Five Blended-Learning Models: A Brief Preview
While there are more than five blended-learning models, over the coming weeks, this collection will explore the five most common. These are also the five that are most flexible and can be applied to traditional or remote learning spaces. Here is a brief introduction to the models that will be highlighted in upcoming AVID Open Access articles.
1. Whole-Group Rotation:
In whole-group rotation, the entire class rotates between face-to-face and online learning at the same time. For instance, the students might all participate in a full-class, face-to-face activity together, and when the class is finished, be directed to simultaneously take out their digital devices and log in to an eLearning website.
2. Station Rotation:
In this model, students rotate in small groups through a series of stations. This is commonly facilitated within a physical classroom by having some stations feature online learning and some offline learning. Oftentimes, one station is a meeting with the teacher.
3. Flipped Learning:
Flipped learning comes from the idea of flipping the instructional process upside down. Instead of the teacher lecturing content and the students doing homework later, students learn through a digital medium (video, article, website, etc.), and then come back together for a face-to-face activity that stretches students to the upper level of Costa’s and Bloom’s Levels of Thinking.
4. Playlists:
Think of a playlist as an individualized checklist of tasks or activities to complete. Within this checklist, students can make choices to personalize the learning in some way. Sometimes, the teacher customizes the playlist for individual students, and students may sometimes choose from options that are offered. One type of playlist is a choice board.
5. Hybrid Courses:
Hybrid courses usually happen at the school level, rather than the individual-classroom level. In this model, students attend school in the physical classroom on some days, and then learn remotely on other days. For instance, students may be required to meet in person on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week, with Tuesday and Thursday being remote-learning days.
