FuelEd and Getting Smart Offer Tips for Building Blended Learning Programs
Simplicity, ease of use and anytime-anywhere access are key to the success of
online and blended learning programs, according to a new white paper from
personalized learning provider, Fuel
Education (FuelEd), and education advocacy firm, Getting Smart.
Last year, FuelEd and Getting Smart released their first white paper about
implementing online and blended learning programs. That paper, Fueling a Personalized Learning Revolution in Secondary Education, focussed
on the benefits of personalized and blended learning for secondary students and
described various blended learning models.
The new white paper, How to
Successfully Scale Personalized Learning: Six Key Lessons from Effective
Programs, focuses on expanding successful programs to serve more students.
This paper suggests a framework for scaling online and blended learning
programs, details six lessons learned from educators who have scaled their
programs, outlines the benefits of scaling such programs and offers
recommendations for administrators and educators who want to scale their
program.
To collect information for this white paper, Getting Smart interviewed
educators from schools and districts that had already developed successful
programs and subsequently expanded those programs to all of their students.
Based on those interviews, Getting Smart identified six key lessons learned.
The six key lessons include:
- Simplifying the user experience for teachers and students and ensuring
ease of access to online and blended learning platforms;
- Enabling schools to customize course content to include teacher-created
content and customize assessments;
- Partnering with organizations beyond the school to extend access to
online and blended learning programs and offer more ways of delivering
instruction;
- Involving administrators and teachers in strategic planning, curriculum
review, instructional alignment and partnership cultivation;
- Growing in a "stairstep" approach; and
- Rewarding and recognizing success.
The white paper is available through Fuel
Education's site.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].