The Walls Come Tumbling Down!

     Every day, in every classroom, there are obstacles that we teachers must overcome.  Whether the obstacles are related to a child's intelligence, experiences, interests, attitude, socioeconomic status, etc., we are expected to achieve the same outcome - learning.  Although some tools of our trade might actually create the walls that build up between our students and our goals, blended/online learning is one strategy designed to help tear those walls down.  In my somewhat limited experience with blended learning, I've found that students who are used to a brick and mortar classroom are immediately interested when first introduced to asynchronous learning.  For example, when first exposed to My Big Campus, students will get on and look for things to do.  After the first day of introducing the site to my students last year, I actually had one student comment on MBC, "I wish I had something to do on here."   His wish was granted in record time!
     Besides getting unmotivated students interested in learning, blended/online lessons can help with other obstacles as well:

• Students who are interested in what they are learning, or how they are learning it, naturally have improved attitudes about the process.
• Blended/online learning can make resources available to students and parents 24/7.  Whether a student has been absent, disorganized, forgetful, or just plain lazy, any resources posted for students can be accessed any time, any place.
• Technology provides another modality of learning that will appeal to multiple intelligences/learning styles that are not always stimulated in traditional classrooms.
• Integrating technology prepares students to use tools that will obviously play an important role in their futures, inside and outside the workplace.
• The internet can provide a window to the limitless knowledge that schools cannot begin to print and put on the shelves of their libraries.
• 1:1 initiatives can force teachers to move up the levels of Bloom's Taxonomy and force kids to use information rather that regurgitate it.

     Like most educational initiatives, blended/online learning isn't the end-all answer to every obstacle in education.  Like many educational initiatives, however, it has true merit; and when combined with other educational best practices, the walls will start tumbling down.