Introduction
When I began my coursework with Lamar University I had already been teaching French for over twenty years. I felt confident in what I was doing in the classroom, and I believed that my students were learning. Through my coursework and research, however, I found that I could be doing so much more to improve my students’ learning experiences and outcomes. Consequently, I developed an innovation plan to implement an in-class blended learning environment within my French courses. The timing was ideal because our high school had just instituted a one-to-one program with Chromebooks, thus removing the impediment of providing appropriate devices for all students.
I invite your to read my innovation plan for more information on the steps that I am taking to introduce blended learning into my classes.
What Research Says
The general tone of research in the area of blended learning is that it is an overall effective learning environment. Serdyukov (2017) found that learning is most effective when there is the combination of Internet learning experiences and face-to-face interactions among students and teachers. Additionally, students who participate in blended learning develop skills such as accountability, independence, and time management (Toikkanen, 2016) that are important for success in high school, college, and the business world (Rapposelli, 2014).
I began to pilot my in-class blended learning plan this year (2019-2020) with my French II students. We have only been using this learning methodology for about three months, but my observations and experiences reflect what I found in my research. Students in both Honors and College Preparatory sections are taking greater responsibility for their learning and are excelling at performance tasks beyond what I saw in the past. My French teacher colleagues in the middle school and high school are currently in the process of adopting in-class blended learning environments as well so that students experience blended learning and its benefits throughout our French program.
For more information about research on blended learning please read my literature review.
Global Lessons Learned – What Worked
Perhaps the greatest key to the effective and lasting implementation of blended learning is professional development. Gulamhussein (2013) tells us that professional development must be ongoing, lasting over fourteen hours, if teachers are to truly understand the methodology being taught. Additionally, teachers need to practice the new skills they are learning a minimum of twenty times in order to become proficient in using them (Gulamhussein, 2013). My colleagues and I are establishing a professional learning community to benefit from sharing our experiences, successes, and, perhaps most importantly, our failures as we undertake making this change, a practice which La Ferrière & Cooke (2016) advocate. Whenever we have the opportunity, we are carving out time during professional development days to meet and discuss our progress. As we move forward, we hope to be able to make our meetings more consistent by making use of our School District’s flex time for professional development.
Global Lessons Learned – What Could Have Been Done Better?
The greatest takeaway from my research has been that we, as educators, need to have a vision of where we are going (Chambers, 2014) and decide which problems we are trying to solve before jumping into new initiatives (Lapowsky, 2015). Otherwise, as was the case in the Los Angeles Unified School District, we are wasting valuable resources (Chambers, 2014).
Additionally, it is imperative that professional learning opportunities be well-planned and lasting (Gulamhussein, 2013). In the years that I have been in education, I have seen initiatives come and go because new ideas were introduced to teachers, but they were quickly forgotten due to lack of followthrough.
Applying These Lessons to My Innovation Plan
Not only do I take my fiduciary responsibilities seriously as a teacher, I am also a property owner, and thus, a taxpayer, within my School District. I have a personal and financial interest in wanting our teachers and administrators to make good decisions that afford the best learning benefits to our students while being good stewards of taxpayers’ resources.
My goals for my students are clear – to provide individualized and authentic learning experiences to my French students so that they can communicate effectively and to help students develop greater respect for other peoples and cultures. The use of Chromebooks and our learning management system (LMS) within a flexible classroom environment with personalized attention is the way in which I plan to achieve that goal. For more information about how I am using technology to individualize instruction, please view my video Making Technology Work: Call to Action.
In order to be successful, I will need the support of parents and administrators (Serdyukov, 2017). Most importantly, however, I will need to convince my students that making a change in their learning environment, while challenging and uncomfortable at first, will benefit them in the long term. I can attest to the fact that students are often resistant to change. When I first began my pilot of in-class blended learning, some students told me that they would prefer if I just stood in front of the classroom as the “sage on the stage” and delivered instruction to them. Three months later, they are enjoying the new learning experience and are reaping the benefits of a classroom environment that can be modified to address their personal needs. I look forward to seeing where this experience takes us as we continue along this path of learning in a new way.
References
The CEA ‘Innovation that sticks’ case study report: Ottawa Catholic School Board: A framework for district-wide change (L. La Ferrière & M. Cooke, Comps.) [Pamphlet]. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.edcan.ca/wp-content/uploads/cea_ocsb_innovation_report.pdf
Chambers, B. (2014, August 28). L.A. cancels iPads-in-the-schools program: A failure of vision, not technology. Macworld. Retrieved from http://www.macworld.com/article/2599988/lausd-ipad-cancellat
Gulamhussein, A. (2013, September). Teaching the teachers: Effective professional development an era of high stakes accountability. Retrieved from The Center for Public Education website: https://www.academia.edu/28440314/Teaching_Effective_Professional_Development_in_an_Era_of_High_Stakes_Accountability_READ_THE_REPORT_Center_for_Public_Education
Lapowsky, I. (2015, May 8). What schools must learn from LA’s iPad debacle. Retrieved October 26, 2019, from https://www.wired.com/2015/05/los-angeles-edtech/
Rapposelli, J. (2014). Blended learning provides pathway to success for high school students. THE Journal. Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/10/22/blended-learning-provides-pathway-to-success-for-high-school-students.aspx
Serdyukov, P. (2017). Innovation in education: What works, what doesn’t, and what to do about it? Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning, 10(1), 4-33. Retrieved from https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JRIT-10-2016-0007/full/html
Toikkanen, T. (2016, June 30). Learning despite school. LifeLearn. Retrieved from https://medium.com/lifelearn/learning-despite-school-d0879be9464f
Growing my Classroom 