From bricks to clicks: blurring classroom/cyber lines: blended learning combines the elements of online and face-to-face teaching approaches.

At Fayetteville-Manlius High School, a traditional high school in an upscale suburb of Syracuse, N.Y., R.J. Hartwell teaches science. For the past 18 months, he has extended the learning day for his students in untraditional ways--through his Blackboard online component.

On a typical morning before heading to school, Hartwell logs onto his school's Blackboard site to update his announcements page to remind his students that he'll be available for assignment questions after school through the chat feature of Blackboard. (Hartwell usually heads to the local coffee shop after school for a little decompression time over a latte. Since the shop has wireless access, he also uses the time to chat electronically with his students about homework questions.)

Hartwell also posts some links to information about tropical cyclone Larry, which struck Australia the day prior. During his preparation period, he develops a re-quiz for an astronomy topic his students are struggling with. He plans to open the quiz to his students after he provides additional classroom instruction later that day. He writes himself a reminder to update his announcement after class to give the students information on where to find the quiz on his Blackboard site. He's designed the quiz to give the students instant feedback on their results, and to let them take the quiz as often as they need to show mastery of the topic.

Hartwell also has included the class homework assignments on his site, eliminating the perennial student excuse, "I forgot what homework was due." His lecture notes and PowerPoint slides also are available on the site for those students who want to review the classroom instruction. Hartwell has found this has made document exchange easier for students with learning disabilities. He no longer has to copy his notes for his students' special education teachers--they now have the students download the documents from Hartwell's site.

Increasing Attention

In recent years, thanks to the evolution of the Internet, wide availability of classroom computers and increased broadband access, blended learning is emerging as a new tool in the K-12 educational toolkit.

Defined as learning that combines online and face-to-face approaches, blended learning is accomplished through the combined use of virtual and face-to-face resources, such as those used in Fayetteville-Manlius. Blended learning enables classroom teachers to increase student learning opportunities beyond the school day and school year, more closely resembling the 24/7 model with which the current generation of students is most familiar.

The prevalence of blended learning use in school districts is not yet known. The U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics' first report on distance education, "Distance Education Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2002-03," surveyed distance education through online and video-delivered courses, but did not survey the use of the blended learning approach.

In my over 10 years of experience with the design and delivery of Virtual High School online courses, I've recently begun to realize that the real so-called "killer application" of online education is blended learning, not online courses. During my attendance at national and regional educational technology conferences over the past few- years, I've noticed an increase in the number of sessions devoted to blended learning. It seems that school administrators, technology staff and teachers are taking the lessons from online education and modifying them to create blended learning models that can benefit students regardless of which medium they use for learning.

Multiple Advantages

With blended learning, schools now can maximize the use of technology in the classroom, integrating it into every K-12 teacher's curriculum. While blended learning can offer tremendous benefits to schools and educators, its primary benefits are to those we serve: students and parents.

For students, blended learning can lead to more engaging learning experiences. Experts believe that the lack of engagement is a key factor causing students to drop out of school. According to a report, "The Silent Epidemic," by Civic Enterprises, in association with Peter D. Hart Research Associates, 47 percent of high school dropouts blame boring classes for their disengagement. By moving beyond chalk and talk, teachers can accommodate every learning style and capture students' attention using a variety of multimedia elements.

In addition, blended learning can provide teachers, students and parents with real-time feedback relative to quizzes, tests, surveys and other formative assessments. Gone are the days of waiting weeks for test results. Teachers can facilitate immediate online assessments to see whether students have mastered material before moving on. With this approach, teachers can truly ensure that no child is left behind.

In addition, blended learning can offer parents the ability to see their child's assignments, the materials covered that week and what their child has accomplished and how he or she is progressing. By affording parents access to this information, educators can increase parental communication and involve parents in their child's educational process.

Finally, blended learning offers the opportunity to continue learning in times of disaster. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and concerns of an avian flu pandemic suggest a need to consider an online component as a means of continuing the learning process during disasters when students and teachers are not able to attend their schools.

Blended Models

When we talk about blended learning models, what are we blending?

We are blending ways of communicating with students, both asynchronous and synchronous, and blending classroom instruction with online instruction. The role of the teacher as facilitator of the student learning process is better supported in a blended learning model where the online component can foster exploration and the development of independent learning skills in students.

Blended learning spans the area between the traditional classroom and the online instructional model where course instruction is either delivered over the Internet or through two-way video conferencing. Blended learning itself consists of two models: the web-enhanced classroom and the hybrid classroom.

In the web-enhanced classroom, most of the instruction occurs in the classroom and the web enhancement supplements face-to-face instruction. For example, the teacher may put the course syllabus online, as well as the week's assignments or announcements, to further communication between home and school for both students and parents. There also may be weekly self-paced learning elements such as PowerPoint presentations, online quizzes or Internet links to websites to extend the learning day and provide additional resources. In this model, there will be minimal use of more advanced interactive online elements such as discussion boards.

To go from a traditional classroom model to one that is web-enhanced, the instructor and/or administrator first will need to decide the purpose of web enhancement and what types of enhancements will best meet those needs. Then they will need to consider whether the enhancements will necessitate the purchase of outside tools.

In Baltimore County, Md., the instructional need was to increase mastery of algebra and geometry skills. Cognitive Tutor, a product of Carnegie Learning, was purchased to enhance classroom instruction, giving students the time needed, either during the school day or afterward to work on problem sets until mastery is attained. A benefit of the online tutor model is the program's ability to adapt the instruction and materials to the level of the student and to provide online guidance along the way.

Cognitive Tutor can redefine how students view homework and can help teachers redefine how and where they put their instructional efforts. Of the schools in Baltimore County that are using the product, approximately 60 percent of instruction is classroom-based, emphasizing introduction of topic, cooperative learning and exploration activities, and 40 percent is web-based instruction, where the emphasis is on practice of skills until mastery is obtained.

In this model, as well as the others, the teacher will need to work with the product until they are able and comfortable to execute on the planned course enhancements. In addition, they will need professional development so they can take on the role of facilitator, to make a web-page if they so desire, use an online course delivery platform such as Blackboard or best incorporate online curriculum tools into classroom instruction.

In this model we begin to see the learning paradigm shift to content mastery. In addition, the teaching focus will migrate from instructional time as the constant and mastery as the variable to one where mastery is the constant and instructional time is the variable. This enables students who master material more quickly to work ahead and those students who need extra practice to take the time they need to master a concept. Students remain engaged because their instruction is tailored to their specific needs under the guidance of an experienced teacher as learning facilitator. As a result of having basic online learning exposure, students also gain valuable Internet skills that will help them in their future education and career.

A Hybrid Classroom

The hybrid classroom goes a step beyond the web-enhanced model in its use of online elements because here instruction takes place partly online and partly face-to-face. This allows not only an extension of the school day but also of the school year and enables more classroom-type activities to occur outside of the classroom walls.

Because of this split, students will have less face-to-face classroom meeting time to balance the requirement for online time. For example, if a course were scheduled for five days a week, then it would physically meet only four days a week with the fifth being conducted entirely online.

This model originated in colleges and universities and is beginning to trickle down into high schools and middle schools as the need for students to develop 21st century learning skills becomes greater. In 2002, Harvard Business School faculty Brian DeLacey and Dorothy Leonard writing about distance education in the journal Educational Technology and Society contended students not only learned more when online sessions were added to traditional courses, but student interaction and satisfaction improved.

In the Acalanes, Calif., Unified School District, Advanced Placement courses now start before the school year with students engaging in online discussions on the chapter materials that most teachers assign to students as summer reading. Students are able to participate in more in-depth learning of those chapters through online discussions with other students.

Another example of this model in action can be found at Brattleboro High School in Vermont where the grant-funded Asian cultural exchange course is now in its third year. It is an educational opportunity for high school students from a small town in southern Vermont and students from Kunming, China, to learn about each other's cultures. Learning is accomplished in a seminar format, through the preparation of websites (using an application called Tripod that is an online personal publishing community) and asynchronous book discussions.

The course meets two times a week and the rest of the time is spent online. Each April Brattleboro High School students go to China to visit their sister schools in Kunming. This year, students are preparing PowerPoint presentations on U.S. teen culture that they will share when they meet, and Chinese students are learning about Brattleboro students through the course website.

In comparison to the web-enhanced classroom, the hybrid classroom model places more emphasis on professional development so teachers can acquire more advanced and specific online skills. These skills should include the ability to facilitate online discussions and online teamwork as well as support students in online activities. Teachers also need to learn how to construct an effective hybrid classroom that seamlessly blends face-to-face and online instruction. In addition, educators need to consider security issues, particularly ways to secure student information and/or course documents.

Online learning activities may include self-paced content mastery activities, group projects, online discussions and online presentations. The focus shifts to more student responsibility in the learning process with students gaining independent learning and time management skills and a greater sense of ownership and engagement in learning.

If the hybrid classroom also includes global classroom activities like the one in Brattleboro, Vt., students also will have the opportunity to develop global citizenship skills, gaining an appreciation for cultural and geographic differences. This model will help students develop Internet literacy, online collaboration and critical thinking skills.

Combination Courses

Most online courses, either asynchronous or synchronous, using Internet or video, are delivered entirely online, giving students an opportunity to take ownership and initiative for their learning. These online courses help students develop 21st century skills such as online collaboration, communication and presentation, while working in global learning communities and in a manner similar to their future college experience. In this model, teachers need much of the same professional development as in the hybrid classroom.

Manheim High School in central Pennsylvania has coined a unique term for courses they offer that are delivered entirely online but scheduled as a regular class would be and executed using school resources. (See related story, page 22.)

Called "virditional" (derived from the combination of virtual and traditional) courses, Manheim offers classes that are completely virtual but take place in a traditional classroom setting and are supported with classroom-based instructional resources. Students have the benefit of an onsite teacher to support them as they participate in their online courses.

Requisite Support

Blended learning requires the right mix of professional development, technical support and curriculum support to be effective for both the teacher and the student. It requires professional development of teachers, both pre-service and in-service. Teachers need to understand the instructional benefits blended learning brings to students, how those benefits can increase content mastery and 21st century learning skills, and how to go about developing and delivering blended learning instruction.

At Virtual High School, we recognize that much of what we teach in our online professional development courses for VHS teachers is also applicable to classroom teachers interested in blended learning. (For information on the VHS Best Practices courses, visit www.govhs. org/pages/ProfDev-BestPractices.) Taking the lessons learned from online teaching and learning and applying those lessons to a model of blended learning for all classroom teachers should be part of a model for the development of 21st century teachers.

Appropriate technical and curriculum support also is required to implement a blended learning program. A web-enhanced or hybrid classroom is only as effective as its online site. The site must be available consistently (usually 24/7), must meet compliance guidelines so it is accessible for students with visual, auditory or other disabilities, and must be secure from intruders. Curricular support comes from alignment of the online materials with the classroom curriculum, school or district's information management system and at a level that is engaging for students.

None of the blended learning models described is meant to replace teachers or schools. Rather they are meant to increase student learning, increase independent learning skills and expose students to a method of learning that is becoming an essential component of lifelong learning. With the proper blend, schools and teachers can increase the engagement of students in the learning process, accommodate a variety of learning styles through the use of multimedia elements, provide students with adaptive instruction and real-time feedback and optimize the lines of communication between schools and parents.

Most importantly, blended learning can help students develop valuable and necessary 21st century learning skills. As the stewards of our students' educations, we have a responsibility to deliver the education that children need in the way that maximizes their educational opportunities. Blended learning can be part of that process.

RELATED ARTICLE: If flu strikes, education will move online.

I was surprised, when attending a recent conference of educational administrators in Barcelona, Spain, conducted by the European Council of International Schools, to learn of the extent of planning that schools there are undertaking to prepare for a potential flu pandemic.

Schools across Europe are developing plans to ensure education can continue outside of school buildings through online education should the avian flu virus shut down facilities and make daily attendance impossible. School leaders in Europe are providing classroom teachers with online teaching skills and ensuring appropriate technology is in place in the event of a long-term interruption of educational services in school buildings.

These schools plan to test their online delivery procedures now before they are in emergency mode to ensure teachers know their usernames and passwords, can access their school's online platform and can upload lessons plans from school and home.

Stateside Guidance

This past May, the U.S. government released its Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Plan. The School District Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist (www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/ schoolchecklist.html) calls for the continuity of student learning and core operations, recommending schools "develop alternative procedures to assure continuity of instruction (e.g., web-based distance instruction, telephone trees, mailed lessons and assignments, instruction via local radio or television stations) in the event of district school closures."

In addition, the recommendations for influenza pandemic prepardness, developed by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control, call for a continuity of communications via dedicated websites.

The government's checklist does not address how American schools might move instruction online. Questions such as these are left to state and local school leaders to answer: What are the skills teachers should develop for continuing education outside of the classroom? What are the considerations school administrators need to make to meet the requirements of assuring continuity of instruction via web-based distance instruction?

Assuming the school or district does not have an online course or a virtual school initiative in place now, how will teachers be able to get content onto the website during a pandemic or other large-scale disaster, such as a blizzard, flood or tornado? What guidelines and standards will be available to them as they try to develop web-based content such as assignments and course syllabus? How will they manage an online discussion forum?

Several years ago some classroom teachers in Fairfax County, Va., were able to continue the educational process during snow days by using web-enhanced instruction--providing assignments that students accessed from home and engaging students in topical discussions in online, web-based forums.

Students from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County assisted students at an international school in Pakistan whose education had been interrupted when their school was evacuated due to political unrest. Teachers from the Pakistan school were able to continue instruction with their relocated students through the Blackboard learning platform, which the students at Jefferson helped set up and troubleshoot.

Preparatory Work

Web-based distance instruction requires a web-based course management system, online content and teachers with the necessary skills to instruct online. Administrators need to proactively put those required elements in place before the emergency occurs. With the availability of open-source systems like Moodle, cost should no longer be an issue for licensing a content management system. However, the question of where to host the system and the content need consideration.

If the content management system is hosted on file servers within the school buildings, what happens if the building is taken over by an emergency services organization, perhaps to serve as a hospital or some other type of health facility? Will the servers still be accessible to school staff for maintenance, rebooting, etc.? If the server is outside of the school district, there are probably additional costs associated with leasing the server, space and support. If a proprietary system is selected, is hosting included?. What plans does the vendor have in place for redundant systems in case of catastrophic emergency?

Guidelines and standards for the look of online content and for accessibility should be developed and reviewed with instructional staff as part of the planning process so teachers can develop appropriate content for possible use in an emergency. With a course management system in place and standards to guide online content, teachers will need professional development and support as they build and practice their required online teaching skills. Those skills include the ability to post assignments, lessons and learning resources; develop online assessments; use an online grading system; support and foster online discussions; and support student collaborative learning activities.

Like our international peers, we ought to commence the planning process for the continuation of educational services should the need arise.

--Liz Pape

Resources

AASA is providing information on how school districts can prepare for an avian flu outbreak.

These considerations are compiled on the association's website under the "Focus on Children" section.

RELATED ARTICLE: It's 'virditional:' a hybrid model in Manheim Township.

BY THOMAS E. OBLENDER

One of our fundamental assumptions when our school district created its virtual high school in 1999 was that 21st century students should be technologically proficient enough to succeed in online courses. This was in keeping with the Manheim Townships strategic plan, which stipulated we would create "environments that nurture passion for lifelong learning and stewardship in our global society."

We were wrong--as we discovered quite dramatically when approximately 30 percent of the students dropped their virtual courses.

Through student surveys and interviews, teachers analyzed the dropout rate, the reasons for incomplete lessons and the general difficulties encountered by students enrolled in the online courses that our district offered. We tried to understand why academically, talented and motivated students lacked the self-discipline to complete online courses within the time constraints of the course.

In a pre-course survey, all of the students indicated they possessed the maturity and discipline to succeed in the courses, and most GPAs were above 3.2. At the end of the semester, these same students conceded they lacked the self-discipline to commit the necessary time and energy to succeed in their online courses.

The greatest difficulty these students encountered was simply a lack of will to commit the time to finish their course work. Instead of working on their courses daily or spending five to seven hours each week on them, many students did not address their online course work for weeks at a time.

Teachers knew this for two reasons: they tracked log-on time for each student, and the students freely admitted they did not devote the required time to their assignments. These same students succeeded in traditional courses, where they reported to the same room, during the same period, with the same teacher every day. Accustomed to a traditional structure, they had not learned how to be self-sufficient online learners. The course content and technology applications did not pose significant challenges for the students.

A Hybrid Answer

Our solution was to offer a blended approach, which we have coined the "virditional" course. A virditional course is a combination of virtual and traditional course content and instructional strategies. Teachers select the modules and lessons that are most appropriate for either online, traditional or blended course structures. Modules are synonymous with curricular units, and the lessons are similar to daily lessons taught by all teachers.

The virditional model requires a minimum of 65 percent of the content be delivered online. Students report to their virditional computer lab as one of their scheduled classes and work in a classroom with their assigned teacher, but the teacher's role becomes that of a facilitator, assisting students as they pursue learning at their own pace.

Virditional courses address the major weakness of online courses--the lack of structured time for student work. The instructor provides direct instruction, facilitation and monitoring of the online course and helps the student stay on task and answers questions. Because each course is to a large extent self-paced, the teacher monitors the progress of each student and provides encouragement to those who begin to lag behind. Students seem to like the daily structure and can proceed at their own pace.

Student achievement does not improve as a direct result of taking virditional courses. Rather, the structure and support of virditional courses teach students to become not only better online learners but also better learners in general. Much of this improvement is the result of the self-directed nature and flexibility inherent in virditional courses. Some students complete courses early and spend the remaining time in study halls.

Key Characteristics

The virditional format possesses several unique characteristics and opportunities to capitalize on the best of online and traditional formats.

A virditional course provides teachers and students face-to-face interaction for explanations, small-group discussions, peer conferencing, presentations and individual assistance. It provides a daily structure and blueprint for success for students during the transition to online instruction courses. It offers facilities for language, technology, culinary, pre-school and science labs and permits flexibility in curriculum programming to support individual needs.

The blended approach also reduces down time for teachers and students during the class period. As a student completes one assignment or activity, he or she can begin the next one without waiting for the entire class, and the student also can continue work at home.

The virditional courses offer greater opportunities for individualization, flexibility, enrichment and remediation. The teacher facilitates student progress, depending upon each student's needs and provides students with the traditional structure of daily classroom meetings and additional assistance with visual, auditory and tactile modes of learning.

Course Organization

Manheim Township High School offers nine virditional courses, taught by 10 state-certified teachers. The courses had existed as virtual courses but have been modified for the virditional course offerings. Courses include American literature, British literature, African-American history, the Vietnam War and its societal implications, European history, global perspectives, civics and economics, family and consumer science, and health and wellness education. During the 2005-06 school year, 460 students enrolled in virditional courses.

Our high school instructional day is seven periods, and most traditional teachers teach five of the seven periods, along with one duty period. Full-time Manheim Township virditional teachers run a maximum of four classes per day with no more than 24 students in each section. The teachers are not assigned a duty period, except for before or after school. Online teachers are expected to spend 3 1/2 to 4 minutes per day communicating with each student via e-mail and threaded discussions.

Students enroll in the virditional courses the same way they enroll in traditional courses. They schedule the course in a given period, report to a designated classroom and work with their high school teacher. Each student is provided access to a computer and the Internet for that period. Course descriptions, as well as an explanation of the virditional course concept, are given to students and their parents. Counselors explain the offerings, and teachers clarify the similarities and differences in the courses. Most courses are offered in both traditional and virditional formats.

A Useful Vehicle

Virditional courses will not appeal to every student, and we do not advocate them as replacements for traditional courses. Virditional courses, however, can provide a vehicle for students and teachers who want to begin to move into a web-based learning environment, and they can be used as a medium to teach students how to take courses online. They allow teachers to provide a structure for students who have not yet figured out how to succeed in an online environment.

If you are interested in learning more about Manheim Townships virditional course model or its online courses or previewing our courses, visit us at www.virditional.net.

Tom Oblender is assistant superintendent for administration in the Manheim Township School District, P.O. Box 5134, Lancaster, PA 17606. E-mail: [e-mail]

RELATED ARTICLE: Where's the discipline in online education?

BY ROBERT D. RING JR.

Vince Lombardi undoubtedly had a methodology that was effective for his time and organization. As head coach for the Green Bay Packers, he led his troops to five National Football League championships and the first two Super Bowls while winning the lifetime affection of players.

At the core of his philosophy was personal responsibility and an ethic for hard work, dependability and sacrifice. If you are up for a debate, gather together a few educators who happen to be sports fans and ask the question: "Would Lombardi's military style of leadership be effective today?" Or perhaps more importantly: "Are our students acquiring the personal characteristics that will make them successful in the future?"

Lombardi believed that somewhere inside people craved the discipline that he provided. Could this be the case for our students today? If so, are we providing a disservice to online students when we do not attend to their need for discipline? Perhaps students today really do want greater discipline--to learn to be at a specific place at an assigned time and to follow the instructions given to them.

My Disclaimer

To avoid appearing hypocritical, let it be noted I'm not anti-technology. In fact, I serve on a steering committee in eastern Colorado for a virtual network that will provide distance learning to students in 17 rural schools for providing high-quality instruction.

The operative word here is "tool" A survey completed by the U.S. Department of Education revealed that during 2002-2003 approximately one-third of public school districts had students enrolled in distance education courses. Colorado is one of several states that enable students to receive a high school diploma online. There's a major difference between using online coursework as a supplement and using it as a primary source for education. In Colorado, online schools have seen enormous growth. The Colorado Department of Education released enrollment information with some cyber schools showing increases that range from 14 percent to 347 percent in the last year,

Students in our state and others are receiving diplomas from online schools, but have they received an education? Let's look a little closer.

Ultimately the goal of education is to prepare students for occupations that will allow them to be productive citizens. The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment categorizes jobs using the Standard Occupational Classification. The list is eight pages long and includes employment positions from civil engineers to dishwasher. The jobs that aren't people oriented or require a structure to be successful are minimal. The point is, even with technology, we still need to have discipline to work with all kinds of people.

Students in many public schools are exposed to a melting pot of cultures and personalities, but this is not the case for those enrolled in an online school. These students miss out on the opportunity to learn how to work alongside others with whom they may have differences. And what occupation today doesn't require collaboration in pursuit of a task?

As old fashioned as it may seem, most schools have established consequences for those who do not appear in class on time. Employers still seek dependable individuals who have good communication skills.

Tomorrow's Workforce

There is no doubt that the face of our labor force is changing. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the top three occupations with the largest job growth from 2004 to 2014 include retail sales, registered nurses and postsecondary teachers. These certainly seem like people-oriented positions. The fastest-growing service field is health care. The department projects an increase of 30 percent in health care positions, which equates to approximately 4.7 million additional positions by 2014. Despite these alarming statistics, we continue to hear more about Americans working from their homes.

Are there disadvantages? Working from home, much like an online class, may come at the cost of personal and professional relationships. On a day-to-day basis it appears we lose some of our tactfulness when we communicate primarily via electronic mail. It becomes much easier to be disrespectful when you are facing your monitor rather than your colleague.

Finally, let's not forget that most adult cyber workers were educated in a traditional environment that provided the experience of personal relationships. Students who complete their education online have not had these opportunities. Do we think our students will never have to deal with a negative coworker and never have the fulfilling experience of finding a solution to a problem jointly with others? As Vince Lombardi once said: "Individual commitment to a group effort is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work."

As school leaders, we all can identify children who might benefit from taking their classes online--students with a long-term illness and those who relocate regularly come to mind. Online courses continue to provide an excellent supplement for students who want to pursue alternative learning opportunities. As educators responsible for preparing productive citizens, it is our obligation to ensure online education has a place but not necessarily serve as a replacement for what traditional schools can provide.

Isn't there still a need for the Lombardi approach?

Robert Ring is superintendent of Genoa-Hugo C-113, P.O. Box 342, Hugo, CO 80821. E-mail: [e-mail]

Liz Pape is president and CEO of Virtual High School, 2 Clock Tower Place, Suite 500, Maynard, MA 01754. E-mail: [e-mail]