What Would Horn and Staker Say About My Research?

     "Blended learning environments are not haphazard places. A teacher should not set up an online space, open the door for students, and stand back and wait for learning to take place, as if by magic. Instead, the teacher should be thoughtful in the construction of the online component, creating complementary blocks of instruction that utilize the affordances of the technology and medium, whether that is in the form of research, multi-modal composition, or some other element of instruction. Successful and rich blended learning environments are built around the possibilities now available with technology, so that, for example, a student learning about cells in science class can later conduct research (maybe even talk via Skype with a working scientist), create her own animation of cellular mitosis, share that animation as a file in the online environment, reflect on the experience through chats with the teacher, and become the expert on mitosis within a class that reaches both in the school and beyond. Here, the teacher acts as a mentor, laying the groundwork for knowledge first in a live classroom and then guiding the inquiry along in the online space."

 Kevin Hodgson, author of Sharing Time in a Blended Learning Space, on learnnc.org provides a glimpse into what a blended learning environment should be and what it should not look like. Horn and Staker would readily agree with this method of planning. In their book, they suggested that in blended learning environments a standard planning process would not work. (p.266) The authors argue that successful implementation involves making sometimes significant adjustments as their operation has continued. Organizations change their plans as they gain more information.

 Likewise, the authors would readily agree with teachers being mentors rather than leading the learning. Horn and Staker argue that students actually need teachers to serve as mentors to help the students build the skills they need later in life. (p. 172) 

Staff writers for teachthought.net say, "This is blended learning’s real strength: it transforms a largely transmissive method of teaching–say, a professor lecturing for what feels like an eternity–into a truly interactive one. It sounds ideal on paper, but does it work? A 2010 meta-analysis published by the U.S. Department of Education suggests it does. According to the report, students exposed to both face-to-face and online education were more successful than students entirely in one camp or the other." Horn and Staker would undoubtedly agree with this quote. They make a strong argument in their book that factory model schools fall short today because they aren't cultivating the skills students require today to succeed in future careers.

With all I have learned today about blending learning, I am quite sure Horn and Staker would be smiling in agreement and cheering me on with my continued research on the topic.