Blended Learning Initiative

Yesterday morning, about 30 teachers, administrators, and innovators from my district met to discuss an initiative regarding Blended Learning. This is something are district really needed to begin looking at as we move forward with our technology plan and technology integration.  We first began by discussing our goals:

• To create a shared vision about how to best leverage technology as a tool to enhance student achievement

• To promote the Blended Classroom concept as a process to advance the use of technology in all classrooms in the SDJ

• Define what technology skills every teacher needs to make the blended classroom a reality

• Identify how graduates from SDJ will look different as a result of this effort.

As a group we read and discussed the article from the March issue of Education Leadership called the The Basics of Blended Instruction. This article was written by Caitlin R. Tucker. She has some wonderful tips that she shares from her experiences in implementing blended learning. Her first tip is one that I usually share when teaching my graduate course on Web 2.0. This tip is that you must "Think big, but start small". When you are just beginning to move forward with blended learning, you must keep your end goal in mind but just begin with one initiative.  
As a group we talked about some more of the big ideas that we pulled form this article and as our discussions began in a smaller group breakouts:
Big Ideas:

• Think Big, Start Small, & Share
• Building staff capacity
• Accessibility & Equity
• Reallocation of financial resources
• Establish criteria for quality
• Positive Result
• Support system
• Students produce/construct quality
• Purpose-enhance guaranteed and viable curriculum

When looking at this initiative and writing the technology plan, we decided to begin moving forward with the implementation of Edmodo K-8 and Moodle 6-12 and using these tools as the platform to begin our blended learning journey. As a result of these decisions, I am excited to be one that will be training our teachers on the Edmodo and its uses. It is a tool I used when I was a 3rd grade teacher and constantly promote in my graduate course.