5th ANNUAL BLENDED LEARNING LAB @ HOLTON-ARMS

February 13th Holton-Arms held the 5th Annual Blended Learning Lab! This year we followed a more traditional conference format to create even more opportunities for hands-on exploration and held it on a professional development day so that all of our Middle School and Upper School faculty members could participate.

The main focus of this year’s lab was to provide all MS and US teachers with tips for blending a lesson and a chance to experience three tools or methods in small, hands-on settings lead by our own teachers. 

In order to make the lab as meaningful as possible, I surveyed the teachers. The results of this survey helped frame our morning discussion and allowed us to provide workshops that matched teachers' needs and interests. 

PRE-LAB WORK

The main focus of the lab was really for teachers to experience three new tools and have a chance to see how other teachers are using these tools to blend their classes. I did not want to spend the valuable time we had together defining blended learning or talking about how transformative it can be. Therefore I blended the lab a little bit by assigning a pre-lab activity.

Prior to the lab, I asked all of the participants to watch a short video of Khan explaining the future of classrooms with blended learning and then post their reactions, questions and fears on a Today's Meet board. This simple task created a rich discussion that was able to take place before the lab even started and allowed me to focus on what I felt was most important during our face-to-face time. 

SCHEDULE

We started with a quick presentation to frame the rest day. The goal was to spend a few minutes talking about the fact that blended learning is certainly not all about technology - it is all about what the technology can do for your classroom and how important it is to try out some of the tools in order to be able to think about they could be used to transform a class. I stressed the fact that my goal for the blended learning lab was simply for teachers to be exposed to a few new tools, learn from each other, and have a few more resources where people can find help when they are ready to start blending a lesson. 

8:00-8:30 - BLL5 Introduction 

8:40-9:25 - Workshop #1

9:30-10:15 - Workshop #2

10:20-10:35 - Break

10:40-11:25 - Workshop #3

11:30-12:15 - Recap/Next Steps 

12:15-1:00 - Lunch

1:00-3:30 - Division specific work

WORKSHOPS

Using the survey results, I was also able to assign every faculty member to their top three workshop choices while still maintaining small workshop groups - in fact no workshop group was larger than 10 participants and most were much smaller.

Workshop Choices: Discussion Boards, EDPuzzle, Explain Everything, Google Docs, Google Forms, Google Sites, Screencast-O-Matic, Quizzing & Socrative, TEDed Lesons, and Youtube.

Each workshop was facilitated by a faculty member and following the same general format - What the tool is with examples of how it can be used, a demonstration of how to use it and most importantly time for the participants to tinker and explore. The outlines to a few of the workshop are linked above to give you a sense the workshop format. The goal of each workshop was to give teachers a chance to add to their teacher tool belt and be in a better position when selecting the right tool to meet the objective.

EXIT TICKET FEEDBACK AND TAKEAWAYS

Planning and organization paid off! Prior to the big day each teacher received a personalized schedule in their box, master schedules were posted around the school, workshop signs were placed on the doors of each classroom, the facilitators were prepped and a BLL5 group space was populated with all of the resources the facilitators and participants would need. This meant that everyone had the information they needed and allowed the day to run smoothly!

Teachers teaching teachers is the perfect model for professional development! 

"I found having a colleague lead the workshops made it more relaxed - I wasn't afraid to ask questions." -exit ticket

"less intimidating and more user friendly" -exit ticket

In addition to creating a more comfortable learning environment, the teachers teaching teachers model gives teachers more options for who to go to for help, expanding our learning community.

Teachers needed and wanted more time to digest the new material! 
The exit ticket results were quite clear - the majority of teachers wished they could have taken the rest of the day to continue exploring and tinkering with the new tools they have learned about. Some teachers even wished the 45 minute workshops were longer to allow for more practice. Time was definitely one of my concerns from the start, and this feedback will definitely be considered when planning the next lab.

What was the biggest take away for participants?

"I don't have to implement a ton of technology at once. I can do it little by little. Maybe I create a few videos over the summer and then use them next year. I don't have to be "perfect" right away."

"Technology - if used properly - can enhance the experience both for students and teachers"

"There are so many options out there, but do not be overwhelmed, learn to do one thing well."

"The biggest thing was that I "had permission" to focus on one thing and not feel overwhelmed by thinking of the many ways I need to implement Blended Learning in my classes."

The 5th Annual Blended Learning Lab was a great experience from the planning to the implementation, but I am always thinking about how we can do things even better! I learned so much this time around and am already thinking about the 6th Annual Blended Learning Lab!