Welcome to the BLU Personalized Learning Forum

Jenny White, Jun 6, 2018 0 0
Hi there! Thanks for your question. You might want to check out LEAP InnovatED Summit in Chicago August 28th. There's also ASCD's Conference on Teaching Excellence in Texas, June 29-July 1. And while it's less about blended learning specifically, Big Bang run by Big Picture Learning in late July is another great event. Have a great summer of learning! Read more...

Anonymous, Jun 6, 2018 0 0
Go to ISTE Chicago, June 24-27!

Luis Flores, Jun 6, 2018 1 1
Hello DeEtta,Thank you for asking this question. The paraprofessional or non-teacher role is certainly beneficial to have on some models and perhaps required in one model (if you are using a lab rotation and students are leaving the classroom to go to a computer lab, you probably want to have an adult that can supervise the students. But do not feel that having an additional adult makes these harder or less beneficial.The reason that some models depict a paraprofessional role is that we wanted to depict what schools with the additional support could do to get the most out of their support staff. The paraprofessional can supervise students working online, assist students who are struggling, and/or look over student learning data while the teacher is working with small groups or individuals.But not having access to one is not an issue at all. You can still have station rotation models where a group of students works with the teacher, another group can work on a collaborative project, and another group can work independently and at their own pace online. Many of the tasks that the paraprofessional would do, can be done by the computers (keeping students engaged, providing them personalized instruction, creating individualized learning playlists, etc.)While we always hope (and believe) that all students should have access to many impactful and caring adults, we know that sometimes there is just one teacher in a class of 30+ students. The blended learning models were designed with this in mind and can still have a positive impact no matter the specific circumstances you find yourself in. I hope this answered your question! Read more...

Luis Flores, Jun 6, 2018 0 0
In addition to my answer, even if you do not have a paraprofessional, there are still other ways you can leverage your current staff and fellow teachers to create teams of teachers or other unique staffing arrangements. You can read about your latest research on these innovative staffing arrangements herehttps://www.christenseninstitute.org/publications/staffing/ Read more...

Jenny White, May 3, 2018 0 0
Hello! Thanks for you question. If you are interested in tranforming your class to a blended-learning environment, consider various design elements of your blended program first. The Blended Learning Universe includes a 9-step design guide, from helping you to identify a problem to solve or a goal to achieve, to later fostering a positive learning culture and figuring out which new approaches work -- and which don't. Check out the design guide here:https://www.blendedlearning.org/design/ Read more...

Michael Fauteux, Expert Advisor, May 4, 2018 1 1
Hi Stefanie. Do you feel the challenge is managing instruction for truant students or for students at different places on the platform in general? While my schools do not use the Summit Platform, we have a math course called Navigate Math that has students move at their own pace, requiring us to figure out how to support students working multiple units apart (students in our 9th grade Nav Math classes enter with 5th grade math skills on average). The spread comes from students having different academic and non-academic skill capacities and different mindsets. Here is an overview of the course at the Learning Accelerator's (TLA) practices website.We found that unmotivated students (this includes some truant students for us) were one type of challenge for us while supporting asynchronous learning was a separate issue. Two solutions we came up with that attempted to address both were small group pulling in a flex model to work with the teacher based on data and Cooperative Learning Teams. We use the Gooru Learning Navigator (we co-created the Learning Navigator w/ Gooru) but the platform doesn't really matter. What did matter to us was having ways for both teachers and students to track their progress. While students first engage with learning resources themselves, the teacher uses the data to pull groups of struggling students for mini-lessons each day in a flex model. This has helped us manage learning, whether it be helping students make meaning from resources they explore or by conducting direct instruction and investigation with students.The second practice we use is Cooperative Learning Teams. Essentially, it's an approach we created off of some research at Johns Hopkins that creates positive horizontal accountability among groups of students to help them function as a team and support one another. It creates greater buy in, helping address students working in different places and a diverse range of mindsets and motivation, possibly speaking to the truancy challenge you have. It helps make visible to students specific behaviors that support learning in an asset-based way that builds community and accelerates learning. You can view a guide with links to resources including prototype dashboards here at TLA's Learning Commons. Hope these ideas help! Read more...

Paul Bulakowski, Apr 19, 2018 0 0
https://www.CoreAtlas.ioTested in classrooms grade 3 & up (rural, urban, high/low SES). Based completely on the learning science, and what helps Students INTRINSIC motivation (because learning is rewarding). Happy to demo anytime.. and thank you for being a progressive, Student-first [email protected]://www.mindmyeducation.com/teachers/https://www.mindmyeducation.com/request-demo Read more...

Samantha Brumley, Apr 19, 2018 1 1
Being clear about expectations around rigor and mastery and creating opportunities for students to develop SEL and non-cognitive skills can be beneficial to all learners. At TLA, we recently released a resource series focused on diverse learners, but this entry, in particular, speaks to how these strategies can help keep students motivated and can ensure high standards for all students in the classroom:https://practices.learningaccelerator.org/problem-of-practice/how-do-i-ensure-rigor-and-high-expectations-for-the-whole-student-in-blended-personalized-learning-classrooms Read more...

Katrina Bushko, Apr 16, 2018 1 1
Hi Laura,Although we say that the Flex model has online learning as its "backbone," it doesn't mean that the software has to be adaptive. You can design many different learning activities in an online format that students can access according to their needs. One example that comes to mind is EM Emílio Carlos in Rio de Janeiro. The teacher using this model, Eric Rodrigues, doesn't have internet access during his class period, so he himself has to ensure that all of his online content is accessible and varied. Even though he doesn't have adaptable software, the reason we call this an Individual Rotation rather than Flex is that he creates individualized playlists for this students out of the different activities – in a Flex model, the activities are there and students have the option (the flexibility, if you will) to choose which activities they do when. Does that make sense? Read more...

Michael Fauteux, Expert Advisor, Apr 9, 2018 1 1
Hi Diane. I particularly like putting learning lists on www.gooru.org. You can curate learning collections for students using all types of different resources (video, text, interactive, etc.) that you yourself can post or locate in Gooru's library itself. What's also nice is that you can facilitate formative assessments with a real-time interface that allow both teacher and student to respond to data in the moment. Being able to connect assessment results to specific learning experiences for support is particularly powerful. By far the best feature though is the 'remix' ability you have. You can go into Gooru and remix and entire course, learning collection, assessment, or individual resource and edit them as you see fit. This makes the whole process of curating learning experiences for students more sustainable. It also makes collaboration between colleagues super easy as you can copy and edit each other's materials. The entire platform is open and free. Full disclosure, my school system (www.leadps.org) and I co-created Gooru's Learning Navigator. We use it to facilitate different discrete BL / PL practices and entire models in the classroom. Students can even learn independently along side specific classroom curated experiences. The whole thing is flexible and modular by design and pretty accessible. Read more...

Anonymous, Apr 18, 2018 0 0
Hello from New York! I'd recommend the book Disrupting Class (2008) by Clayton Christensen and Michael B. Horn. It looks at the rise of online and blended learning through the lens of disruptive innovation. It should be very helpful. Read more...

Emily Pulham, Mar 27, 2018 1 1
Hi David! Glad you asked. Since the early 2000s, Charles Graham at BYU has been studying blended teaching and learning in Higher Education. I am one of his doctoral students and we have been trying to connect the dots with K-12 blended learning and Higher Ed recently. Happy to connect with you and share what we've learned! Specifically, you might be interested to see the diagram on page 7, and a paragraph on page 19 of this article: https://mvlri.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/k12-blended-teaching-readiness-phase-1-instrument-development.pdf Do you have any questions about this? Feel free to contact me personally ([email protected]) Read more...