Running head: BLENDED LEARNING 1 Blended Learning EDU372: Educational Psychology Running head: BLENDED LEARNING 2 Blended Learning Blended learning is a newer concept in schools throughout the nation, where the traditional classroom, pen and paper learning, meets the latest and greatest technological advances in online learning. To say students in classrooms today are getting the best of both worlds would definitely be an understatement, as the old ways of lecture-learning are becoming more and more extinct, while small group, engaged instruction, and online learning are becoming more relevant and more successful than ever thought possible. As explained in The Fundamentals of Blended Learning video (2012), “Blended learning is about leveraging digital content to provide students with skills and practice. Meanwhile, the teacher focuses on depth and application of concepts to teach higher order of thinking skills” (Education Elements, 1:29). In order to accomplish all the goals that blended learning seeks out, there are four different parts within the instruction that make it possible. The first is a lab rotation, in which students go to the familiar computer lab and learn content from internet programs in the particular area of study that they are working on, to gain a more interesting and fun way of learning. The second is in a class rotation where the students are split into several different small groups and rotate to different centers/stations, such as small group with the teacher as the instructor, small group with computers as the instructor, and guided practice (Education Elements, 2012). The third part of blended learning is the flex model in which the students work in what may look like cubicles in an office, doing individual instruction, while the teacher may pull one student out at a time to work on direct, one on one instruction at any given time. The fourth and final type of blended learning is the Pod concept, where there are numerous grade levels within any given classroom and the teacher is often looked at in a new light, wearing Running head: BLENDED LEARNING 3 different hats such as advisor or behavior specialist to sustain each pod (Education Elements, 2012). These four important areas make up what is known as blended learning. The theories that inform blended learning the most include Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development and Bruner’s Theory of Discovery Learning. Piaget’s Theory informs blended learning in that it points out how vital and important active experiences are, rather than just listening to lecture and writing with pen and paper. Piaget points out that in order to gain a full perspective and understanding of the world around them, children should gain experience through doing and experiencing, and social interaction should take place as well, in order to gain that total understanding (LeFrancois, 2011). Within t ...