What have I learned? Reading Review Assignment C

After exploring the blended learning resources which I noted as potentially useful in my previous post, I found myself avoiding the larger, more academic pieces and gravitating towards a number of different blogs. It's clear that in the resource bank there are a lot of broad, theoretical articles intended to justify the blended learning approach; as I am already a convert to the cause, I'm more interested in finding some practical applications of the process. In contrast then, the blogs were interesting, succinct and current, and provided plenty of information to pique my interest.

The key learning I have taken away from my explorations are:

• Blended learning is a hot topic in education
• The flipped classroom model is one I would like to implement in my classroom
• There are many resources available to help me get started in this process
• Deciding which technologies I want to use will take further inquiry
• I still find myself wanting to incorporate technology into my existing classroom framework. What would a 21^st century classroom with budget constraints and technology limitations look like at this point?
• The first step for me will be learning how to use some of the social media networks that are so readily available to us. Do I use the one provided by the school district or do I try out “edmodo”?
• I am struggling to deal with the “abundance” of information available to me when I research a topic.

With regard to specific information from specific sources, I found the website edutopia.com particularly useful. It contains a variety of links to other resources put together by educators that already believe in the merits of blended learning. They outline ways for teachers to get started with blended learning and provide links to useful websites such as the Khan Academy.

Many of the articles suggest that integrating technology into educational processes comes with an underlying challenge – how to ensure the glitz and glamour of technology does not overshadow its potential to actually make educational improvements. Research suggests that test scores remained stagnant despite the investment of millions of dollars’ worth of technology. So how then, to ensure that learning improves and we don't simply make it more entertaining? Does standardized testing need to go? Do we need new standards for success? Should we be ensuring students are more techno-savvy before inundating them with every technological advance that's been made?

Sources
Richardson, Will. (2012). Why School? TED Conferences.
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/blended-learning-getting-started-lisa-dabbs 
http://www.msdf.org/blog/2012/09/judy-burton-all-teachers-new-teachers-blended-learning-2/
http://catlintucker.com/2012/01/top-10-reasons-that-blended-learning-is-worth-the-hype/
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/blended-learning-effectiveness-bob-lenz
https://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/denying-the-facts-investing-in-computers-and-higher-test-scores/
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/five-ways-to-flip-your-classroom-with-the-new-york-times/?_r=0