education week
by tom vander ark
"instead of 'fixing' k-12, let's build something better," said alex hernandez from charter growth fund (@thinkschools) who opened a conversation among experts on the future of learning. "blended learning is not about technology, it's about personalizing learning for students. we can give students the instruction they need, when they need it."
hernandez has been a teacher and a private equity investor. after a few years of focused learning, hernandez is among the most creative thought leaders in the emerging blended learning space. he addressed the philanthropy roundtable's recent session on blended learning--part of a series of convenings that keep foundations current on trends and best practices.
hernandez described how top performing charter networks initially introduced blended learning rotation models where students cycle through computer labs or classroom stations. while these implementations often resembled existing schools and classrooms, teachers began to focus more on differentiated, small group instruction and students ditched worksheets for adaptive, online content. the early results are encouraging and organizations like rocketship education, firstline and the alliance for college-ready public schools are scaling blended learning across their schools.
read the entire article at education week.
