Making BL Work for the Long Term

In a recently posted article titled, "Blended Learning Leaders Are Over the Honeymoon—and Rolling Up Their Sleeves," columnist Alex Hernandez writes about the process six schools have made in their thinking about blended learning. Each of these schools has been blended for some time and they have all moved past the honeymoon period, or as the author describes, the "getting-the-technology-to-work" phase. The roll-out of technology and seeing it actually work is often the most exciting part of blended learning, but these six schools have found three key areas where they will continue their evolution: finding out what learning software is working for students; making edtech tools usable for teachers; and, putting better data in the hands of teachers and students.

When choosing a content provider (e.g. Study Island), it is probably most important to consider how successful the content provider is in increasing student achievement. Each software company seems to have proof that their product boosts achievement on standardized tests, just as each toothpaste company has proof that their product decreases the likelihood of cavities. After successfully introducing their students to the new software, the schools in the article decided to cross-reference the student data from the software with student data on NWEA MAP tests. As there was a positive correlation, they were assured that they had made a positive investment in the software. Because the content provider software market is so competitive, it is important that schools and teachers continuously analyze the student achievement data to ensure that the software is working for the students.

In many of my meetings with teachers this summer, I have heard time and time again, "I want a tool that does x, y, and z." Sometimes, there is an edtech tool that is a perfect fit, but often, teachers are left to figure out how to cover the gaps left by the software. Two of the schools in the article are now creating their own solutions to make edtech tools work more effectively for teachers. One school focused on curation, creating edtech playlists for teachers that would deliver their x, y, and z. The other school worked on developing the teachers' capacity for creating technology by teaching the teachers how to code. We have all Googled lesson plans or activities that get close to meeting our needs, but fall just short. When this happens, we have used our ingenuity to craft something new based on resources we have found. The same concept can apply for edtech tools, it just might take more technical knowledge on top of our ingenuity.

Finally, one of the benefits of most edtech tools is access to immediate student data. I know that when I first started using NoRedInk, I fell in love with the color-coded charts and graphs that let me see my students' strengths and weaknesses. I would spend some time after each NoRedInk session looking at the data and thinking to myself, "Hmm... that's really cool that Johnny is 64% proficient in using prepositions." Because of the novelty of the data, it took me time to figure out how to use it. The schools in the article had the same experience, but at a larger level. These schools have now all taken the important step of leveraging the data and making the data actionable for teachers and students. Their data evolution reminds me of the news revolution. The news was previously shared on a fixed schedule, spaced out evenly across a 24 hour period. Upon the invention of 24-hour news networks, the Internet, and social media, the news is now shared immediately and constantly. In schools, student data was previously shared at fixed intervals (e.g. after standardized tests or common form assessments). Now, just like the news, student data will be shared immediately and constantly. We have the job of figuring out how to effectively analyze and use the data.