Personal Learning Network, Blended Learning, What's on the Horizon and Block Schedules

1. “Time, Space and Quality Learning”
at Piedmont Middle School
Rob Darrow, Ed.D.
Director of Member Services
August 2012
Rob’s Wiki: http://robdarrow.wikispaces.com
www.inacol.org

2. Introductions
• Director of Member Services for International Association
for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL)
• 33 years in public education (10 years in middle school
as a teacher and as a teacher-librarian)
• Principal, Online Charter School
• District Coordinator
• Grant Administrator
• Father of a 22 year old daughter

3. A Little About You
• Taught for more than 20 years
• 10-20 years
• Less than 10 years
• First year of teaching?
• 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade
• English, History, Math, Science, PE, Electi
ves

4. Once Around
• Name
• Subject/Grade
• One interesting fact about Piedmont
Middle School or Something you heard
someone say about Piedmont MS?

5. What I think I know About You

6. According to Wikipedia
“Piedmont Middle School”
1. 71% White;
20% Asian.
2. 2% are English Lang
Learners
3. 0% percent of
students in
free/reduced lunch

7. Piedmont Middle
School
• High performing school – one of the best
in California
• Students scoring proficient over 90% in all
areas.
• Outstanding Teachers = High performing
students

8. Rich History
• Opened in 1978
• Foundation of Excellence
• Strong school/community connection
(District – City – Neighborhoods)
• Academics, Visual and Performing Arts
• Athletic program in partnership with
Piedmont Recreation Department

9. Almost 35 Years
• Lots has changed in 35 years

10. Nature of Information…
1978 2012
• Scarce • All around us
• Expensive • Cheap or free
• Shaped and controlled by • Shaped and controlled by
elites consumers and networks
• One Way, mass • Sharing, participation and
consumption feedback
• Slow moving • Immediate
• Mostly stored in • Embedded everywhere
classrooms and libraries (including libraries and
classrooms)

11. What else has changed
(aside from clothing styles)?

12. My Story
• 15 years ago, I was sitting in your seats
and wondering…
• I believe my story is similar to most
– Various encounters and experiences caused
me to go in a different direction
– Did not realize it at the time, only when I
reflect back on it today
– Can now identify key transformations in my ed
career

13. Session Outcomes
• For each teacher to plan out their content for the
block schedule trial weeks (Sept. 17-28)
• To discuss some ideas about block scheduling
• To identify some emerging trends that may be
enhanced by a block schedule
• To identify where each of you fit on the
“Textbook to Online Teaching and Learning
continuum” and where you’d like to be

14. Time and Block Schedules
• My Experience – Clovis Unified
– Elementary School – 5th Grade
– Kastner Intermediate (8th Core Teacher -
History/Literature/Language)
• 3 period core
– Alta Sierra Intermediate (8th Academic Block,
History/Language Arts)
• 2 period-block – all teachers – Even/Odd Days
– Teacher-Librarian
– District Online Learning Specialist, etc.

15. Reframe the
“block schedule” conversation to:
Do we need to adjust “time” in the classroom?
• If we have more concentrated
time, how does that change
instruction?
• Do we sometimes need more
concentrated “time” in the
classroom?
• Is concentrated time better
for student learning?

16. Learn to Learn
Adapt to Change
Scan the Horizon
Michael Stephens, Prof Lib Sci, San Jose
State, http://tametheweb.com/

17. Dan Pink. A Whole New Mind
• “change is inevitable,
and when it happens, the
wisest response is not to
wail or whine but to suck
it up and deal with it.”

18. Think in terms of 3-5 years from
now (not just today).
Think about what can be,
not what is.
Change is a process,
not an event

19. Many things I have learned in
the last 15 years
• From my PLN
Personal / Professional
Learning
Network

20. What is a PLN?
• n. – the entire collection of people
with whom you engage and
exchange information, face-to-
face, in print, and online.

23. Kevin Hodgson, 6th Grade Teacher in
Massachusetts: http://dogtrax.edublogs.org/

25. Your Personal / Professionial
Learning Network

26. Learn to Learn
Adapt to Change
Scan the Horizon
Michael Stephens, Prof Lib Sci, San Jose
State, http://tametheweb.com/

27. Scanning some things
on the
Educational Horizon

28. On the Horizon…8 Thoughts
• Happening Now
– 1. Connected Educators Month
– 2. Learning 2.0 – Free Online Conference
• In California
– 3. Adoption of Common Core Standards (New state
assessments in Spring 2015)
– 4. Ed Tech Task Force Recommendations
• Reports
– 5. Speak Up 2011 – Input from students, educators
– 6. Horizon Report 2012 – Yearly report about
emerging technologies
– 7. Competency Based Learning
• 8. What is Blended Learning?

29. 1. It’s “Connected Educators Month”
• How many knew this?
• Where did you find out?
http://connectededucators.org/cem/

30. Connected Educators Month
• “The First time that a diverse group of
organizations has worked together to
spotlight and engage online with
teachers who are changing their
practice.” Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan
– Aug. 2012
• http://connectededucators.org/cem/arne-duncan-points-
to-the-success-of-connected-educator-month/

31. 2. Learning 2.0 * Free
http://www.classroom20.com/page/2012-learning-2-0-virtual-conference

32. 3. Ca Ed Tech Task Force
Memo Released Aug. 2012
• To build on the collective
political will of all California
stakeholders to an “any time,
any place, and any pace,”
digital public education
system reflecting a 21st
century expertise
– http://www.myboe.org/portal/default/Group/
Viewer/GroupView?action=2&gid=2898

33. 3. Ca Ed Tech Task Force
Memo Released Last Week
• Encourage new alternative teaching models with
documented effectiveness for online and blended
learning and competency-based independent
learning options among many other delivery systems
including “flipped classroom” and project based learning.
– http://www.myboe.org/portal/default/Group/Viewer/GroupView?action=2&gid=289
8

34. Ca Ed Tech Task Force Memo
A few of the recommendations
• 1. Promote expanded use of online instructional
materials and ensure access to technology that
facilitates student engagement with standards-based
curricula and develops 21st century competencies.
• 2. Create modern, personalized assessments by
providing essential technology, infrastructure, and
professional development based on Common Core
State Standards formative and summative computer
adaptive assessments.

35. Ca Ed Tech Task Force Memo
A few of the recommendations
• 3. Ensure that every student has access
to at least one Internet connected
device for learning
• 4. Implement any time, any place learning;
often called 1:1 or One-to-One
technology learning initiatives

36. 4. Common Core State Standards
(CCSS) in Ca
• Part of SMARTER Balanced Assessment
Consortium (SBAC)
• With 27 other states
• Assessments being created for
mathematics and ELA for students in
grades 3 through 8 and grade 11

37. Common Core Standards Glimpse
Math
• Grade 6: Apply and extend previous understandings of arithmetic to
algebraic expressions.
• Grade 7: Solve real-life and mathematical problems
• Grade 8: Analyze and solve linear equations
English Language Arts
• Increased commitment to technology
• Value to group dynamics
• Standards for “writing across curriculum”
• Reading, Writing, Language, Speaking and Listening

38. Ca CCSS Assessment Timeline
• Spring 2014 – Field Testing
• Spring 2015 - Operational
http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/cc/index.asp

39. CCSS – Smart Balance
Assessments (SBAC)
• Consists of selected response, constructed
response, technology enhanced, and
performance task items.
• Designing one performance task, which will be
delivered by computer, for reading, one for
writing, and two for mathematics in each of
grades three through eight and eleven.
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sa/sbac-faqs.asp#summativeassessment

40. 5. Speak Up 2011. Yearly Survey
• 416,758 surveys completed from K-12 students, parents
and administrators
– A majority of teachers, school site
administrators and district level
administrators now report
participating in an online class for
their own professional development.
http://www.tomorrow.org/SpeakUp/

41. 5. Speak Up 2011. Yearly Survey
• The profile of a typical student interested in
taking an online class today is a middle
school girl who values the use of a
mobile device in school and sees online
learning as her ticket to a more
personalized learning environment
where she is in control of the learning
process.
http://www.tomorrow.org/SpeakUp/

42. Speak Up Students

43. Speak Up 2011: The “Ultimate School”
If students, parents and administrators could design
their own school, what technology would be essential?

44. 6. Horizon Report
• Yearly report since 2002
• Purpose: To understand the impact of
emerging technologies
• Diverse group of experts gather and
discuss and then make predictions
http://www.nmc.org/horizon-project/horizon-reports/horizon-
report-k-12-edition

45. Horizon Report Predictions (2012)
• 1. Education paradigms are shifting to include
online learning, blended learning and
collaborative models.
• 2. The abundance of resources and
relationships made easily accessible via the
Internet is increasingly challenging us to revisit
our roles as educators.
• 3. People expect to be able to work, learn, and
study whenever and wherever they want.

46. Horizon Report
• One Year or Less
– Mobiles and Apps
– Tablet Computing
• Two to Three Years
– Game-Based Learning
– Personal Learning Environment
• Four to Five Years
– Augmented Reality
– Natural User Interfaces

47. Examples – Mobile Learning
• Forsyth County, Georgia, “Bring Your Own
Technology (BYOT) -
http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/page/824
• Video:
http://dailynightly.nbcnews.com/_news/201
2/05/06/11567170-at-one-school-district-
the-motto-is-byot-bring-your-own-
technology

48. Examples - Tablets
• Corcoran Unified in Central Ca:
Purchased iPads for every student in
grades 5-12
– County Office installed wifi towers for students
in community to access from home
– http://one2one.corcoranunified.com/
– Video, John Muir Middle School:
http://youtu.be/rQnwEsuYI-8

49. Game Based Learning
• Quest to Learn School in New York -
http://q2l.org/
– Uses the underlying design principles of
games to create highly immersive, game-like
learning experiences for its 6th-12th graders
– Video: http://vimeo.com/6967967
– Video Explanation:
http://youtu.be/kHtj6PCpyLQ

50. 7. Competency Based Learning
• Competency-based strategies provide
flexibility in the way that credit can be
earned or awarded, and provide students
with personalized learning opportunities.

51. Competency Based Learning
• Away from seat
based learning
• Advancement based
upon mastery
• Customized,
personal learning
environments
http://www.inacol.org/research/competency/index.php

52. 8. Blended Learning –
What is it?

53. What was school like
for you?
Teaching ?
Learning ?
Curriculum ?

54. Teaching and Learning
• What is the student
doing and where is the
student?
 What is the teacher
doing and where is the
teacher?
 What and where is the
content?

55. Online
Teaching
Textbook
Enhanced
Teaching
Technology
Enhanced
Teaching
Web / Online
Enhanced
Teaching
From Textbook Enhanced to
Online Teaching and Learning Continuum

56. What does “it” look like?
*Teacher vs. student control of
teaching and learning
More teacher
control • Textbook enhanced
teaching and learning
• Technology enhanced
Shared (not online)
control
• Web/online enhanced
• Blended
More student
control • Online

57. What does “it” look like?
*Teacher-centric vs. Student-centric
More teacher
centric
• Textbook enhanced
teaching and learning
• Technology enhanced
Combination
(not online)
• Web/online enhanced
• Blended
More student
centric
• Online

58. What does “it” look like?
*Control of time and pace
Set time • Textbook enhanced
structure
teaching and learning
• Technology enhanced
(not online)
Some
Flexibility • Web/online enhanced
• Blended
Flexible • Online

59. What does “it” look like?
• Textbook enhanced teaching and
learning
• Technology enhanced (not online)
• Web/online enhanced
• Blended
• Online

60. We are pretty clear
Face-to-Face Teaching Online Teaching
• Students in classroom • Students online
• Teacher in classroom • Teacher online (minimal
• Interaction face-to-face, face-to-face interaction)
mostly verbal, some • Interaction online video
visual conferencing, email –
• Fixed schedule of classes more visual, less verbal
to attend • Flexible schedule for work
• Prescribed curriculum completion
based on standards / use • Prescribed curriculum
of textbooks based on standards / text

61. Blended Teaching and Learning
Teacher Student Curriculum

62. Blended Teaching and Learning
What is the student doing? What is the teacher doing?
(30% work online) (30% interacting with students online)
• Sitting in a desk in a classroom or • Standing in front of the classroom and
computer lab interacting online
• Using personal computer online at • Directing Learning
home or other location • Meeting students in small groups (f2f
• Interacting with peers in person and and online)
online • Developing/assigning online lessons
• Grading online
• Use of Course Management System
(like Moodle, Edmodo or Blackboard)
What is the content? Where is the content?
• Textbooks • On paper
• Supplemental materials • In the classroom
• Teacher created materials • In a school library
• Computer (Word, Ppt, etc.) • On a computer/digital white board /
• Computer Program (loaded or CD-Rom) doc camera, etc.
• Web • Online (course management system)
• Computer led (e.g. programmed math
or English)

63. Here’s a problem
for teachers:
Steve Wheeler, University of Plymouth, 2011
“For the first time
we are preparing
students for a
future we cannot
clearly describe.”
- David Warlick
http://communications.nottingham.ac.uk/podcasts/

68. The Internet:
The Average U.S. Person…
• Spends 66 Hours on the Internet per
month
– Of that 7 hours spent on Facebook
• 80% - Percentage of US Broadband Users

69. Internet and Teens (ages 12-17)
• 95% of teens, ages 12-17 are online (as of
July 2011)
• 93% on Facebook
• 77% of teens have a cell phone
– 63% of teens text every day
– Send an average of 60 texts per day
• 74% own their own laptop or desktop
• 27% of teens record and upload video to
the Internet (boys and girls)
http://pewinternet.org/topics/Teens.aspx

70. Nov. 2010: Facebook surpassed
the number of users that the entire
Internet had in 2004

71. Mean size of Facebook friends
network
350.0
300.0
250.0
200.0
150.0 318.5
100.0 197.6
155.7
50.0
85.1 78.4
42.0
0.0
Millennials Gen X Younger Older Boomers Silent G.I. Generation
(18-34) (35-46) Boomers (57-65) Generation (75+)
(47-56) (66-74)

72. Internet users by Generation

73. % in Each Age Group Who Have a Cell Phone

74. Video
• More video uploaded in YouTube in the
last 2 months than all new content aired
by ABC, NBC and ABC since 1948.
• The equivalent of 60,000 full length films
is uploaded to YouTube every week
• 20 hours of video uploaded every minute
to YouTube

75. Digital devices (Pew Internet Surveys)
Younger Older Silent G.I. All online
Millennials Gen X
Boomers Boomers Generation Generation adults
(18-34) (35-46)
(47-56) (57-65) (66-74) (75+) (18+)
Cell phone 96% 94% 87% 84% 77% 52% 88%
Desktop
computer 55% 67% 62% 61% 48% 29% 57%
Laptop
computer 70% 63% 58% 49% 32% 14% 56%
iPod or MP3
player 69% 57% 36% 24% 10% 5% 44%
Game
console 63% 63% 38% 19% 8% 3% 42%
e-Book
reader 19% 25% 18% 12% 9% 5% 19%
Tablet, like
iPad 23% 23% 16% 14% 8% 3% 19%

76. Quick Review
• What’s on the horizon?
• Do any of these things require more
“concentrated” classroom time?
– Increase use of Internet, cell phone, computer
or tablets
– Reports suggest an increase in blended and
online learning course offerings wanted
– Common Core Standards – more project
based (Assessments on computer)
– One-to-one or Bring your own device (BYOD)
programs increasing

77. Yogi Berra
• "It's tough to
make predictions,
especially about
the future."

78. Regarding Time and Block Schedule
• What are some
activities that you
would like to have
more time to do with
students?

79. My experiences with Time /
Block Schedule
• Hard time not teaching in Block Schedule
• English perspective
– More “concentrated” time to write
– More time to complete the writing process
– More time for peer review
– More time to utilize technology
(1994 story)
– More time for guided literature
and narrative/technical reading

80. My experiences with Time /
Block Schedule
• Social studies perspective
– Concentrated time to do guided “projects”
– Analysis of primary sources
– Simulations/debates
– More time to utilize technology

81. My experiences with Time /
Block Schedule
• What about math or science or PE?
– Time for experiments from start to finish
– Math – hands on projects / applying math
principles / problem based learning
– PE – Can actually complete a “game”
– Time to apply technology in various subject
areas

82. Experiences with Time /
Block Schedule
• Overall
– Planning in blocks was easier for me
– Less “transition” time for students = more
learning time (less supervision issues)
– Less students per day
– More opportunity for getting to know students /
able to better diagnose problems
– More time for collaborative teaching in the
library

83. Planning Time
• In your planning groups/departments:
• 1. Thinking about “what’s on the horizon”, is there
anything there that may happen at Piedmont MS?
• 2. Identify where you are on the Textbook
Enhanced to Online Teaching and Learning
Continuum and where you want to be
• 2. Outline and Share your plan for the block period
trial period
• 3. Report back key ideas

84. Sample Math Lesson: Polygons
50 - Minute Period 93 – Minute Period
 (3-5 min) Get out materials   Same
 (10-15 min) Discuss homework   Same
 (5 min) Quick Check   Same
 (15 min) Instruction: Polygons  (15 min) Instruction: Introduce
Polygons
 (5-10 min) Independent Practice  (10 min) Collaborative Practice
 (15 min) Instruction: Similar and
Congruent Polygons
 (18 min) Collaborative Practice
 (3-5 min) Pack up to change   Same
classes

85. Sample Science Lesson Comparison
50-Minute Period  93-Minute Period
(10 min) Discuss homework  Same
(5 min) Explain lab   Same
 (5 min) Brainstorm
(30 min) Experiment
hypotheses (small groups)
(5 min) Clean up
 (30 min) Experiment
 (10 min) Pair share results
Debriefing lab must happen  (15 min) Formal write up
the next day.  (18 min) Debrief & clean up

86. Sample History Lesson Comparison
Research: Daily Life in Medieval Europe
 (3 min) Turn in & record   Same
homework
 (20 min) Review note   Same
taking skills and strategies
 (25 min) Research and note  (50 min) Research and note
taking taking
 (18 min) Collaboration and
reflection
 (2 min) Pack up   Same

87. Session Outcomes
• For each teacher to plan out their content for the
block schedule trial weeks
• To discuss some ideas about block scheduling
• To identify some emerging trends that mighht be
enhanced by a block schedule
• To identify where each of you fit on the
“Textbook to Online Teaching and Learning
continuum” and where you’d like to be

88. Learn to Learn
Adapt to Change
Scan the Horizon
Video: “Learn to Change, Change to Learn:
http://youtu.be/BHiby3m_RyM
Michael Stephens, Prof Lib Sci, San Jose
State, http://tametheweb.com/

89. Contact Info
• Dr. Rob Darrow - rdarrow@inacol.org
Director of Member Services,
International Association for K-12 Online Learning iNACOL
– www.inacol.org
Rob’s Wiki: http://robdarrow.wikispaces.com