A Set of Teacher Skills for Effective Blended Learning

While watching the Super Bowl (okay, my Chiefs almost made it) I was reminded about all the statistics that go into helping these teams achieve greatness. They track everything from catches, plays, sacks, yardage, playtime, and more. With all that data teams and sports, announcers can analyze and report on trends and patterns. They can determine who might perform best in the fourth quarter, on 3rd down with less than 10 points differential. Why would you need to know that, well to win the super bowl of course and recently, that would mean if you are the LA Rams you throw the ball to Cooper Cupp. 

Players might use the data to help them perform at a higher level. If you can determine where you are and where you want to be, then you can make plans to improve. It's basic self-improvement and personal development about goals. Players might take a personal inventory about their skills and performance to determine what they should work on next at practice or in the gym. This data helps drive some decisions. 

If we can do it on the sports fields, then why not do it in the classroom. 

I have created a set of blended learning skills for teachers to use as a self assessment to help them determine areas they are thriving in and areas to improve. These skills are not totally exhaustive, but provide a foundation for focusing our teaching efforts. 

The Blended Learning Skills for Teachers consists of 8 skills teachers leverage to become great at integrating technology into their teaching. These are skills that I've seen maximized in the very best of learning experiences. We are currently developing and refining these skills and the definition, and I wanted to get this out to the world so that others could share, leverage and use to impact their teaching. 

Since this is a work in progress...if you have any input about these skills please contact Brad Moser, Director of Blended Learning in the Blue Valley School District.

BLENDED LEARNING TEACHER SKILLS

Teaching with technology can be challenging. That’s why we’ve identified these skills to help you check your skills and improve in areas that help you become a master blended learning teacher.

 

Skill #1 | Tech Lifts Curriculum

Define: Review curriculum targets and connect opportunities for leveraging technology.

Act: Read learning targets and read ISTE student standards. Consider ways the curriculum includes these standards and ensures the learning is student-centered.

Skill #2 | Tech Powered Assessments

Define: Revamp assessment to include technology that elevates the assessment.

Act: Choose a summative assessment. Consider alternative ways in which students can demonstrate mastery. Consider student alternative forms for students to show mastery using verbal, visual, auditory, musical, and kinesthetic models. Think outside the multiple-choice option. For beginners: maybe consider using half old school multiple-choice questions and the other part being a performance event like a video, presentation, podcast, live performance, etc.

Skill #3 | Data Informs Instruction

Define: Collect data that informs instruction.

Act: Using a digital tool can assist in quickly gathering and analyzing data on an assessment. A simple question and answer to check for understanding is great. Consider a small, short formative assessment like a one or two-question quiz that can be computer graded to assist in grouping students for a mini-lesson in station rotations or for differentiated activities.

Skill #4 | Tackling Differentiation

Define: Differentiate activities and learning experiences with technology.

Act: You might differentiate by content, product, and/or learning experience. By content means you provide a variety of topics and or leveled access to resources. By product means you let students design, create, and share their learning through various mediums like video, text, verbal and more. By learning experience means students have can have more choice in their pace, path, place or time in which they complete the learning activities and create evidence of learning.

Tip: When asking students to learn and demonstrate their learning, use technology to help you deliver instruction on demand. Considering recording, videos, and written instructions. Post these on a page where students have a choice on which teaching strategies to use to help them learn. Use data to help determine additional differentiated instruction.

Skill #5 | Model Make the Magic

Define: Incorporate a blended learning model: Rotation | Online | Flipped

Act: Rather than follow a traditional lecture, practice, test model of teaching. Choose to incorporate more student-centered instruction through flipped classroom, rotation, or online elements that let students have more choice in pace, path, place, and time of the learning.

Consider incorporating stations using the Three Phases approach. Or you might start by flipping your lesson/unit of instruction.

Skill #6 | Be Creative

Define: Be creative with technology. Students design and create.

Act: Use technology to support the creativity of human nature and students’ interests. Incorporate video creating, podcasting, music-making, art, social media design, programming memes, and other activities that can be accomplished more quickly with technology tools.

Skill #7 | High-Quality Collaboration

Define: Facilitate high-quality collaboration using technology.

Act: Allow students to connect online and asynchronously using online discussion tools. In addition, use collaborative tools to design, create presentations and products that demonstrate mastery of the learning objectives, these could include but are not limited to videos, podcasts, music, social media, marketing campaigns, portfolios, and more.

Skill #8 | Learn & Create Something New

Define: Learn and enhance new technology skills. Create something.

Act: Create something rad online. Decide on a class theme or motto and design a header for your website. Create an intro walkup song for your class each day (like in baseball). Create a video intro for your students, explaining who you are and why your class will make an impact on their lives for the better. Learn a new graphic design tool, use a new video editing feature, or add audio files to a presentation that elevates the experience.

I am happy to collaborate and hear if you found these skills helpful in your pursuit if becoming a super bowl type teacher in your class. 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.