Example Blended Learning Model

As the Isle of Portland Aldridge Community Academy becomes closer to beginning work and ultimately moving into our multi-million pound Maritime House Campus, I am using this time to reflect. To reflect on our experiences, our shared beliefs and our vision for the future. Tonight, I have been thinking about a student's experience in particular with regard to how learning is blended between teacher-led, learner-led and Digital Learning aids.

The model we will work with in Maritime House is yet to be finalised with staff, students and parents, however, there is lots of inspiration out there. Only this week, I learnt about the below blended learning model from Peru via this EdSurge article.

IDEO MODEL - Taken from 'What a Peruvian School Designed by IDEO Looks Like'

EdSurge highlights how in 2012,  'with intense collaboration between school leaders at Innova and IDEO designers, a blended learning model was piloted to test out some of the initial ideas'. The process designed is described below -

Students spend their day rotating through two different configurations. For about five hours of the day, students are grouped in classes of 30. Then for the last three hours, the walls between classrooms are quickly broken down and students are combined into one class of 60. Here’s how it works -

Group time: 30 students collaborate with each other for peer-to-peer learning while one teacher acts solely as a guide. When students enter the class, the teacher proposes a challenge, which the students then tackle in small groups by sketching out solutions, using the internet or other handouts the teacher provides.

Solo time: 60 students work independently through their content skills, using programs like Khan Academy, Time To Know, and Pearson’s My English Learner. While edtech products for Spanish speaking learners are not widely available, Innova has developed its own software, in partnership with Pontificia University Catolica a Peru, called Modus to teach science and literacy skills.

Teachers simply remind students of the skills they should be on pace to learn, where those resources can be accessed, and then give them autonomy to drive their own learning. While the network is piloting a 1:1 laptop program in two schools using Intel Classmate computers, most students currently leave the classroom and attend the media lab when their assignments call for computer-based learning.

Innovation Program: While the students use solo learning time to build independent thinking and management skills, they also use an Innovation Program to spark leadership qualities within their students. Once a year for two weeks, the school stops everything, and every kid from 3rd to 11th grade works on a specific social challenge. Then they display their solution to this social challenge in a science-fair type of display, allowing the community to contrast a 3rd grader’s approach to an 11th grader approach to the s

STUDENT PARTICIPATING IN THE INNOVATION PROGRAM (IDEO)