Is Online Education A Blended Learning Model?

The overabundance of stimuli that comes from technology negatively affects the traditional classroom atmosphere and should be done away with. In the article “New Class(room) War: Teacher versus Technology” by Samuel G. Freedman, Freedman brings up the touchy subject of technology in the classroom setting and how numerous students and professors differ in their views concerning the use of technology.

Schwartz (2013) discusses how blended learning can be a mix of online and in-person instruction or hybrid class. Blended learning is a combination of the physical and digital tools, which integrate face-to-face pedagogical methods with a mixture of in class instruction, online work, and peer collaboration all intertwined with choices, creativity, and differentiated instruction that keeps student’s engaged as they learn. Blackboard, Ramport, and Banner allows faculty and staff members’ access to university data that is need to track the student’s VA benefits.

School boards should allow students to use technology in the classroom because of the convenance it brings to students and teachers on a daily bases. Not only is online learning more favorable for the students but it is for the teachers as well. La Vonne Fedynich finds that, “faculty teaching the hybrid courses noted more flexibility, interaction and communication with their students” (3). Having online classes gives students more flexibility with their time making it easier for their own schedule. Teachers also find that teaching hybrid classes they receive more interaction from their students which means there is less time spent in the classroom doing nothing. Communication is key and with online resources it is easier for students and teachers to stay connected with each other. This helps by giving students the ability to

In earlier times, the acquisition and spreading of knowledge was not used to improve society. Instead, it was used to have control and to exclude certain groups. It may have been agreed that there needed to be a change in the way that the education system was set up. In her essay, “Project Classroom Makeover”, Cathy Davidson discusses how the “one size fits all” model of learning hinders students from learning in a new and modernized way. She suggests the notion that using technology to teach and learn can be effective in many ways. Davidson shows that using technology presents the opportunity for a traditional classroom to become more inclusive and creative. The “democratization of knowledge” is the improvement and modernization of how information is taught and learned. Having a modernized and advanced learning system is a vital point for students because they gain insight and experience with what is considered a society dominated by advanced technology. Since technology has become a dominant resource in the 21st century, it should be used as a teaching tool in order to produce educational, professional and overall success.

Many students have a difficult time choosing between online education and traditional education. Both styles of education offer advantages and disadvantages to the student. There are many things to consider when making this life altering decision, such as, cost, convenience, time, social interaction, and technology. This information is meant to inform prospective students looking to further their education of the pros and cons of both online education and traditional education. Taking the steps to further your education is a big decision and one that should not be taken lightly. One should weigh all of his/her options and be well informed and certain of their choice before taking that leap.

In today’s day and age, it is very easy to locate anyone, from ages 4-24, plugged into technology at any given moment. Although the increased usage of digital media and information had forever positively influenced our society, it is important to remember our foundation and to develop ourselves and the future generation with a different, more traditional perspective of life. Prior to deciding to convert a school’s curriculum to a more blended learning environment, realizing the possible detrimental factors that using technology to facilitate learning could cause is high significant.

“New Class(room) War” effectively illustrates the point that suppressing technology in the classroom to limit disruption as opposed to supporting it is a battle the teachers know they are going to lose. (Freedman par. 17) This is inevitable because new technologies for entertainment, learning, and communication are constantly being developed; this provides an infinite number of ways to deviate from classwork electronically that nobody had access to as little as twenty years ago. This detriment to society that is disguised as a miracle has teachers referring to the array of modern media devices as today’s equivalent of “pigtail-pulling, spitball-lobbing, and notebook-doodling.” that took place in the classrooms of the pre-computer era. (Freedman par.6)

The key components of disruptive blended learning model is giving students some control over the time, place, path and the pace of their learning. The students’ ability to learn according to their style will help accelerate their learning potential. Instead of teaching to the middle, the students have their own personalize education that helps reach for their potential and still meet the standard of the state’s education. Another key components of disruptive blended learning model are that part of learning happens in supervising, brick-and-mortar location. The technology does not replace the teacher, the teachers are there to help mentor and guide the students on their correct path. By having students been at the location, the teachers can

The tools used for mainstream education in America are, at an ever increasing rate, shifting from physical to digital. Schools across the nation have spent the last decade integrating technology into education in an attempt to make learning more engaging for students. As schools join the charge for digital instruction they must heavily evaluate their motives, the realistic applications of new technology, and the consequences it may have on their students.

These two modules demonstrate components of suggestions made by Ko and Rossen (2017) and Ragan (2017) of the practices that are best used when conducting a blended or online course. Although MIT’s course is described as a blended learning environment, Saylor Academy’s course is solely facilitated online; the two share many similarities and few differences. Besides the contrast of the learning environment each course final assessment of learning competencies is different, i.e. MIT: portfolio submission versus Saylor Academy: password-protected timed final exam. Furthermore, MIT provides students the opportunity to collaborate, discuss, and learn independently as students reflect in blogs about classroom observations and through written assessments. This approach is unlike Saylor Academy’s asynchronous, independent study, knowledge base – through recall approach learning opportunity for students.

In today’s society, so many people are continuing their education beyond high school. We realize that in order to make a decent living, a degree is most likely a requirement. In some cases even a bachelor’s degree is not enough to qualify for many positions. Nevertheless, thanks to technology, we now have the option to learn online or in a traditional classroom setting. There are very few differences between the two, and students need to understand that as much time and energy will need to be devoted to the online courses as on a campus. “A 2010 meta-analysis and review of online-learning studies concluded that online learning was as good as or slightly more effective than traditional face-to-face instruction” (Mendenhall, 2011).

Technology gives us many affordances in today's world. One of them is access to high-quality, diagnostic curricular tools. We have access to tools that can assess students on their own academic levels and move then on appropriately with content. Many of these tools are created like gaming environments that we know are very appealing and motivating to our students. Many schools are using these tools to create a hybrid-learning environment. The idea of hybrid learning is using the technology tools as another teacher in the room and to engage with the content delivered by the technology in different ways than what is delivered by the teacher in the classroom. (Staker & Horn, 2012 p. 3) The teacher is then free to differentiate learning for small group more targeted instruction based on their personal learning trajectory. Students are given constant and corrective feedback, just like in gaming, about their

The learning skill I would pick is "Blended Learning". I think Blended Learning is the best experience for kids to learn Online and Face-to-face at the same time. Blended Learning is like picking Cupcakes From Cakes they're both the same just sometimes they have a very big difference. So Face-too-face is being taught in person and online is just being taught Online but not in person. Well, what if I told you and can make Blended Learning sound better than it does to you already?

(Gulley, K.G., 2003). I believe one solution to that argument are Hybrid courses. The hybrid classroom incorporates characteristics from both the tradtional and the online classroom. In the ideal, hybrid courses offer educators the best of both worlds Hybrid Classrooms are able to have access to the Internet in order to enhance the learning process. Students have the benefit of having both face-to-face interactions along with having assignments available to them online at anytime.( Okolo, T, & Naidoo, T., 2005) For example, students may meet in class only one day a week along with meeting in an online chat room for the other two days of class. The hybrid classroom is a new approach to teaching. That is only of the major aspect that is discussed about when talking about technology in the classroom in depts.

In the 21st century, technology is becoming an essential to our everyday life. Even kids these days as young as three to four years old knows how to use an ipad or an iphone. So society has made use of the technology we have today for learning. It has moved on from the traditional classroom and whiteboard style to online learning with the supplementation of the mobile phone. There are various benefits of online and mobile learning however there are benefits that the traditional method of learning that technology cannot overcome.