steps and leaps into next-gen learning

forbes

by michael b. horn

as schools across the country adopt blended-learning models, a few clear trends are settling in, and, at the same time, some groups—like the next generation learning challenges—continue to help schools push the design envelope on what’s possible for students.

first, many schools are embarking upon a variety of design processes, rfps from vendors and the like only to arrive at the same cluster of solutions centered around the basic models of blended learning we identified here. there is nothing wrong with that per se. entering into a design process, for example, can help gain buy in from teachers and others in the community for adopting blended learning, which is still radically different from traditional schooling. adopting what are becoming tried-and-true blended-learning models (yes, i know it still may be too soon to use that phrase for blended learning, but i just did it) to individualize learning for students and improve teachers’ lives is better than remaining stuck in a failed factory-based model of schooling, even if the model is not the most innovative thing ever that pushes the blended-learning field forward for students. some standardization around a select few models—and a branding of those models—will likely be necessary ultimately to scale the practice nationwide.

the downside is that the process to arrive there can waste a lot of time and energy in reinventing the wheel, when, depending on the problem a school is trying to solve, the level of freedom it has to solve it, and the type of team it deploys to attack it, there is some predictability to the blended-learning model it is likely to adopt. heather staker and i are working on a white paper that will have more to say on this topic soon. but by way of an example, elementary schools are most likely to adopt station-rotation models or, in some cases, what some call the “rocketship” model—which tends to be a lab-rotation model that emulates the basics of what rocketship education, a blended-learning network of charter schools, does today.

depending on the model adopted or the framing of the problem, there is also some predictability to the groups schools might then work with to implement a solution—a further suggestion that schools ought to cut to the chase and foundations and others fostering the ecosystem should help them there. if a school plans to use a station-rotation model for math with one curriculum provider, for example, it will likely contract with one math vendor that provides supplemental math content—like dreambox learning or st math—or use a free solution like the khan academy. if it wants to work with multiple content providers on the other hand, there is a good bet it might work with a company like 瑞士vs喀麦隆亚盘赔率 , which is emerging as a leader in helping schools move to blended-learning models and offering a single sign-on software solution for schools so they can easily work with multiple content vendors. although the company helps schools enter into a design process to rethink the use of time, teacher roles, and so forth, the basic model that most schools using 瑞士vs喀麦隆亚盘赔率 adopt tends to be pretty consistent.

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