We kicked off the week talking about Blended Learning. In our initial gallery walk of terms applicable to class Blended Learning was one area that was foreign to the majority of students. Blended learning is defined by Michael Horn in his book "Blended" as "A formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through online learning with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace and at least in part at a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home." The idea of blended learning partly ties into the multiple intelligence theory by Howard Gardner who postulates that people have a preferred learning style or intelligence for example Michael Jordan serves as an example of a bodily-kinesthetic learner who is able to expertly "manipulate objects and fine-tune physical skills." The connection is that through blended learning, true differentiation may be possible in the near future. Gardner proposes eight intelligences that would be difficult to differentiate instruction to in the traditional classroom context of 34 students to one teacher in a lecture format. Through a blended learning paradigm, the opportunity to cater to student needs academically is a true possibility.
"Learning will occur where there is interest" Sugata Mitra
In his TED talk "Hole in the Wall" Mitra proposes an educational paradigm where students are able to learn and attain knowledge through technology and encouragement alone.
This idea that students are born with an innate thirst for knowledge has had a profound effect on me as an educator because too often adults label students prematurely, and worse, spread rumors about them as fact. Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity, and he is right. To take it a step further, many problems students exhibit are a direct result of the education being provided to them in the first place.