Submitted by Greg Klein, Director of Blended Learning, Rogers Foundation
Note: The information in this profile represents 2012-13 unless otherwise indicated.
School/organization overview
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School/organization background
History and context
Mr. Wilson started with the question “How can we use blended learning to increase and personalize human learning?” By facilitating students’ access to digital content and small-group instruction, providing students, teachers, and leaders with easier access to student data, and facilitating a collaborative, data-driven culture with space and time to plan, we believe learning can be more efficient and effective.
Blended-learning program
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Program model
Program model: Individual Rotation
Model description
In-classroom two group rotation with 2/3 of students on computers and 1/3 of students with the teacher. Students on computers use personalized, adaptive digital content primarily to reinforce concepts learned with the teacher, though at times, they will receive direct instruction online.
Program description
Students are on campus 8:45-3pm, and school is also open with after school program. Students spend approximately 1/3 to 1/2 of their day learning with educational software. When class begins, half of the students take out a laptop and work at their own pace and level in ST Math. The groups switch each day to cut down on transitions within the learning block. After approximately 30 minutes of ST Math, teachers typically move students into a 1:1 setting to work on writing within the Achieve3000 program.
Self-contained 4th grade teachers use a variety of other traditional district-adopted curricula across the subjects.
In both online and offline spaces, teachers assign content and tasks, monitor progress and adjust small groups based on achievement data.
The site has a grant-funded on-site Level I tech support for 6 hours per week, and who also works with kids and monitors computer stations.
The typical blended classroom has chair-desks for half of the class and laptops on tables in the back of the room for the other half of students.
Classes are traditionally age-based heterogenous cohorts, and then teachers create more meaningful small groups as needed within the traditional context.
This varies by teacher, but increasingly, teachers are “letting go” and allowing students to move through more and more of the content at their own pace. Currently, students move through online content at their own pace.
Traditional urban district school context, with 1/6 of teachers and classrooms currently piloting blended models.
Students have just begun using the online tools, with regular access throughout the week, without substantial data yet to report.
Infusion of $100k of hardware, online content and PD, allowing for longer-term returns of creating teacher leaders to carry on the work.
Ensuring a just-in-time PD model that helps teachers direct their own learning and get what they need as quickly as possible to push their own practice — particularly when learning specific online content programs.
This pilot is continually expanding at this site as more teachers come on board using web 2.0 tools, and adaptive online content. Oakland Unified School District is currently planning how it might expand access to Connected Learning infrastructure across the district, and in parallel Rogers Family Foundation is selecting for an additional cohort of Oakland schools to create similar pilots.
Contact information
Name: Greg Klein
Title: Director of Blended Learning
Email: gklein@rogersfoundation.org
Phone: 510-290-4005