help those underprivileged students, and I have copied several of them in the section below.

My favorite tweets from the discussion:

delta_dc What problem is blended learning trying to solve? And how can we be sure that it is solving it?

Trinity6215 @cybraryman1 My MS child has online learning. She enjoys the net, but LOVES her teachers.

kstansberry Un-blended learning is audacious in the assumption that the teacher/school/textbook is the font of all knowledge.

simplyserina Blended learning helps to cultivate and teach digital literacy, which is essential in the now and future workplace.

delta_dc Isn’t all learning blended? A combination of teacher-student mentorship, student-student interaction, and student self-study?

davidwees I think we need to remember: no one model works for everyone.

littleacorn72 I think that BL is a spectrum and teachers can choose what works best for their students/class.

ShellTerrell @MikeGwaltney @davidwees It all boils down to the training. Teachers who understand how to implement will do it effectively.

davidwees @blairteach Almost everyone in #edchat is already talking about what we gain, and very little discussion about what we lose.

MertonTech From participating in #edchat for a long time now, some concepts are echoed almost every time. Like tech access for the poor.

MertonTech Blended learning can happen anywhere, including 100% contained in the classroom.

pamwesely What if schools (and students at home) don’t have reliable online access? What are options to help with blending?

mikevigilant Until everyone in the district has internet access at home, I just think this whole blended/flipped/whatever is a nonstarter for us.

cybraryman1 @mikevigilant I know it is not the panacea but students can work with others who have access. Wish all had access.

bwasson @mikevigilant I never had a newspaper subscription at home, but still had to do multiple weekly current events assignments using one.

blairteach This whole notion of not doing something until everyone can do it disturbs me. Get the crowd moving and pick up the stragglers.

mr_isaacs Seems like every #edchat topic has the caveat that teacher’s must be willing to give up some control. I see a pattern.

ShellTerrell One of the easiest blended learning tools I show teachers to use that has a lot of buy-in are wikis!

cybraryman1 My Blended Learning (BL) page: http://t.co/YKHzR93H

TestSoup @mikevigilant I know the blogger Iserotope teaches underprivileged students and uses a BL model. http://t.co/Sw5cxuXk JJW

CTuckerEnglish I blog about my experiences teaching BL & have excerpts from my book (The Perfect Blend) — out in June catlintucker.com.

To follow the complete discussion, look for the full archive here.  They’re usually posted up by the end of the week.

Looking to discuss #edtech in depth? Check out the LinkedIn group: Edutech Trends, Visions, Passions.

New to #EdChat?

If you have never participated in an #Edchat discussion, these take place twice a day every Tuesday on Twitter.  Over 400 educators participate in this discussion by just adding #edchat to their tweets. For tips on participating in the discussion, please check out these posts:

• Edchat: Join the Conversation
• Using TweetDeck for Hashtag Discussions

More Edchat

• If you would like to join others in transforming the discussion into action, please feel free to join the Edchat group on the Educator PLN ning.
• Jerry Swiatek does an incredible job of posting each archived transcript on the #edchat wiki created by Steve Johnson. This way you can look back at your favorites!
• Find previous summaries here on this blog – see #edchat category on right sidebar
• Follow other Edchatters and make sure you are on this Twitter list if you participate in #Edchat!
• Read summaries of the 7pm EST/1 am CET Edchat discussions.

Challenge:

If you’re new to hashtag discussions, then just show up on Twitter on any Tuesday and add just a few tweets on the topic with the hashtag #edchat.

What do you think? Leave a comment! We would love to hear from you.

Topic: Will the idea of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) help or hinder education?

It’s Thanksgiving week, so I thought that this week’s #edchat would see a much smaller and more intimate group of regulars.  Wrong!  Yesterday’s conversation was just as frantic and bursting with insight as every week.  I guess that’s what keeps us coming back for more.  I saw one tweet saying that this was the best break; the best way to recharge your batteries, and although I can’t exactly describe #edchat as relaxing, it definitely gets your education motor running strong.

In the interest of full disclosure here, I figure I should remind readers that I am not an educator.  I don’t teach students, and I have very limited experience being in charge of even a small group of them.  And, of course, I work for a company that feels very strongly about integrating mobile devices into education.  So naturally I approached this conversation thinking that BYOD can definitely help education.

What I found is that I am not alone in thinking this.  That’s no surprise, of course.  Those that participate in #edchat are a progressive bunch, generally far ahead of your average teacher on the tech curve.  They’re here because they already know that new technology makes some amazing things possible.  So would we waste an entire hour congratulating ourselves and agreeing with each other?

Again, the answer should be obvious. Of course not!  Nobody does #edchat for the glory.  They sign on every week to share insights and increase their own supply of knowledge and great ideas.  In other words: they get down to brass tacks, and that’s what we did this week.

Very quickly, it seemed, the overall topic was already decided, and the discussion turned to what difficulties might arise when instituting a BYOD policy in a classroom or in an entire school.  There were three main objections raised, and I will go through each of them in the next section.

Main themes from the discussion:

• How do you handle all the tech issues that will inevitably arise?  This one was brought up almost immediately.  Probably in the first few minutes.  You see, some teachers are already dealing with classrooms that are BYOD, and they know that when students have electronics in front of them they will naturally have questions and need help.  How is one teacher supposed to plan lessons that are compatible with every conceivable platform?  How is one teacher supposed to find the time (and the expertise) to solve every conceivable problem?
• Fortunately, many of these teachers also proposed solutions.  Some had found that students could generally solve problems on their own if instructed to do so.  Others found that putting student groups in charge of troubleshooting specific devices freed up valuable time.  A few admitted that they were quietly trying to learn everything they could about all the most common devices.  I think a combination of these approaches could go a long way.  The important thing would be to make it a school-wide strategy.  We can’t have some teachers holding students’ hands all the way and others expecting them to walk on their own.  It needs to be consistent.
• How do you level the playing field for those students who can’t?  This was another issue that was brought up rather quickly.  I think it’s a valid one, but also one that can be misleading.  Sure, we want to equip all students the best way we can, but the fact is that schools have differing resources at their disposal.  And so do students.  But do we handicap everyone in a class because some people can’t afford to bring in their own iPad or smartphone?
• Again, many teachers chimed in with some great suggestions.  It was pointed out that for every laptop, smartphone, or tablet that one student brings, that frees up one from the school for a student who needs it more.  I think that’s an important point, and one that should not go understated.  Every little bit helps.  It’s also easy to forget that many of these resources can be shared by several students with little loss in productivity, as long as they can work effectively in groups.  But the bottom line is that some money will need to be spent by many schools to provide resources for those students without them.  That seems inevitable.
• How do you keep your classroom safe and on track?  This point didn’t get made until a little later in the discussion, but it’s still a valid one.  How does a teacher, looking out at a sea of faces behind computer monitors, tablets, or smartphones, know who is working and who is playing?  How do they keep everyone focused and productive?  And how do they make sure that those “distracted” students aren’t digging around on the internet for illicit material?  Both these questions are ones that I, personally, am unequipped to answer.
• I do know, however, that both tech people and teachers are pretty darn smart.  Sure, a student here or there might be able to slip through the cracks and play solitaire instead of participating once in a while.  But students will always find ways to zone out – and teachers will always notice.  Similarly, I’m sure that a school’s tech team could find a way to police what gets accessed online by multiple devices if they put their minds to it.  Every problem has a solution, even if its imperfect.

My favorite tweets from the discussion:

mikevigilant: LOL that’s today’s #edchat topic? In my state it’s *illegal* to BYOD to school! Might need to fix that first!

bhsprincipal: @cybraryman1 I believe we have a moral imperative to allow access to more resources for staff and students. #edchat

 teacherdebra: #BYOD implies teacher is not the expert in the room; this is a shift teachers have to make. #shifthappens #edchat

jasongraham99: Teachers also need some lessons from the kids. Got a G10 teaching me about iMovie at the moment. #edchat

TestSoup: I wonder why it becomes the teacher’s responsibility to help a kid with whatever tech he brings? Why not let them figure it out? #edchat JJW

TestSoup: In HS, I could bring in any calculator I wanted, but my teacher told us that he could only troubleshoot TI-83s. It worked. #edchat JJW

davidwees: @TestSoup One of our students does much of the support for Mac users, for example. #edchat

jasongraham99: @davidwees @TestSoup So in a way its good learning experience. Still frustrates teachers though. Teachers need more skills? #edchat

MertonTech: I am constantly amazed at how few people, even with the internet, learn to do small things for themselves. #edchat

davidwees: @MertonTech @TestSoup I’m developing a culture of “you need to know how to do this too.” Also, have supportive and driven staff. #edchat

MertonTech: Imagine how much less you’d have to pay people to do simple things if you had 2 more hours a day for #education. #edchat

ShellTerrell: RT @TestSoup Assignment idea: Solve this problem using tech. Then make a presentation of how you solved it. Teach the rest of the class. #edchat JJW

(Sorry if I seem like I was a little self-serving this time with my favorite tweets.  This week’s discussion was so fast and frantic that I fear I missed some of the best tweets that weren’t directed my way or a response to a conversation I was following.  I strongly recommend looking up the archive, when it’s up.)

To follow the complete discussion, look for the full archive here.

Looking to discuss #edtech in depth? Check out the LinkedIn group: Edutech Trends, Visions, Passions.

New to #EdChat?

If you have never participated in an #Edchat discussion, these take place twice a day every Tuesday on Twitter.  Over 400 educators participate in this discussion by just adding #edchat to their tweets. For tips on participating in the discussion, please check out these posts:

• Edchat: Join the Conversation
• Using TweetDeck for Hashtag Discussions

More Edchat

• If you would like to join others in transforming the discussion into action, please feel free to join the Edchat group on the Educator PLN ning.
• Jerry Swiatek does an incredible job of posting each archived transcript on the #edchat wiki created by Steve Johnson. This way you can look back at your favorites!
• Find previous summaries here on this blog – see #edchat category on right sidebar
• Follow other Edchatters and make sure you are on this Twitter list if you participate in #Edchat!
• Read summaries of the 7pm EST/1 am CET Edchat discussions.

Challenge:

If you’re new to hashtag discussions, then just show up on Twitter on any Tuesday and add just a few tweets on the topic with the hashtag #edchat.

What do you think? Leave a comment! We would love to hear from you.

Is it worth fighting a war over edtech?  Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush seems to think so.  He co-founded the Foundation for Excellence in Education and has made it his goal to “digitize education,” which (from what I understand) involves phasing out teachers and phasing in online learning.  For more details, read this short article from Fox News.

Of course, there are those who think that such a war is already being fought.  Will Richardson, one of my favorite education bloggers, has been writing about this for a while.  You can check out his latest “rant” on the subject here – coincidentally posted on the same day as the Fox News article, although it is a direct response to this more in-depth piece from the Wall Street Journal.

The question is: Will edtech be the downfall of teachers?  We have a discussion going on about this already in our LinkedIn group: Edutech Trends, Visions, Passions.   Feel free to join in and give your opinion – we’d love to hear it!

But enough with the links.  Time for a little editorializing.  That’s why people read blogs to begin with, right?

The key element of this discussion comes in only at the very end of both the Fox News and WSJ articles.

In the end, virtual schooling “comes down to what you make of it,” says Rosie Lowndes, a social-studies teacher at Georgia Cyber Academy. Kids who work closely with parents or teachers do well, she says. “But basically letting a child educate himself, that’s not going to be a good educational experience.” The computer, she says, can’t do it alone.

I couldn’t agree more.  Edtech is a tool – a powerful one, at that – but it cannot be mistaken for a solution to all our education problems.  Sure, you can use technology to do a lot these days.  But sometimes there is simply no replacement for an excellent teacher.  After all, would you consider yourself qualified to perform a root canal after watching a YouTube video?  You might be “better informed” but you’re still not an expert.

Take our flashcards as another example.  We aren’t just making these because we think we’ll get rich quick.  If we were, we would have quit some time ago.  We make them because we firmly believe that studying with our flashcards is one way to help you improve your knowledge, understanding, and (yes) your score on many key standardized tests.

But are our flashcards the only solution?  No.  In fact, we are very clear in our FAQ section that we don’t believe our flashcards should be the only test-prep trick up your sleeve.  Our flashcards are but one piece in the educational puzzle.  To treat them any differently would be a mistake, just as viewing edtech and “digital education” as a one-size-fits-all solution to every student’s education would be too.

Topic: Is the rift often found between IT people and classroom teachers a real issue? How do we address this issue?

Right from the outset, I could tell that this was going to be an intense discussion.  Think about it:  what are the two types of people that participate in #edchat?  1) Educators and 2) tech specialists with an education background.  Talk about pitting the two primary participant groups against each other!  The potential for this to turn into my first #edfight seemed very real.

Then again, a willingness to log onto Twitter and plug into something as intense as #edchat shows that you’re the type of person who doesn’t just jump to conclusions and speak without thinking.  If you did, you’d be using your free time for almost anything besides #edchat and Teacher Lingo blogs.

Although you could tell that tempers were slightly aroused and egos bruised from time to time (I call ‘em like I sees ‘em), the discussion was high-level, on-topic, and highly insightful.  After all, what would you expect from #edchat?

If I had to summarize the outcome of the discussion in one paragraph, it would be this:

Quite often, teachers and IT forget that they’re both playing for the same side and on equal footing.  Both sides are guilty of this, although each individual circumstance is different.  The key to bringing both teachers and the IT department closer is communication, like in any relationship.  Teachers should not be intimidated by “tech speak” and IT staff should not be intimidated by teachers’ degrees or tenure.  The best way to make this happen is to begin a conversation before something is broken in the classroom.  The challenge, of course, is to find time for this extra communication, as both sides are already overworked.

The most interesting sub-discussion (in my own humble opinion) was over who should be in charge of organizing this conversation between teachers and IT – and who should be in charge of finding and adopting new edtech for the school.  The consensus seemed to be that it was the administration’s job to facilitate discussion between a school’s faculty, and that it most cases a sort of “tech liaison” was appointed to discover new edtech resources.  I think both these solutions make sense.

The other interesting thing I noticed was that both sides seemed just as capable of being intimidated by the other.  This is, in actuality, a very common source of misunderstandings and a stiff, unwelcoming culture.  Often, simply remembering the old saying “they’re as scared of you as you are of them” is enough to overcome it.

Hopefully this is what most other participants in the discussion took away from it.  Of course, the actual conversation went into much more detail and off on many more tangents.  You can check out an archive of the conversation here (it wasn’t available yet when I wrote this post but I’m sure it will be up by the time this is published), courtesy of @jswiatek.

Check back here next Wednesday morning for my summary of next week’s #edchat, and please leave a comment if you have any feedback at all.  This is my first #edchat summary, so I wasn’t exactly sure what was expected of me and what resources were available to me.  But I hope to continue!

Also, check out our discussion group on LinkedIn: EduTech Trends, Visions, and Passions if you just can’t get enough #edchat.  I post a new topic there every day, and it’s always open for your comments and discussions.

Ever heard of a hackathon?  It’s basically an all-out creative festival where people committed to one particular cause get together for a weekend (sometimes longer) to make awesome stuff.  So perhaps you can imagine what an “Education Hack Day” would be like.  I picture it being sort of similar to #edchat but in “real life,” with people coming out of the woodwork to contribute their own great ideas to the education and edtech scene.

Over the course of the weekend, teachers and technologists work to create apps to help check some items off the “Educator’s Wish List.”  In other words: participants make progress towards solving real problems submitted by real educators, not just crafting apps that they think will have the best chance of making them a million bucks.  Then, at the end of it all, each team presents what they’ve created to the public and a team of judges decide which apps have the most potential.  Pretty exciting stuff.

It’s even more exciting for us at TestSoup that not only is there an Education Hack Day coming up (November 12^th and 13^th) in Baltimore, Maryland, but that one of our own will be a judge at the event.  That’s right – one of TestSoup’s founding members will be there first-hand for the unveiling of these apps, and to help choose the winners.  Moving up in the world, right?

But wait – there’s more!  (In the words of all those used car salesmen…)

TestSoup is also donating free study materials to every single teacher who participates.  We just can’t help ourselves.  We see educators throwing themselves into the mix and we have to join them.  After all, why else get involved in the education sector unless you have a real passion for it?  Lord knows, the big bucks are much easier to find elsewhere…

And, last but not least, we’ve heard through the grapevine that one of the other major players in the education sphere is giving away free stuff to all participants.  PBworks, one of the leading educational workspace providers (and, incidentally another member of the Wasabi Ventures portfolio, along with TestSoup), is throwing their considerable weight behind the event.

We’d like to say that we hope this event will be a great success, but simply hoping is never enough.  So please, we implore you: check it out!

Educators, please consider submitting something to the Educator’s Wish List!

Edtech companies, consider sponsoring this very worthy event!

Tech junkies, please devote some of your considerable brainpower to those working on the apps!

And of course, developers and designers of Baltimore who care about Education, please show up and help out – it’s free and for a great cause!