The Christensen Institute

SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

With the growing prevalence of blended learning in classrooms across the country, the need for teacher training for effective implementation is more critical than ever. In order to better understand the skills and training required to implement blended learning effectively, I conducted a three-year doctoral research study at three public school sites in Los Angeles. Allow teachers to experience blended learning as a learner.

Blended Learning 248

Blended Learning Learning Training Study 248

The Christensen Institute

JUNE 2, 2016

As practitioners and policymakers talk more and more about personalizing learning, traditional approaches to instruction—which tend to optimize for increasing average student outcomes—must significantly shift. Instead, personalized learning echoes calls for models that serve every student at all levels in each classroom. Blended learning presents one powerful new delivery model to help educators reach this goal.

Blended Learning 171

Blended Learning Outcomes Learning Software 171

The Christensen Institute

MAY 7, 2015

Public school districts began innovating with blended learning before most charter schools. According to surveys that Brian Bridges has conducted in multiple states, including California where blended learning is growing rapidly, more school districts utilize blended learning than do charter schools. And the pace of innovation with blended learning is picking up within school districts nationwide.

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Blended Learning Dropout Learning Case Study 230

The Christensen Institute

OCTOBER 15, 2015

A big challenge with blended learning is knowing how many students are actually experiencing it. Since we made the prediction in Disrupting Class that by 2019, 50 percent of all high school courses would be online in some form or fashion—the vast majority in blended learning —good data has been hard to come by. The majority of elementary schools blending use Rotation models—exactly as Heather Staker and I predicted using the theory of disruptive innovation.

Blended Learning 249

Blended Learning Report Outcomes Learning 249

The Christensen Institute

JANUARY 13, 2016

An increasing number of regions are trying to create concentrated groups of blended-learning schools alongside education technology companies, which may be key to advancing the blended-learning field and increasing its odds of personalizing learning at scale to allow every child to be successful. As Steven Hodas, the former director of that effort, has written , Digital Promise and the U.S.

Blended Learning 181

Blended Learning Learning Company Industry 181

The Christensen Institute

JUNE 24, 2016

As schools continue to join the Blended Learning Universe (BLU) school directory —the largest database of blended-learning schools—we are observing some important data trends that highlight how schools are approaching the blended-learning implementation process. In total, 81 of the now 364 active schools in our database use a combination of two or more blended-learning models in their classrooms.

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Blended Learning Learning Trends Differentiated Instruction 184

The Christensen Institute

JUNE 9, 2016

Personalized learning is the current big buzz in education. Everyone is trying to figure out how best to personalize the learning experience for each and every child. Like many others, I think customizing learning more deeply to match students’ interests, needs, and aspirations is what we should be doing to prepare today’s children for success in an ever-shifting, technology-fueled society and workplace.

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Personalized Learning Learning Blended Learning Libraries 287

The Christensen Institute

MAY 27, 2016

Blended learning can enhance classroom time for students and teachers in ways that either reduce the need for homework or prompt educators to rethink the use of homework entirely. There are a few key reasons why blended learning is facilitating this changing role of homework. First, depending on the model, blended learning can give students the time and support they need to master concepts on a daily basis—thereby reducing the need for further practice at home.

Blended Learning 171

Blended Learning Learning Groups Software 171

The Christensen Institute

AUGUST 24, 2016

Earlier this year, the Rhode Island-based Highlander Institute and the Clayton Christensen Institute teamed up to bring together a conference on blended and personalized learning in Providence, R.I. The goal of the event was to focus on the practical elements of blended and personalized learning by surfacing the tactics that practitioners were deploying in the trenches. Click here to learn more.

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Personalized Learning Learning Blended Learning Conference 179

eSchool News

APRIL 2, 2018

Access to unlimited new information has created seemingly contradictory qualities in today’s students—more self-reliant and independent, but with a preference toward collaborative learning environments and comfortable learning with other students. The case for blending and online learning. The district is constantly developing and improving our systems and structures for all students with the renewed focus on personalized learning for all students.

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Blended Learning Learning How To Meeting 86

The Christensen Institute

SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

As we’ve written before , one affordable and flexible solution stands out: online and blended learning hold the potential to unlock new solutions to the nation’s teacher capacity challenges. Online offerings could hold the key to disrupting the nation’s antiquated teacher recruitment and retention strategies. For this to happen, policymakers and leaders will need to recognize online learning’s potential and to legislate and plan accordingly.

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Online Learning Competency Based Learning Learning Industry 181

The Christensen Institute

JULY 31, 2015

When Julie Young stepped down from the helm of Florida Virtual School (FLVS) after 17 years, I wrote at the end of my piece reflecting on what her contributions had meant that I wouldn’t be surprised to see Julie “continue to play a leadership role in transforming schooling to put students at the center of their learning. accredited high school through virtual learning. And, just as at FLVS, students will be able to move at their own pace and learn from anywhere at any time.

Online Learning 184

Online Learning Learning Course Blended Learning 184

The Christensen Institute

MARCH 17, 2020

million public school students attending at least 64,000 schools have seen their education interrupted; and more than 200 colleges and universities are canceling or postponing in-person classes and activities as COVID-19 enters pandemic territory. The best option to try and continue student learning, it seems , is to move everything online. Don’t try to replicate classroom instruction online. Help students own their learning.

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Online Learning Khan Academy Broadband Industry 247

The Christensen Institute

APRIL 14, 2016

I recently attended the Blended and Personalized Learning Conference , which the Christensen Institute co-hosted with the Highlander Institute, to listen to school leaders from across the country discuss blended-learning implementation and best practices. To be clear, nearly every successful school and district has a principal or superintendent who exhibits strong leadership and is committed to improving student learning outcomes.

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Blended Learning Conference Examples Learning 125

Edsurge

OCTOBER 15, 2018

Digital learning platforms are not, however, simply a matter of reproducing a print-first approach via high fidelity ebooks. As a result, more students are turning to used books, rentals, shared copies, illegal downloads, and other online sources. As the financial viability of printed textbooks declines little by little, the demand for alternatives like online learning content continues to grow. Create Courseware Using Learning Objects Seth's Reading List.

Digital Learning 117

Digital Learning eBook Pearson Study 117

The Christensen Institute

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

For years educators and scholars have debated whether technology aids learning or inhibits it. Other studies have shown similarly dismal numbers for student learning when technology is introduced in the classroom. The reason quite simply was that when we crammed computers into existing learning models, they produced begrudging or negative results. Initiatives that provide computers to every student in a classroom do not improve learning outcomes.

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Blackboard Laptops Technology Outcomes 202

Edsurge

AUGUST 24, 2017

Three years ago, with the help of the education agency the Grant Wood Area Education Agency (GWAEA), Iowa rolled out its initiative to implement blended learning as a model for the state. Prompted by district administrators’ desire to find ways to build student agency, engage student passion and personalize learning, we hoped blended learning would shake up the status quo and spark large scale change.

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Blended Learning Training Assessment Data 117

The Christensen Institute

SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

Last month, Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson stated that America needed to fix the escalating costs of higher education by replacing lectures from professors with online learning and educational videos such as Ken Burns’ documentaries. They coach and mentor their students to make learning relevant and meaningful, and they foster students’ interests in tackling complex, real-world problems.

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Blended Learning Technology System Personalized Learning 236

The Christensen Institute

MARCH 5, 2015

A critique against the power of disruptive innovation to help our schools educate each child more effectively has been a backhanded one: Yes, re-architecting schools around personalized learning is important, but even more important is having a highly effective teacher for every child. Online learning advocates have for a long time made this point. Second, officials should move from seat-time requirements to competency-based learning models.

Course 245

Course Competency Based Learning Industry STEM 245

The Christensen Institute

AUGUST 27, 2015

In 2008, in the book Disrupting Class, Clayton Christensen, Michael Horn, and Curtis Johnson made the bold prediction that by 2019, 50 percent of all high school courses in America would be online. It’s not surprising, then, that we’ve likewise seen dramatic growth in private investment in EdTech as demand for online and blended learning solutions grows: in 2014 alone, U.S. This post was first published on WISE ed.review.

Learning 245

Learning Outcomes System Course 245

The Christensen Institute

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

But even as she acknowledged toward the end that technology has a role to play, she missed spotlighting how technology can help us redesign schools to allow students to achieve what appears most important in her mind: the chance for students to have far more meaningful face-to-face interactions with teachers and peers—a counterintuitive yet important part of blended learning’s promise for many students.

Technology 239

Technology Outcomes Blended Learning Study 239

Edsurge

MARCH 27, 2018

When I first began blending digital and face-to-face learning, it was easy enough to create a flow between online learning spaces and offline learning. However, I noticed that sometimes my students were not getting as much out of the digital learning platform as I had anticipated. This was especially true when students could rush through their tasks, consuming content without real understanding or application of learning.

Blended Learning 102

Blended Learning Outcomes Assessment Conference 102

The Christensen Institute

JUNE 25, 2015

In a piece for Quartz this past week, I addressed how moving to a blended learning, competency-based education system in which students advance based on mastery, not time, could address many of the concerns by better preparing citizens for the demands ahead. Accordingly, the group wrote, “We need to shift away from rote learning and build instead on our uniquely human strengths in areas like creativity and interpersonal interactions.”.

Technology 224

Technology Education Strategy Policies 224

The Christensen Institute

OCTOBER 25, 2016

The Los Angeles Unified School District is back in the news for its use of technology, this time for its online credit-recovery courses. In a recent editorial , the Los Angeles Times called into question the district’s record-high 75 percent graduation rate, as it said that the figure was based in part on LA Unified’s dependence on its less-than-rigorous online credit-recovery courses. Actual learning—not a piece of paper—should be the goal for every student.

Outcomes 193

Outcomes Competency Based Learning Course Assessment 193

The Christensen Institute

FEBRUARY 26, 2015

Seeing the rapid growth of testing in recent decades, many educators and parents are tired of tests taking time away from learning and want the federal government to push back on its prominence in schools. Others, including civil rights advocates, have warned about the consequences of walking away from annual tests that measure whether students from all backgrounds are learning. Testing need not be the enemy of teaching and learning.

Adaptive Learning 226

Adaptive Learning Education Online Assessments Secondary 226

The Christensen Institute

APRIL 30, 2015

With millions of nonconsumers of traditional colleges and universities in the United States and worldwide—many of them low-income adults with jobs or families—and a traditional higher education model that, increasingly, is both expensive and under financial strain, there has been no shortage of opportunities for disruptive higher education upstarts powered by online learning to emerge. Disruption has been alive and well in higher education for years now.

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Meeting Education Outcomes Data 215

The Christensen Institute

MAY 18, 2017

According to a longtime observer of the Florida education scene, rather than have the school control the educational experiences, as occurs in course access, a subset of parents, particularly at the elementary school level—both public and home-school—are opting to manage their children’s education and customize a mix of public brick-and-mortar school, online school, home school, and even some private school (such as private music lessons) experiences.

Education 167

Education Trends Industry Course 167

The Christensen Institute

SEPTEMBER 22, 2016

Last month, Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson stated that America needed to fix the escalating costs of higher education by replacing lectures from professors with online learning and educational videos such as Ken Burns’ documentaries. They coach and mentor their students to make learning relevant and meaningful, and they foster students’ interests in tackling complex, real-world problems.

Technology 173

Technology System Assessment Blended Learning 173

The Christensen Institute

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Not only are we tired of the same recurring debates about what is wrong with today’s education system and who is to blame for its inadequacies, but we also realize that no amount of tweaking or modifying the current, industrial-era system will fulfill our vision of all children learning and thriving to their full potential.”. Conversely, the Internet revolution has created a once-in-a-generation opportunity for new approaches to learning.”.

Competency Based Learning 201

Competency Based Learning Education System Report 201

The Christensen Institute

OCTOBER 11, 2016

But one of Waters’ key breakthroughs has been learning how to not go it alone—a collaboration lesson for leaders across all industries to innovate successfully. Over the course of their partnership, they learned a number of key lessons about how to successfully collaborate: Identify shared values. Embrace what you don’t know and be open to learning from those outside of your traditional teams.

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Comparison Outcomes Case Study Company 168

The Christensen Institute

JULY 13, 2016

Edtech enthusiasts promote the benefits of innovations such as open educational resources (OER), learning management systems (LMS), and adaptive learning software. But edtech innovations hold real promise for improving student learning outcomes if education leaders use them to redesign classroom and school models in ways that transform teachers’ instructional practices. The Gooru software and LPS’s learning resources are available for free at gooru.org.

Technology 285

Technology OER Comparison Software 285

The Christensen Institute

AUGUST 11, 2016

Since the relaunch of our Blended Learning Universe (BLU) school directory six months ago, we have received several requests from school districts wanting to create district-level profiles—previously, only schools could create profiles. Districts can now share their high-level, blended-learning initiatives and results, as well as link to blended schools within their organizations so that users can see all the blended-learning activity across a district.

Dropout 120

Dropout Course Flipped Classroom Software 120

The Christensen Institute

AUGUST 31, 2017

He co-founded Rocketship Education, a network of blended-learning charter schools, and then left a few years ago and founded his current venture, Zeal , which has the mission of crushing the cost of tutoring so that every student can have a personal math coach. When we started, we had what I would call a Minimum Viable Product in terms of personalized learning–about two hours per day, a combination of computer-based instruction and tutoring.

Pearson 125

Pearson Education Groups Outcomes 125

The Christensen Institute

DECEMBER 8, 2016

In education, the question of whether technology will replace teachers was a common meme to fight the emergence of digital learning but has increasingly faded away as a serious threat. This may mean eliminating “classrooms” as we have known them and creating new learning environments in which students interact with lots of adults in multi-faceted ways.

Industry 249

Industry Blended Learning Online Learning STEM 249

The Christensen Institute

MAY 12, 2016

The traditional gold-standard approach to research—a randomized control trial (RCT)—is not worth its weight as we move to a student-centered education system that personalizes for all students so that they succeed. With an understanding of the causal mechanism, personalizing the approach for the circumstance can achieve a good result for both.

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Outcomes Study Facebook System 149