The underestimated resource for personalized learning (and how to get more of it)
May 7, 2019 |When schools think about incorporating personalized learning, it may seem intuitive to consider resources like specific technologies or professional development plans. But there’s another critical resource that too often gets discounted but is hiding in plain sight: time. Although schools may manage to add more time on the margins with a “just do more” mindset, […]
BPLC19: 5 hard-earned lessons from the messy, rewarding work of blended learning
April 25, 2019 |At this year’s Blended and Personalized Learning Conference, participants faced head-on their ongoing challenges to making effective, personalized and blended learning mainstream. The work’s easier said than done, especially when it comes to expanding practice beyond early adopters, adapting approaches to students’ contexts, or coordinating across teams to support a new instructional approach. The event, […]
Blended isn’t just about online learning—it’s making space for real-world relationships
March 28, 2019 |Blended learning is helping to unshackle schools from the one-teacher one-classroom model and usher in more creative and diverse instructional approaches. Beyond just restructuring the classroom, blended-learning models are starting to open up new connections and diversify students’ networks. This has huge potential to address not just achievement gaps, but opportunity gaps. Over the years, […]
3 secrets to successful Station Rotations
March 21, 2019 |Station Rotation is one of the most popular blended-learning approaches. The model isn’t new or unique to blended learning; teachers have been using learning activity “centers” in their classrooms for decades, particularly at the elementary level. What qualifies Station Rotation as a blended model is when at least one station involves student-led online learning. By […]
A Case for Real Cupcakes and Real Connections at BPLC19
February 26, 2019 |My three-year-old loves his iPad. He implores me to take it down from the high shelf where it’s stored with the desperate thirst of a man who’s been wandering the desert. It’s one of the few carrots I can use to compel him to do the things three-year-olds are loathe to do: put on shoes; […]
Personalizing PD for highly-effective, personalized-learning teachers
February 5, 2019 |There is little doubt that technology is a key tool to enable student-centered teaching and learning. After all, it was this premise that led to the great 1:1 race in which schools and districts invested hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars to get devices into the hands of as many students as possible. […]