Trends in Blended LearningAlthough there are many benefits to implementing Blended Learning, challenges occur when districts implement new technologies, recognize the amount of time necessary to experiment with new technologies, and understand their pedagogical potential when integrating them into existing face-to-face classrooms (Banerjee, 2011). One major challenge for school districts implementing the Blended Learning approach includes finding funding during the beginning stages for course redesign. Course redesign takes time and staff expertise to decide which course objectives are best achieved through face-to-face interactions and which are better suited for an online environment. However, as districts overcome the challenges of finding support and realizing the potential online environments can offer, students benefit from this approach and research indicates students can be successful (Poon, 2013) .
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Importance of Professional Development |
Instructors teaching in a face-to-face and online learning environment will need support and time to attend professional development to accept the Blended Learning approach and change the school’s instructional delivery culture (Graham, 2006). Teachers who deliver instruction in a Blended Learning approach will need pedagogical and technological professional development, so they can effectively create online content (Poon, 2013). Ensuring that teachers understand how to manage students and facilitate learning using new technologies such as online discussions, learning management systems, blogs, Web 2.0, and social media applications will be key concepts for teachers who are creating and facilitating online courses (Graham, Woodfield, & Harrison, 2013). The findings from a survey conducted by Bonk, Kim, and Zeng (2006) indicated that Blended Learning will continue to become a popular method for delivering instruction. Below are two charts indicating the instructional strategies and emerging technologies that are expected to be widely used in a Blended Learning approach (Bonk, Kim, & Zeng, 2006).
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Importance of a robust Student Learning Management System
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A learning management system (LMS) is a necessary tool for a Blended Learning approach and should be utilized to organize electronic instructional materials along with social e-learning tools for student online engagement activities (Dalsgaard, 2006). The learning management system is a space which hosts lesson objectives, lessons, assignments, videos, assessments, class discussions, and grades. A LMS allows students to work at their own pace whether they are reviewing lessons or extending their learning in areas that spark their interest. Since students can access the information any time and from any place, they are empowered to be in charge of their own learning with the use of a learning management system .
The Blended Learning approach is steadily on the rise in today's schools. As technology becomes more prevalent in education, teachers are enhancing their lessons by taking advantage of the communicative benefits it offers (Caraivan, 2011). Below is an infograph created with information from The Rise of K-12 Blended Learning (Horn, & Staker, 2011) highlighting the trends in Blended Learning. Blended Learning is growing in popularity in the K-12 environment along with becoming a driving force in transforming the factory-like model of today's schools into ones that support personalized and individualized student centered learning.
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Growth in Blended Learning and Digital Stakeholder Beliefs
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The PewResearchCenter asked digital stakeholders to weigh in on two scenarios for 2020 concerning their opinions about the impact of technology and the way students will learn in the future.
39% agreed with a scenario that articulated modest change by the end of the decade:
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