1. Blended Learning for
History & Social Science courses
Mike Gwaltney
mikegwaltney.net/blog
Twitter: @MikeGwaltney
Email: mike@mikegwaltney.net
Global Education Conference 2010
2.
3. Essential Questions
for Conversation
What is Blended Learning?
Why is it beneficial for our students?
What strategies work best in a Blended Learning
model?
What resources can be employed in traditional
classes to start blending teaching and learning?
What challenges are presented by a move to a
Blended Learning model?
4. Classroom Online
Joins the best aspects of face-to-
face instruction with the best
aspects of online education.
5. Effective? Relevant?
• There is early evidence that
a "blended" instructional approach can result in
learning outcome
gains (http://www.uic.edu/depts/oee/blended/work
shop/bibliography.pdf).
• 93% of Higher Ed instructors and admin say they
are using blended learning strategies somewhere
in their institution. 7 in 10 expect more than 40%
of their schools’ courses to be blended by
2013 (Bonk, C. J. & Graham, C. R. (Eds.).
• Web Learning @ Penn State Univ.
http://weblearning.psu.edu/
7. What’s the Balance?
Goals, Policies, etc.
How much Face-to-Face time?
How much Online time?
“Web-Centric” vs. Fully Blended
8. “The Flip”Version
Classroom time is used for interactive
experiences / discussion of big ideas
Collaboration, CriticalThinking, Creative problem-
solving are done with instructor on the side
Online time is used for consumption of
multimedia-rich content
Student acquires important information on his/her own
10. Gold-Standard Blended Learning
Student-Centered
Students are “doing” online, teachers are facilitating /
coaching
Students make their own meaning by applying (transferring)
what they learn to "authentic, meaningful, worthwhile
tasks” online, creating content
PerformanceTasks and Assessments are Authentic
i.e. “real-world”
Communicate and Collaborate
Manage information
Think Critically and Problem-solve
Create own products with Authentic Audiences
21. Great Online Content for History
and Social ScienceTeachers
Teaching History withTechnology
http://www.thwt.org/
NCSSTeacher Network:
http://ncssnetwork.ning.com/group/teachingwithtechnolo
gy
100 Great History Blogs
http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/2008/09/10/100-
awesome-blogs-for-history-junkies/
22. Web 2.0Tools for
Gold-Standard Blended Learning
Collaborate
Google Documents
Social Bookmarking
Diigo, Delicious
Wikis
Google Sites, Wikispaces
Microblogging and Social
Networking
Twitter, Ning, Facebook
Personal Learning Networks
Create
Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts
VoiceThread Speeches,
Debates
Storytelling
Animoto, Prezi
Video
Online Discussion
31. Emerging: Mobile Learning
"We learn anywhere, anytime, anyplace; there are
opportunities to learn all around us everyday.We learn in
the home, office, on the road. Likewise, educational
content can be shaped to fit all kinds of useful delivery
media that is convenient, user-friendly, and (most
important) serves the educational need of members
without the content being shortchanged or trivialized."
Smith,J.(2001)
32. Assessing Online Learning
Implications for Rubrics
include 2 traits to distinguish between:
content understanding
product/performance quality
Rubric must be properly weighted to reward the trait
emphasized by the task/assessment
33. Questions?
What resources can be employed in traditional classes to
start blending teaching and learning?
What challenges are presented by a move to a Blended
Learning model?
35. References
Watson, John. Blending Learning:The Convergence of Online and Face-to-Face Education.Vienna,VA: North
American Council for Online Learning, 2008. Promising Practices in Online Learning. North American Council for
Online Learning. Web. 10 June 2010. http://www.inacol.org/research/ promisingpractices/NACOL_PP-
BlendedLearning-lr.pdf.
Smith, Judith M. Ph.D. (2001). "Blended Learning: An Old Friend Gets a New Name." ExecutiveUpdate, Online.
http://www.gwsae.org/Executiveupdate/2001/March/blended.htm