Today’s students, parents, and educators have had to adapt, innovate, and respond quickly to thrive in our changing world. COVID-19 has thrust us all into a new and unfamiliar “classroom.”

Although COVID-19 has caused a great deal of anxiety and uncertainty, it might also be the push we needed to create the education system our children deserve.

Student-centered blended learning has never been more relevant or essential. Global pandemic or not, it’s the future of education.

In this guide

There are likely as many definitions of blended learning as there are education practitioners. Although there’s nothing terribly new about using technology in the classroom or pedagogical practices that promote competency-based progress, the term blended learning has gained a new prominence, and it’s time for an agreed-upon definition.

Shared vocabulary helps students, teachers, parents, and administrators continue to forge best practices, undertake research, and create evidence-based standards in the blended learning classroom. This guide exists to help discuss, develop, and improve K-12 education to prepare today's students for tomorrow's world.

The teacher-at-the-front, test-centered classroom fails to prepare students for life in the twenty-first century.

When the 2020 pandemic abruptly uprooted classrooms worldwide, education evolved away from the traditional classroom. Why? Because although teaching on a factory-like, mass-produced scale worked for the Industrial Age, it didn’t work that well for the Information Age, and it’s of little use for the Conceptual Age (or Knowledge Age) we find ourselves in now.

We need optimized education that matches the real world and prepares students for the future—the future we’re already living in.

Whether you call it the Knowledge Age, the Conceptual Age, or, as the World Economic Forum calls it, Industry 4.0,  we can agree that its combined advances in digital, physical, and biological technologies are set to revolutionize industries, the economy, and the way we live. 

Read about how classrooms are changing and discover the new face of education in the Knowledge Age over on the EdBlog.

Jane Gilbert, author of Catching the Knowledge Wave: Redefining knowledge for the post-industrial age, articulates twenty-first-century ideas for knowledge and learning:

Knowledge

• is a process, not a thing (or stuff)
• does things - more like energy than matter
• happens in teams, not in individual experts
• can't be divided up into disciplines
• develops as-and-when-needed
• develops to be replaced, not to be stored away

Learning

• involves generating new knowledge, not storing old knowledge
• is primarily a group, not an individual, activity
• happens in real world, problem-based contexts
• should be just-in-time, not just-in-case
• needs to be á la carte, not en bloc

Minds

• are not containers, filing cabinets, or databases — places to store knowledge just in case — but resources that can be connected to other resources for the purpose of generating new knowledge

Student-centered learning at the core

Education that prepares students for the future gives students more control and ownership of their learning. It requires teachers to “get off the stage” and become facilitators instead of knowledge repositories and classroom controllers. The goal of this kind of education is to enable self-directed, mastery-based learning with appropriate technology.

Allowing students to take more responsibility is at the root of what is now called student-centered learning. Blended learning embraces student-centered learning whole-heartedly. A focus on more personalized learning is a much-needed disruptor to an education system that hasn’t fundamentally changed for more than 50 years.

In this section, we'll define blended learning and see how it differs from other education modes, such as hybrid or online learning. You’ll discover why blended learning is the education for the future.

Spoiler alert: Blended learning is not just about the use of education technology. It's about teachers using technology to unleash the potential in every student.

Check out virtual events about blended learning on the immersive SMART 360 virtual platform

You might have heard that blended learning is “part face-to-face and part online.” Yes, that’s an umbrella definition of blended learning, and it was breakthrough thinking 20 years ago. But in the 2020s, blended learning is much more.

Blended learning is about effective, student-centered learning where individuals have choices of when, where, what, and how they learn. Combining technological delivery of content with face-to-face instruction simply facilitates the critical part: personalized, competency-based learning. Blended learning techniques shift the focus of instruction from the teacher to the students, building skills and practices that inspire and enable lifelong learning.

Because there's ambiguity around the term, each practitioner decides how to conceptualize blended learning for themselves.

For the purposes of this guide, let's be clear in our usage:

• Blended instruction is about the modes or tools teachers use to educate.
• Blended learning is the act of student-centred, personalized learning using both instructor-led and digital modes.

The Christensen Institute is a think tank "dedicated to improving the world through Disruptive Innovation." They maintain that blended learning is, indeed, a disruptive innovation to improve schools.

We use their definition of blended learning as a foundation. It says:

“Blended learning is a formal education program,

1. delivered at least in part through digital learning, with some flexibility for students to choose the way they want to learn;
2. at least partly in combination with a physical classroom and teacher;
3. with opportunities for students to learn through activities that capitalize on different learning modalities.”

We take the definition one step further, articulating what flexibility and opportunities mean.

In blended learning, technology is only rarely used to replace traditional teacher-led instruction and conventional teaching materials. Such replacement doesn’t meet the criteria of student-centered: the connection between student and teacher is more crucial than ever in blended learning. Tech should support that relationship, not undermine it.

Technology must enable personalized learning by providing real-time data that gives teachers insight into each student’s progress. Teachers can then guide students to appropriate material, on a customized path to standardized competency and mastery levels.

Blended learning, naturally, involves plenty of online learning along with face-to-face instruction. Depending on the learning objective, the online activity can be synchronous, in which attendance is required and everyone learns  the same material, or asynchronous, in which  students work through the material at their own pace.

OK. We’ve got it!

Oh, wait.

Isn’t blended learning the same as hybrid learning? What’s tech-rich learning? Is it the same, too? Are they different? Interchangeable?

For sure, some styles of instruction certainly overlap. But because there aren't universally recognized definitions for many learning concepts, discussions can easily become merely semantics—does the name even matter? It's good to agree on such meanings for fruitful discussions about education practices, so here’s our take on a short list of terms related to blended learning:

The delivery of identical material to students both online and in person. Often used interchangeably with blended learning, hybrid learning differs in crucial ways. In hybrid learning, all students work on the same material simultaneously, with some students online and others in the classroom. Blended learning implies little perceptible difference through integration of online and face-to-face.

Traditional teacher-led instruction delivered only online to any location. Distance learning is for flexibility and convenience, but it’s rarely used for K-12. Teachers don’t change their styles; they replace classroom instruction with pre-recorded lessons via the internet. Students work at their own pace but have little or no face-to-face interaction with instructors and peers.

Teachers and students use online learning tools from the classroom or any other location. Online learning doesn’t require the shift from traditional to personalized learning but can encourage interaction for project-based learning in school.

Classrooms are equipped with reliable internet access and a variety of technological tools, such as interactive displays, student devices, computers, and 3D printers. The technology is meant to make learning more fun, engaging, and experimental. Blended learning differs in the intentional use of technology to personalize learning.

Based on what brain science reveals and anecdotal evidence, it makes sense to us that blended learning outcomes should be superior to those of conventional teaching methods. Unfortunately, the incredible variety in definitions and execution of blended learning makes it difficult to find formal, standardized research that backs up what we already know.

In this section, we’ve gathered concrete information that goes beyond our anecdotes and intuition to confirm our hunches. Despite so many variables, studies do show that blended learning gets results: not only in areas like critical thinking and collaboration skills but also in the fundamentals of reading and writing.

Before we even look at academic studies, we already know that when we’re engaged, we learn more easily. When we are empowered, motivation is high.

Research and studies conducted by think-tanks around the world, such as the Christensen Institute and Education Evolution, have shown that blended learning improves outcomes:

• Students in blended learning environments out-perform those involved in non-blended learning
• Gains in math, reading, and science are particularly extensive
• Blended learning leads to Increased graduation rates

The term “student engagement” is ubiquitous in education circles. Research shows the role that intellectual, emotional, behavioral, physical, and social factors play in the learning process and social development.

But what is student engagement? Educators have different views: everything from participating in classroom discussions to more internal states, such as enthusiasm and curiosity.

Student engagement brings results. And in blended learning, we get engaged with Voice, Choice, Pace and Place. When we put those into a classroom, there is higher student ownership and agency, resulting in increased academic achievement, motivation, effort, participation and engagement in their learning.

Student engagement inspires learning beyond the hours and walls of the school settings. Studies show student-centered blended learning promotes happiness and a thirst for learning – meaning today’s students will be lifelong learners. 

In addition to becoming more likely to succeed in the Knowledge Age, blended learning students experience a variety of other benefits:

• Higher grades
• Higher standardized scores
• Better personal growth
• Decreased dropout rates and risk of alienation
• Better attendance
• More equitable learning

Let’s see how blended learning shows up in real life, not just in theory. Although blended learning can involve a wide variety of teaching methods, we’ll start with a review of some best practices and popular classroom models that bring blended learning to life.

Ultimately, just as blended learning delivers personalized learning, the framework allows for significant personalization by innovative educators.

No matter what the curriculum is, the degree to which you’ve adopted blended learning, or the blended learning model you’ve created in your classroom, some basic principles apply. If you’re a teaching practitioner, you’re likely to be implementing at least some of these essential strategies already:

Naturally, blended learning models are evolving and adapting as practitioners gain the confidence and insight to develop and tweak implementation practices. However, common activation models have inspired the way blended learning “looks” around the world.

As blended learning takes place both face-to-face and remotely, the models adapt to the physical situation, usually somewhere on the continuum between in-class and learning online.

Understanding and using the vocabulary of the common models helps you communicate with students, other teachers, and administrators. For example, if you say your blended learning design combines a Flipped Classroom with a Flex model, people understand your idea quickly.

Knowing the model names also helps you research and develop your practice, especially when searching online for more information.

Rotation models

Students work in several activities, including large- and small-group instruction, peer-to-peer activities, “analog” assignments, and tech-enhanced individual learning. Rotation models include a number of implementation designs:

Competency-based learning isn’t new, and the majority of educators are likely practicing it already, along with several more aspects of blended learning. In this section, you’ll find reminders of the approach, basic tips, and a review of essential technology.

Blended learning assumes that teachers don’t know it all (that’s what Google is for). Teachers too, are learning with—and from—their students. Just as students progress at their own pace to learn complexities one small idea at a time, teachers implement blended learning in building-block fashion. And just as teachers guide young students into the world of technology for learning, teachers are keeping up with tech by tuning into digitally-native students.

Voice, Choice, Pace, and Place are the foundations of blended learning, and technology should enable these principles. Tech tools should give students and teachers:

• access to up-to-date, primary source material
• methods of collecting/recording data
• ways to collaborate with students, teachers, and experts around the world
• opportunities for expressing understanding via multimedia
• learning that is relevant and assessment that is authentic
• training for publishing and presenting their new knowledge

When it’s time to choose technology, keep in mind the most important rule: Technology doesn't create blended learning: it delivers blended learning in a way that works for students and teachers. Use technology to engage, enhance, and increase efficiency.

Blended learning implementation involves a wide variety of  concepts, ideas, practices, and tools. Start anywhere: upload a PDF to your LMS, if that’s where you’re comfortable. Mastering blended learning is perhaps a lifelong journey; wherever you are right now is the right place to begin.