Guest Commentary: Lessons Learned from a Blended Learning Pilot

Remember that assignment you got back in the fall? The one where you were asked, "What did you do this summer?" Well Envision Schools, Google, and the Stanford University D. School ( the Hasso Plattner School of Design) finally turned their report in. 

This report is a game-changer and a must read.

"Blend My Learning: Lessons Learned from a Blended Learning Pilot,"  is a dispatch from the frontlines of disruptive innovation in education. The goal was "to chronicle the performance and engagement of low-performing high school algebra students receiving a mix of traditional teacher-led instruction and self-guided instruction through the Khan Academy website," according the researchers.

"The quantitative results show that students in the 'control' or traditional summer school course increased their average percentage of correct answers by 5.2% over the five-week period, while the students in the 'treatment' or Khan class, on average, showed a 6.4% increase in their percentage of correct answers," the report added.

Now don't get the impression that this report swoons over the so-called "Flipped Classroom" model. The report asks some tough questions, which the researchers report there are no easy answers.

This report provides a realistic take on a blended learning environment using Khan videos. From classroom set up to software and hardware (students used Google Chrome laptops) the the pluses and minuses of the Khan system (yes, there were some short-comings to the Khan program, which according to the report, led to changes). The researchers even warned readers to take the above mentioned results with a grain of salt. Yes, they are high on the future of blended learning, but the researchers still had a lot of questions on whether Khan's videos and blended learning will work on a large stage.

Click here to read the complete report. (H/T EdSurge.)