E-Learning and Online Teaching

Here's a robust Pinterest board dedicted to Education from Jill Wright.

Templates to guide the design of your blended learning course. 

Students can accomplish a lot working independently with proven technology, but teachers play a critical role in reinforcing concepts, intervening when students have difficulties, and supporting students in their learning.

Blended Learning is not so much an innovation as it is a natural by-product of the digital domain creeping into physical boundaries. As digital and social media become more and more prevalent in the life of learners, it was only a matter of time before learning became “blended” by necessity.

The self-described “tinkerers” and “hacker-ninjas” behind a free web app they call “KA Lite” have an immodest goal: They aim to bring the revolution in online education to the 65 percent of the world that isn’t online.

Developed by a ragtag team of dedicated volunteers led by UC San Diego cognitive science doctoral candidate Jamie Alexandre, the app fords the digital divide by making available offline the online videos and exercises of the popular Khan Academy – which tallied 5.5 million unique users in January. The team also has a vision of expanding to include other educational content that’s freely available on the Internet commons. Project Gutenberg, perhaps, or Wikipedia.

Here's a technology that any student can use to 'blend' the traditional lecture with online productivity tools.

Take notes and they are wirelessly uploaded to Evernote, along with a sync track of the lecture you're listening to.  Very slick.  

~ I recommend this! Dennis O'Connor

Here's a link to 70+ recent articles about blended learning.
Learn to mix the best of both worlds as you build 21st Century Classroom.

A recent study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education found that students involved in blended learning programs generally performed better than students who participated in face-to-face instruction.

MIKE GWALTNEY:

I’m often asked by teachers how to get started doing Blended Learning. My answer is always “why do you want to try Blended Learning?” Rather than trying to be cheeky or coy about my practice, I’m trying to begin a conversation about the value of moving learning online. If you haven’t determined why you’re doing it, your attempts will be unfocused and confusing for students. So my suggestion is that you consider your goals – what I refer to as the “verbs” (connect, network, collaborate, cooperate, create, etc.) – and then create the Blended Learning experiences that fit.

When used in a structured way, blended learning can allow organizations to mix different teaching materials and tools into an effective, integrated learning experience, giving learners an opportunity to move from passive learning to active learning.