Is Blended Learning the Bees Knees?

     Is blended learning the new frontier in education?  Lately, I am leaning toward answering that with an affirmative.  Some of my college courses (including the one this blog is for) are considered blended.  Some have even been offered completely online.  And I think it speaks volumes when I say that, though I am not a digital native, I haven't struggled to learn effectively from these courses.  I believe most students today could navigate a blended classroom successfully.  I quite like the freedom that online learning offers me.  I can learn when I have time in my crazy schedule, wherever I may be.  I also like that many of these courses offer online textbooks or online articles and podcasts rather than traditional texts.  They save money and open up learning.  And these benefits also appeal to younger learners, which explains why many high schools and middle schools have incorporated blended learning courses into their curriculum.

     So what is blended learning?  According to Stacy Hawthorne, the technology integration coordinator for Medina City Schools, blended learning is:

• A classroom where students are accountable for their learning and time
• A place where students have to formulate questions then discover and evaluate answers in order to learn
• An atmosphere where collaboration is essential to success
• A setting where learning occurs in any space and any time; and
• An environment where mastery is shown through authentic projects or presentations.

(See her article here.)  I feel like many of these skills are designed for the older learner,  mainly found in secondary grades 9-12.  A great deal of blended learning requires that the student can self-regulate and be responsible for their own learning.  That being said, elementary students should be exposed to a great deal of technology rich curriculum so they are prepared to take blended courses in the future.  In her Building Blended Learning Environments video, Hawthorne states that there are a surprising number of fully online schools across the U.S.  I only wish she had provided statistics proving they contribute to student success.  I have a suspicion that many of these fully online schools are charter schools, many of which do not experience a great deal of success according to standardized tests and graduation rates.  
   
      While I love the idea of online components to classes, blended classes,and even some classes being completely online, I do not support the idea of fully online school for mainstream learners.  I feel there is value in learning to physically interact with peers.  I am a bit intimidated by the idea of developing a blended class, but like that Stacy admits they do not get created and integrated over night.  With the right support from administration and from peers, I feel I could transition from a classroom that incorporates some technological tools to one that is blended in just a short time.