In this module, Brian, Michael Horn, and other contributors unpack the Christensen Institute’s definition of blended learning, which consists of three essential components: (1) online learning where students control time, place, path, and pace; (2) integration of that online component within the physical school setting; and (3) data‑driven interaction between the online and classroom environments. They acknowledge current technical limitations—software and data systems often do not communicate seamlessly—emphasizing the need for human leadership during this early stage. Through an in‑video quiz, they differentiate true blended learning (e.g., flipped classroom where instruction moves online, giving students control) from merely tech‑rich classrooms that add digital tools without changing the learning model. The discussion then introduces a proposed framework for high‑quality blended learning, comprising four elements: personalization for each learner, mastery‑based progression, high expectations with rigorous standards, and student ownership/agency. They stress that technology, while not the focus, is critical for scaling and financial sustainability. Finally, learners are assigned to craft their own definition of high‑quality blended learning, post it to a discussion board, and engage with peers to refine the collective definition.
Chapters
So let's get into this definition of blended learning. Our friends at the Christensen Institute have spent a long time cataloging about 100 different examples of blended learning all across the country. And I think this is helpful to have sort of some common language. They have a definition that we're going to start with, which is really broken down into three essential parts. Let's dive into that definition.
So the first part of this definition is actually pretty straightforward. It basically means that students are learning online. But the critical part is this part here. In the end of the definition, it's the part that says that students will have some element of control over the time, the place, the path and or the pace of learning.
Michael, tell me a little bit more about that time, path and place.
Yeah, so the really big idea here is especially on the path and pace piece of this, which says that students don't all learn at the same pace, sometimes you might be able to whiz through something and really understand it quickly. Other times you might need longer to play with a concept until it really settles in, or you might need totally different pathways to be able to master something.
This second part is very straightforward. It essentially means that this online learning is actually happening in real school settings. So this last part is important because what it means is what's happening online isn't entirely disconnected from what's happening in the classroom.
So this is an important point. It means that you can't just stick someone on Oregon Trail or Reader Rabbit to babysit them. In effect, that what they're doing in that online experience is actually informing what's happening in the classroom.
Exactly. The classroom needs to talk online, and online needs to talk to the classroom. And. And in the ideal setting, the data from each part, whether it's teacher observations or actual outcomes, should inform the other piece of the puzzle so that the two become an integrated whole.
And that's a really important point just to key off of, which is that today not all the software and data systems make that data sharing experience totally seamless. And we're just going to be up front with that, that there's a long way to go on that front. But the hope is that that will continue to improve to make that far better in the future.
And this is a great point. A lot of what we're talking about in this course is still an ideal reality is not 100% there yet. So if you're keeping score at home, feel free to start your list of all the things that aren't quite ready yet. The software isn't perfect the data doesn't talk to each other and yet you can still do this work. You just have to accept that it's the early innings of this baseball game and it's still messy and that that's where the role of the human being and leadership really comes in.
So now that we've gone through the definition of what blended learning is, let's, let's try out your understanding of what is and is not blended learning through this invideo pop up quiz.
So let's take a look at these examples and talk about whether they are or are not blended learning. Example one is students responding to a teacher. It's great that they're using a tablet. It might be more efficient. But this is just technology being put into the classroom. It's the old system done digitally, eh, not blended.
This second example is blended learning. And the reason is it's actually using a method called the flipped classroom. It's basically shifting the instruction online out of school time so that students have control over the time and the pace of what they're learning. They can press, pause, rewind, go back over a concept that they didn't quite understand, and then they get to use the time in classroom to really dive deep into the actual concepts of the trial to extract far more meaning out of this experience.
And this is an important idea that we hope with blended learning we might be able to make education a little more efficient and free up some time for some, quote, deeper learning type activities. And it's clear that an example like this, where the students get to do a simulation is probably going to be a more powerful learning experience. And that was enabled by the teacher using technology to gain some time. It's great that this teacher is using a digital whiteboard. It's great that the students are taking notes on their laptops. I would argue all those are good efficiency gains. But again, just tools in the classroom. We're not changing the fundamental role of the teacher or the student. We're not going after more personalized education. This is technology making the old system better. But in our definition it's not blended learning.
So we hope out of this exercise you're really starting to get a feel for what really is blended learning and what's just what we call tech rich classrooms, just layering technology without actually changing the learning model itself.
That's great. And I think now we have to think about what is high quality blended learning. It's not just blended, it's actually the definition that we're looking to promote in this course.
Yeah, this is A good point, because the definition of blended learning purposely leaves out any notion of blended learning being always good or always bad. In fact, you can look at a lot of programs that would meet that definition, and sometimes they're really great, and sometimes they're not that great at all. So a really interesting question is, what would high quality blended learning, what would that definition be? Because it's not agreed to in the field right now.
Okay, so let's tackle that as our challenge. I'll put out there a straw man to begin with. Let's look at a high quality blended learning definition that is broken down into four different parts. The first part of our definition is that it should be personalized. And by that we mean it goes after the needs, the gaps for every student, the not the class as a whole. It's personalized for each learner.
The second part of this definition is that it's mastery based. We've talked about this concept before, but it basically means that students move on and receive credit only after they've mastered a core concept.
And the correlate to that is the students can go after demonstrating mastery whenever they're ready. They don't have to wait until the teacher says, we're at week seven. Now is the time to test out.
So if you're keeping score at home, just remember it frees you up from the tyranny of the clock to focus on actual learning.
Third key element is that it's based on high expectations for students, which means that each student has clearly defined rigorous standards that prepare them for success in college and career.
And the fourth and last element of this definition is that there's student ownership, and this is critical. Student ownership means that students are empowered with the skills, information, and tools that they need to manage their own learning.
And we'll talk about this as agency as well. And we think ownership and agency are just essential to blended learning being high quality.
One of the core beliefs about blended learning is students can own their own learning. And just from an educational standpoint, we want kids to be able to do things without the teacher telling them what to do. I mean, that's just a basic what it means to be educated, what it means to be a learner. And I think folks get that. But if you look at college success rates, we have lots of students who succeed, succeed, succeed, succeed. They get to college, and it's just a cliff. And oftentimes what we hear is, when I was in control of my schedule, when I was in control of my education, when there was no one there telling me to go to class. Things got really, really hard. So we really want kids to be learners for the sake of being learners. But if we really value kids going to higher education institutions and being really successful in life beyond that, we've got to figure out how to better prepare students for that. And I think blended learning is a big piece of that answer.
So these four elements start to really define what high quality blended learning is. Now, we've done a lot in this course already of just saying it's really about the learning and not about the technology per se. But there's one important point here, which is that the technology is critical because it starts to make blended learning possible at scale around the world and also financially sustainable.
So we've given you this long Christensen Institute definition. We've added on four elements of high quality blended learning. It's a bit of a mouthful. I actually think you might be able to do better. So let's kick it over to Rob to talk about your very first assignment and your chance to give us a better definition of high quality blended learning.
So now it's your turn. You've heard Michael and Brian come up with their definition of high quality blended learning. Apply some frameworks and some thoughts to it, but nothing's really codified. We want you to come up with your definition for high quality blended learning and take that definition and put it into the discussion board. We want this to be a super robust experience and really have you guys interacting with each other. So after you place your definition into the discussion board, comment on at least two other people's upvote, the ones that you really like, by clicking on the up arrow. Push other people's thinking, question them, challenge their assumptions. Because ultimately, we want to come up with the best definition that we can for high quality blended learning. And that really relies on you guys interacting on the discussion boards. And who knows, maybe one of these definitions is going to end up as the go to definition for high quality blended learning.
