Submitted by Greg Klein, Director of Blended Learning, Rogers Foundation
Note: The information in this profile represents 2012-13 unless otherwise indicated. To view Korematsu Discovery Academy’s SY2013-14 profile, click here.
School Overview
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School Description
Mr. Wilson started with the question “How can we use blended learning to increase and personalize human learning?” By facilitating students’ access to digital content and small-group instruction, providing students, teachers, and leaders with easier access to student data, and facilitating a collaborative, data-driven culture with space and time to plan, we believe learning can be more efficient and effective.
Blended Learning Program
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Program Model
Program model: Individual Rotation
Model description
In-classroom two group rotation with 2/3 of students on computers and 1/3 of students with the teacher. Students on computers use personalized, adaptive digital content primarily to reinforce concepts learned with the teacher, though at times, they will receive direct instruction online.
Program Description
How much time do students spend on campus in this blended-learning program? How much of this time do students spend learning online or with educational software?
Students are on campus 8:45-3pm, and school is also open with after school program. Students spend approximately 1/3 to 1/2 of their day learning with educational software. When class begins, half of the students take out a laptop and work at their own pace and level in ST Math. The groups switch each day to cut down on transitions within the learning block. After approximately 30 minutes of ST Math, teachers typically move students into a 1:1 setting to work on writing within the Achieve3000 program.
Briefly describe the offline components of this blended-learning program.
Self-contained 4th grade teachers use a variety of other traditional district-adopted curricula across the subjects.
What are the teachers’ roles and responsibilities in both the online and offline components of this blended-learning program?
In both online and offline spaces, teachers assign content and tasks, monitor progress and adjust small groups based on achievement data.
What other adults are involved in this blended-learning program (e.g., paraprofessionals, learning coaches, counselors) and what are their roles and responsibilities?
The site has a grant-funded on-site Level I tech support for 6 hours per week, and who also works with kids and monitors computer stations.
Briefly describe the set-up of physical space for this blended-learning program.
The typical blended classroom has chair-desks for half of the class and laptops on tables in the back of the room for the other half of students.
How are students grouped within this blended-learning program?
Classes are traditionally age-based heterogenous cohorts, and then teachers create more meaningful small groups as needed within the traditional context.
Do students have some element of control over the pacing of their learning? Are students tied to a semester-based course schedule or can they complete courses at any time? Briefly describe any requirements or benchmarks in place to ensure student progress.
This varies by teacher, but increasingly, teachers are “letting go” and allowing students to move through more and more of the content at their own pace. Currently, students move through online content at their own pace.
Describe any other distinctive characteristics of this blended-learning program if they have not been captured above.
Traditional urban district school context, with 1/6 of teachers and classrooms currently piloting blended models.
Describe the academic results of the program, using quantitative data where possible.
Students have just begun using the online tools, with regular access throughout the week, without substantial data yet to report.
Describe any financial impact this blended-learning program has had on your cost of operations. Use numbers when possible.
Infusion of $100k of hardware, online content and PD, allowing for longer-term returns of creating teacher leaders to carry on the work.
What have been the biggest obstacles in implementing this blended-learning program? What has needed adjustment along the way?
Ensuring a just-in-time PD model that helps teachers direct their own learning and get what they need as quickly as possible to push their own practice — particularly when learning specific online content programs.
Have you or are you planning to scale your program model to more/other schools?
This pilot is continually expanding at this site as more teachers come on board using web 2.0 tools, and adaptive online content. Oakland Unified School District is currently planning how it might expand access to Connected Learning infrastructure across the district, and in parallel Rogers Family Foundation is selecting for an additional cohort of Oakland schools to create similar pilots.
Contact Information
Name: Greg Klein
Title: Director of Blended Learning
Phone: 510-290-4005
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.oaklandschoolsfoundation.org/schools/kda