Middlebury Community Schools To Adopt Blended Learning
Middlebury Community Schools in
Indiana plans to create two blended learning classrooms at Northridge High
School and Northridge Middle School. The district expects the classrooms to be
ready for the 2015-16 school year.
Blended learning programs combine online and face-to-face classroom
instruction. The Middlebury blended learning program will likely use an online
learning system from Fuel Education. The
district will hire two additional certified teachers — one for each school —
to recruit students for the blended learning program, coordinate schedules,
answer student questions and monitor student progress.
The program may appeal to nontraditional students, including those who are
currently homeschooled or need an alternative learning environment. The program
will also enable traditional students to earn credit for courses that are not
otherwise available. At the middle school level, those courses could include
high school German, Latin or accounting. High school students could use the
program to take remedial or college-level courses. Students in the blended
learning program can still enroll in traditional classes at the school and
participate in extracurricular activities.
The district expects to pay no more than $300 per student for the online
learning software licenses, and the middle school estimates that it will spend
no more than $16,000 on new computers for the program. Jane Allen,
superintendent of Middlebury Community Schools told the Elkhart Truth that she
expects the blended learning program to almost pay for itself because it will
attract students to the school district.
Middlebury Community Schools serves three townships in northeastern Elkhart
County, IN. The district operates four elementary schools, one intermediate
school, one middle school and one high school.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].