Chapter 2 Getting Started

I love learning when there is a ton of interaction whether it is teacher to student or student to student making it easy to see other points of view besides your own.

—Victoria Sandoval, 9th Grade

Though sometimes daunting, a thoughtful blended learning transformation is not only worth the time, energy, and effort, but necessary to keep pace with the rapidly evolving education landscape. The initial steps of getting started are absolutely critical to the long-term success of the blended learning initiative. Whether a school has already begun experimenting or has fully launched a blended initiative, it is not too late to implement these best practices.

This chapter

First and foremost, we highly recommend an incremental process as illustrated in Figure 2.1, the Blended Learning Roadmap.

In most cases, the complete shift to blended learning may require anywhere from three to five years; however, much progress can be made in even one year with the right planning. The timeframe for a blended learning initiative depends on the starting characteristics of a given school or district, and the scale and scope of the blended learning vision. There may be unique challenges with regard to infrastructure, technology, staff proficiency, or other unique characteristics. This is okay. More important than transforming overnight is setting off in the right direction with key players sharing the same vision and working together. The Blended Learning Roadmap outlines the key phases of a blended learning transformation: Phase 1: Foundations, Phase 2: Transitions, Phase 3: Expansion.

Figure 2.1 Blended Learning Roadmap: The Pathway to Personalization

Figure 2

Courtesy of Redbird Advanced Learning.

Phase 1: Building the Foundation

This chapter focuses on Phase 1: Foundations to illustrate the elements that help ensure the blended learning implementation starts on the right path, and at the right pace. The processes for leaders and classroom teachers are very similar and ideally should happen in tandem. There are several moving pieces, and each piece needs to be well thought out to help secure the overall success of the initiative.

Stage 1: Engagement and Vision—Cohesion of Vision and Pedagogy

As with any new project, organization, or initiative, a blended learning implementation should start with a clear and cohesive vision and purpose. In Go Blended, Liz Arney recommends that schools “hire technology to help solve one of your pressing instructional problems, not for technology’s sake” (Arney, 2015, p. 20). Remaining steadfast on the instructional problem increases discipline and focus. Forming a clear vision does not mean that everything needs to be figured out from the beginning. In fact, it is unrealistic to expect definitive solutions at the onset because the program will evolve with increasing proficiency, technology advancements, and trial and error. The visioning process also serves to establish buy-in and engagement from key stakeholders. The earlier and more often that key people are brought into the process, the greater likelihood that they take ownership and feel like authentic participants.

Authentic Participants

An effective approach to visioning is to include key stakeholders as authentic participants in the process. Authentic participation involves the incorporation of the voices, opinions, needs, and concerns of participants in a meaningful way. Stakeholders become quickly disillusioned if they are asked to participate in these early conversations, but do not feel genuinely heard or valued. Figure 2.2 shows the progression of the collective visioning process.

The visioning process can take the form of a single meeting, or series of meetings using a combination of in-person and virtual formats. The key is to invest enough time and quality interaction to generate buy-in and build cohesion. Additionally, the shared vision creates a common bond among the group when problems or differences of opinion arise. Planning is intentionally not included in the visioning process. Developing a shared vision allows for a smaller committee to build a preliminary plan and present back to the visioning group. Planning is a significantly more concrete process that requires a deeper and more intense focus.

Figure 2.2 Visioning Process

Figure 3

Stage 2: Assess–What Is Our Starting Point?

With more examples of lessons learned from districts across the country, organizations like Education Elements and others are helping to bring best practice thinking and processes to the blended learning transformation process. One of these best practices is conducting a thorough assessment at the onset. In the assessment phase, it is important to understand the school or district’s true starting point. In most cases, this is somewhere in Phase 1: Foundations of the Blended Learning Roadmap. Schools that have already set off on a blended path may be approaching, or in, Phase 2: Transitions. In either case, there is usually some level of blended instruction taking place on a small scale, or there is somewhat spotty implementation on a larger scale. Most likely, some teachers have started to engage in some level of technology integration, but are unsure of the fidelity of the implementation or are looking to strengthen their practice.

The assessment phase helps to ensure that the starting point, path, and pace of the transition is fitting for a given school or district. Not investing the required time and resources into the assessment may result in moving too quickly or too slowly into the initiative, or making wrong instructional decisions. These misestimations can lead to wasted time, money, and energy as seen most notoriously with the Los Angeles Unified School District iPad initiative of 2013, where the district ambitiously began supplying all students with iPads only to quickly halt the program due to curricular, technological, and personnel unpreparedness.

In the assessment phase, four key factors should be considered to determine the readiness of a district, school, or classroom for blended learning:

  1. School/District Culture
  2. Staff Proficiency (Leadership and Teacher Capacity)
  3. Current Instructional Program
  4. Technology Infrastructure

As described below, these factors are the same for leaders and teachers only applied in different ways.

Culture

Table 3

Academic Program

Table 5

Technology Infrastructure

Table 6

Understanding these elements helps leaders and teachers make smart decisions for Phase 1. Many schools or districts opt to hire outside firms to conduct a full assessment of blended learning readiness while others conduct a more internally driven process. Though there are positives and negatives to each path, the key is to ensure an honest process that yields accurate data and findings.

An honest assessment serves as insurance to help a district or school avoid making overly ambitious and often costly leaps from their existing structure, or pushing people faster than their mindset or current capacity allows them to go. Honesty in the assessment phase should be tempered with compassion. Mike Ritzius, co-founder of the EdCamp Foundation and Associate Director of Professional Development for New Jersey Education Association, speaks of the importance of “honoring and respecting the people who paved the way for current innovators” (Mike Ritzius, personal communication, January 9, 2016). The shift to blended learning represents big leaps that can put significant strain on systems, leaders, and teachers. It is important to value the foundational work, people, and existing strengths during periods of change and innovation.

Links to the Classroom: Participating in Discussions About Mindset

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Teachers should make a point to include themselves in conversations about culture, staff proficiency, academic programs, and technology infrastructure. They should have a clear vision of where both they and their students are beginning this journey. For many teachers, transitioning to a blended learning model requires a radical shift in their perception of their role as the teacher in the classroom as well as their students’ roles as learners in the classroom. This shift in role is also experienced by students who may have a preexisting expectation of teacher and student roles that are different from those in a blended model.

Start the conversation about mindset with your school leadership, your peers, and your students. Figure 2.3 provides an idea of the types of shifts teachers should be contemplating as they set off on their blended learning journey.

  • How do you and your students see the teacher-student roles in your classroom right now?
  • How are you and your students currently using technology in your classroom?
  • Have you used the SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition) or TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) model to identify the role of technology in your lessons? What routines or class norms do you have in place to ensure that students are using technology responsibly (e.g., class contract)?
  • If you could redesign your classroom, what would it look like?

Stage 4: Pre-Pilot

The final important stage for phase 1 is the pre-pilot. We do not yet consider this a pilot because this is a designed opportunity to fail small and fail fast, adapt quickly, and learn from mistakes. A small group of teachers and schools can begin to implement blended learning in a portion of their classrooms to test for challenges, such as technology limitations, teacher readiness, student readiness, ease of onboarding, to name a few. By having this dry run (which may not last more than two to three months), many of the inevitable bugs in the system emerge and leaders can see where things need to be tightened up or adjusted prior to the pilot. Rio Public Schools in Oxnard, California, created the Rio Lab Class (@riolabclass) that is essentially an ongoing pre-pilot. The lab class helps teachers experiment with innovations in blended learning with the expectation that some will succeed and many will fail. The lab class is a student favorite with its special focus on student-driven and project-based learning. Promising approaches are further tested and oftentimes expanded to other classrooms in the district. Teachers often observe the lab class for ideas and learning. Table 2.3 compares the pre-pilot to the actual pilot. The pre-pilot phase is distinct from a pilot in some important ways.

Table 8

Identifying and Enlisting Pre-Pilot Teachers

The pre-pilot is a great opportunity for teachers to get involved in the shift to a blended learning model early in the process. The pre-pilot teachers are usually early adopters who are already using technology with their students. Leaders can handpick these teachers, but it may be more equitable to present the opportunity to the whole staff and ask interested teachers to participate. Broward County Public Schools in Florida used a preliminary technology readiness assessment to identify technology advanced teachers and invited them to participate in professional development in personalized blended learning. Over 300 teachers across eighty schools volunteered and are now the beginning of organic growth of blended learning in the district. Districts can also ask teachers to complete an informal application with the following questions:

  • Why do you want to participate in the pre-pilot? What do you hope to learn in this process?
  • How are you currently using technology?
  • Thinking about the SAMR/TPACK model, where would you say most of your lessons currently are—substitution, augmentation, modification or redefinition?
  • How do you want digital technology to impact the learning experience?
  • Are you willing to spend time attending professional development opportunities and collaborating with other pre-pilot teachers?

The answers to these questions will provide insight into teachers’ thoughts on technology as well as their motivation for joining the pre-pilot. In addition to an informal application, it’s helpful to conduct short observations of the teachers who expressed interest to make sure you are selecting a strong group of teachers. It’s important that these teachers are willing to invest time and energy into this process. They need to be open-minded, willing to experiment, and able to roll with technology bumps as they attempt to shift to a blended learning model.

Links to the Classroom: Engaging Student Voice in Pre-Pilots

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As students engage in Pre-pilots, it is helpful for them to also have an understanding of what they can expect during this phase. By including students in an ongoing conversation about their role in a blended classroom, teachers can avoid student frustration from any “kinks” as they are worked out, and can engage students as participants in assessing the value of the program. This is accomplished within a pre-pilot group of students during the onboarding process, which we further discuss in Chapter 8. As part of the “defining” component of onboarding, teachers can inform students of the following expectations:

  • We have an important role in determining whether this new digital tool is a good learning resource for more students here at the school.
  • We need your help in assessing whether this is going to be valuable to the program, so be ready to provide feedback along the way . . . don’t be shy!
  • Since this is our first time using this tool(s), we’ll probably encounter a few “fail-forward” moments where things don’t work out exactly as planned. These moments are very important to help us learn.
  • I’ll count on you to help us work out the kinks together and make recommendations whether we use this tool(s) for more students or not.

Wrapping It Up

Whether you want to improve on an existing implementation or are truly just getting started in your blended learning journey, you are not too late to implement these important best practices in getting started. The keys are to be honest about where you are; do not bite off more than you can chew; build on your strengths; and think incrementally. The getting started process involves the following four elements.

Book Study Questions

  1. Who are your key stakeholders and what is your plan to meaningfully engage them in the visioning process?
  2. How would you describe the existing culture in your district, school, or classroom?
  3. What are the key strengths you expect to build on from the assessment phase? What are the key limitations or challenges you expect to learn?
  4. What is your predominant current instructional model?
  5. How can you structure your pre-pilot to fail fast and still obtain key learnings?