Alissa Bahr Multimedia Writing and Rhetoric 13300-04 Kurt Milberger Research Paper Final Draft 15 April, 2013

Shaping Education Through Blended Classrooms. Education has faced many trials and tribulations in the past half a century. As the USs economy plummets and debt skyrockets, the government has had no option but to begin cutting education funding. In 2011 alone, education took a 1.3 billion dollar blow due to federal budget cuts (Washington Post Editors). One of the hardest hit sectors is the primary education institutions, i.e. elementary, middle, and high schools. This decreased investment in education along with the inability of many parents to afford private education for their children has led to much more impersonal education. Class sizes are growing, giving students less one-on-one time with the teacher; this means that many struggles students have fall by the wayside, going completely unnoticed. As Schools are forced to cut many programs that provide children with a well-rounded education, online courses can offer a wider variety of classes to students facing this education decline. One of the most beneficial solutions to the education crisis is the blended classroom; that is, a classroom that employs both online lessons with teacher-to-student interaction. If properly administered, blended classrooms in public elementary schools offer the best solution to a

continuously declining standard of education through more personalized, self-paced education. As funding decreases, schools are given no option but to learn to function with considerably lower funding. This dramatically reshapes education by reducing class variety and forcing schools to only focus on the bare minimum of the core curriculum. Even when schools are doing the bare minimum to fulfill federal and state requirements, they often fall short in offering their students a quality education. In fact, American students barely reach the international literacy level established by advanced democracies, pointing to a severe decline in education quality in the US as compared to other countries (Peterson). This could have much to do with the depersonalization of education. Classes become larger because schools cannot afford to pay as many teachers. This results in less student-teacher interaction and causes students problems to go unnoticed until it is too late. As more evidence of the declining state of education in America is brought to the surface, ways to reform education and utilize the tools schools can afford during economic stress must be found in order to restore the quality of education in the US. There are two extremes in education: traditional classrooms and cyber schools which are full-time online schools where students as well as their teachers may be widely separated (Glass 1). As extremes normally do, both of these systems suffer from flaws. In the

traditional classroom, students doing well with material can be forced to follow a slower pace for fellow classmates. Similarly, students who are struggling may be left behind as classroom discussion progresses. Classes taken purely online have their fair share of problems as well. Little student-teacher interaction makes it difficult for students to consult teachers with problems they might be having. Also, the nature of online courses automatically increases the ease with which plagiarism and cheating can occur. However, both of these systems have benefits that, when put together, offer serious benefits to students. They take the invaluable teacher-student interaction that personalizes education and helps students improve social skills and combine it with the vast knowledge of the Internet that allows students to learn exactly what they want, when they want, and however they want to learn it. This increases the efficiency of learning and maximizes the time students spend learning. Blended classrooms are a relatively new idea in American education. By definition, blended classes are those that incorporate an online course with one-on-one time in the classroom between a teacher and a student. These classes are much smaller, around 15-18 students allowing for a much closer monitoring of student progress in the class. They also reverse the roles of school and home; students read or listen to online lectures or tutorials at home and come into class the next day prepared to complete practice problems. This

allows the teacher to clarify any topics that may be tricky and spend one on one time with students as they work through the problems at their own pace. Sometimes, a teacher may spend time in class giving a lecture introduction, but often it is just spent helping students through problems. Blended classrooms seek to accomplish many goals through the role reversal of the classroom and the home. They hope to broaden access by dramatically reducing the cost of education (Bakia). They also hope to help by engaging students in active learning individualizing and differentiating instruction, and personalizing education (Bakia). By embracing these ideas, online education should provide many benefits in the classroom. John Watson for the North American Council for Online Learning describes what is perhaps the most effective difference found in blended education. Not only do blended classrooms represent a shift in what type of learning is done in school or at home, but it represents a shift in instructional strategy (5). This is what distinguishes blended classrooms from either online or traditional because it gives instructors a new perspective on online learning in the face-to-face setting of a classroom. By reforming how teachers view and implement online learning in the classroom, students are able to reap the most advantages from education. The benefits that come from adopting these ideas are crucial to educational reform. Bakia claims that these adaptations should make

better use of student and teacher time by allowing teachers to focus on high-value activities in class, such as problem solving and more direct tutoring (#). Blended classrooms also increase learning rate by increasing motivation, allowing students to grasp concepts more easily and demonstrate competency more effectively (Bakia Vii). The increase in student motivation is one of the aspects that allow blended classrooms to dominate traditional classes. They increase the quality of education, and provide students with a brighter future by fully preparing them for secondary education and the workplace. One example of an online course provided that is highly effective in the blended classroom setting is Khan Academy. Founder Sal Khan, an MIT undergraduate with three degrees and a Harvard graduate student, originally started making his short and sweet videos in an attempt to help tutor his cousins, nieces, and nephews hundreds of miles away in Louisiana. As he uploaded them to YouTube, it became apparent that they were being used by far more people than just his family. (Sahlman). His short, concise videos proved to be helping students understand topics from calculus to history to science. Eventually, he formed Khan Academy so his students could find his tutorials more easily and watch his videos in sequence. Ever since then, with help from donors such as The Gates Foundation and Google, he and his team have been seeking a way to improve this non-profit educational tool.

One of the biggest innovations the Khan Academy team has been working on developing is the functionality of the online tutorials serving as courses in blended classrooms. When used in the classroom setting, children go home every night and listen to Khans tutorial videos. They then come to class the next day and work on problem sets to test their knowledge of various subjects. The remarkable feature is that each and every problem that students do is monitored by the system and results are sent to their instructor. Teachers can see exactly how much time each student spent on which problem, how many attempts it took them to attain the correct answer, and how quickly they are progressing through material. This allows students to pace their own education and teachers to truly identify and help those students that are struggling. Especially if a teacher does have a larger-than-normal class, programs that allow close monitoring of students mastery of material help teachers to more directly interact with students who are not moving through material quite as quickly, personalizing their education in order to bring them to the level of their peers. Khan Academys success has literally gone viral. Case studies involving Khan Academys blended classroom motif are becoming increasingly easy to find. This is due in large part to the success of the Los Altos Schools pilot program. Though not an incredibly controlled research study, the company consisting of five people at the time

wanted to see how students and teachers would interact with their product. They implemented it in a few 7th grade classrooms, and measured the effectiveness by having them take the CST exam at the end of the year. The students were ones that generally struggled in math, and upon completion of the pilot year, the classes saw an increase from 21% to 43% of students who were classified as Advanced or Proficient on the exam (Sinha). Successes like this are putting the Academy in the public eyes, and has even been described by Forbes analyst Bruce Upbrin as a why-didnt-anyone-think-of-that story that is quickly becoming the most influential teaching organization on the planet (Upbrin). The success in both the scientific and media fields shows that Khan Academy, and resources similar to it, can single-handedly reform education in the US. Despite many successes with blended classrooms, they also face some problems. One of the first questions that needs to be addressed concerning blended classrooms is who will pay for the online courses. Though Khan Academy receives ample funding from generous donors such as Google and the Gates Foundation (Sahlman), there are many institutions that are not as lucky. K12 Inc., simply referred to as K12, showed considerably lower funding than charter schools, district schools, and the national public school average revenue per pupil, receiving only $7,393 per student per year (Miron). Granted, K12 is a purely online school without a blended program, so with lower success

rates, their funding is not as substantial as it is with blended programs like Khan Academy who has the funds to perfect their learning system. Without proper funding, these online educational institutions cannot succeed at the level that well funded, traditional schools can, posing a serious concern for blended learning. However, there is hope. One of the reasons Khan Academy has become so successful is due to its generous funding that has allowed it to go from a one person staff, to a staff of many tutors making videos and tech support to perfect its performance in blended classrooms. Because these funds allow Khan academy to remain free to the schools implementing it, the schools themselves can use that money to hire more teachers in order to reduce class size and expand curriculum so they can offer more classes to their students. If institutions such as Khan Academy continue to prove that they are successful, the funding they receive will not end. Thus there is money available to keep developing their program and software, money to hire more teachers, and overall more money to be spent on each pupil in school systems. When piloting the Khan Academy blended program, the schools in the Los Altos district received a $100,000 grant in order to train teachers and expand the program (Baldocchi). Because the program is still in the beginnings, there is not much information known on what it costs schools to make the switch. The funds needed to implement blended classrooms thus far have come from federal grants, and the

organizations like Khan Academy are non-profit and supported solely on donations. Not only are federal grants available through corporations like Education Elements Inc, but they give many suggestions for to consolidate what resources schools do have in order to make switching to blended classrooms more affordable. They suggest reducing idle computers, or those frequently unused, throughout schools by consolidating them into one place or into classes that are considering switching to blended learning. Also, they say to switch from print material to digital copies of books in order to save funds. There some purely online classes charge the students families to use their program, but most programs meant for blended learning are completely free to those using them, and according to the Academys motto it is absolutely free and we plan on keeping it that way. Another serious concern is for those students who lack the technology at home to be able to complete the online portions of the class. Especially if most of the initial learning takes place by listening to online lectures at home, this could pose a serious detriment to students enrolled in blended courses. Without Internet access at home, people pose the question of what these students would do if their school implemented the blended classroom system. As blended classrooms become more popular, schools will need more computers in order to facilitate this style of learning. With these resources available

after school, and similar facilities found in public libraries, Internet Cafes, or academic buildings, children would have plenty of opportunities to watch whatever lectures they needed to online before coming to class the following day. Despite facing some initial problems, blended classrooms such as Khan Academy have proven that, as popularity grows and success increases, many of the problems can be overcome without having to tap into the pocketbooks of those using online courses in a blended classroom setting. Children will be able to receive a higher quality education without having to pay large sums of money for it. On top of it, the education they will receive at virtually the same cost is a personalized, innovative, and effective one. Students will be able to work and achieve at their highest level. By changing the way that instructors teach, it allows them to not only implement the use of online material more effectively in the classroom, but it allows them more time with their students, allowing them to truly teach each student rather than present a group of children with mandated material. Instituting these instruction techniques boosts student motivation and confidence by showing a greater competency in material learned. Overall, blended classrooms are shown to be a very

effective way to improve primary education, better preparing students for secondary, and post-secondary education and work.

Works Cited Bakia, Marianne. Shear, Linda. Toyama, Yukie. Lasseter, Austin. Understaning the Implications of Online Learning for Educational Productivity. US Department of Education: Office of Educational Technology. 2012. Center for Technology in Learning. SRI International. Web. 20 Mar. 2013 Baldocchi, Nicole. School District Expands Khan Academy to All Schools. Los Altos Patch. Los Altos, CA. 31 August, 2011. Web. 28 Apr. 2013. Gene, Glass. Welner, Kevin. Online K-12 Schooling in the US: Uncertain Private Ventures in Need of Public Regulation.

National Education Policy Center. Boulder, CO 2011. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. Miron, Gary. Urschel, Jessica. Understanding and Improving Full-Time Virtual Schools. National Education Policy Center. 18 Jul. 2012. Web. 20 Mar. 2013 Motto. Khan Academy. 2011. Web. 28 Apr. 2013 Peterson, Paul E. The Decline and Fall of American Education. The Hoover Digest. The Hoover Institution Stanford University. No. 1. 2003. Web. 28 Apr. 2013 Sahlman, William A., and Liz Kind. "Khan Academy." Harvard Business School Case 812-074, February 2012. (Revised from original November 2011 version.) Web. 18 Mar. 2013 Sinha, Shantanu. Impact from Using Khan Academy. Khan Academy. 15 Sept. 2011. Web. 28 Apr. 2013 Upbin, Bruce. Khan Academy: A Name You Need to Know in 2011. Forbes. 2010. Web. 20 Mar. 2013 Washington Post Editors. Whats Getting Cut in the FY 2011 Budget? Washington Post Politics. The Washington Post. 12 Apr. 2011. Web. 28 Apr. 2013. Watson, John. Blended Learning: The Convergence of Online and Face-to-Face Learning. Promising Practices in Online Learning. North American Council for Online Learning. Web. 20 Mar. 2013.