Hybrid learning is more than just tossing half of your syllabus into a virtual classroom. Instead, it's a comprehensive approach to combining the best parts of face-to-face and online learning to create the ideal learning experience for all students.
In hybrid learning, students should be able to answer these questions each day: What am I learning? Why am I learning it? and How will I know if I am successful in my learning?
A student’s ability to answer these questions is a matter of teacher clarity. Teachers must be able to clearly communicate learning goals with students and develop concrete lessons that support student mastery of these goals. These actions ensure that students understand what they are learning so they can take an active role in their education and monitor their own success.
Step 1: Start with the Standards.
Build deep knowledge of required concepts and skills. Most teachers develop their learning goals or “intentions” from grade-level content standards. Therefore, to improve clarity, teachers should be crystal clear about what the standards mean. One good way to analyze the standards is to examine the nouns, which provide clarity about the concepts and the verbs, which provide clarity about the skills students must master. For example, look at the nouns and verbs in the following standard: Explain how the ideology of the French Revolution led France to develop a democratic despotism. Here the concepts would include ideology, the French Revolution, and democratic despotism while the skill is to be able to explain. Teachers must define mastery of each concept and skill in order to build clear learning goals and lessons.
Step 2: Develop Concrete Learning Units.
Once teachers are satisfied with their knowledge of the standards, they can plan learning units around these concepts and skills. At this stage, teachers map out the “flow” (i.e. learning progressions) of their instruction. This is where a teacher’s grasp of the standards becomes essential. An informed teacher understands which standards-based concepts and skills logically build on others – and can use that knowledge to design units that support student development. Learning units should also include details regarding any new terms or concepts students must know to be successful, and teachers should be prepared to teach new vocabulary directly so students can easily navigate required readings and tasks.
Step 3: Design and Share Learning Intentions.
After teachers complete their learning units, they can focus on their daily learning intentions. In every lesson, learning targets should be clearly stated. For example, in Mr. Gavin’s physics class, his first unit focuses on electrical current, potential difference, and energy flow. His initial learning targets include: “I am learning that an electric charge can be positive or negative” and “I am learning about the law of conservation of electric charge.” Writing the intentions first – before designing daily tasks – ensures a clear connection between the expectations expressed in the standards and the actions taken in the classroom. Teachers can share their learning intentions with students in a variety of ways. They can post them on the opening page in Blackboard, in a chat box during a live session, or at the beginning of a pre-recorded video. Teachers can also use a weekly “distance learning log” with students. One sample log includes the week’s learning intention and the success criteria with space for the student and teacher to rate learning before and after each lesson.
Step 4: Communicate Success Criteria.
To improve clarity, teachers should also provide students with success criteria to ensure they understand what mastery looks like. Specifically, success criteria clarify mastery of a required concept or skill. There are many ways to communicate these criteria with students. In the learning log example above, “I can” statements are especially helpful in hybrid learning because they allow students to monitor their progress toward mastery on a weekly basis. Teachers can also use checklists, rubrics, exemplars, and modeling. Teachers should use a combination of strategies to help students recognize success. For example, a student might not immediately understand a writing checklist that describes the need for a “strong concluding statement,” but a checklist combined with a discussion of exemplars can provide clarity.
Step 5: Make Learning Relevant.
When learning feels relevant, student engagement increases. Personal association (i.e. a connection to an object or memory) has the least relevance, while activities that enhance students’ personal identity have the greatest potential to engage students.
Effective Feedback for Students.
The most important element of the feedback loop is, of course, the feedback itself: Assessments (and grades) are not particularly useful if students cannot use the information they provide to improve learning. The best feedback we can provide is descriptive, supportive, and reciprocal.
Descriptive: The goal with descriptive feedback is twofold: 1) help students recognize how their actions or decisions impact their performance, and then 2) help them define goals for improvement. For example, “You provided a description of the samurai caste’s rise in the introduction which provides context for your reader. You left out the key events that led to that rise. Can you find sources for this information and make a plan to include it in your next draft?” Descriptive feedback like this helps students learn by setting forth a clear picture of what success looks like.
Supportive: Students are more likely to utilize feedback when it is provided in a supportive environment. In a study of middle and high school students, 20% of students said they disregarded a teacher’s feedback because they had a poor relationship with him or her. We can increase feedback effectiveness by fostering relationships and embracing errors as part of learning. One way to do this is to use more verbal feedback in hybrid learning since it comes closer to matching the warmth and familiarity of in-class feedback.
Reciprocal: Teachers should also solicit feedback from their students to find out how they are experiencing their hybrid learning. This includes asking students to comment on the quality and usefulness of online materials and discuss their own participation (e.g. Have they asked questions this week? Are they keeping up with assignments?). Feedback from students can be coupled with Blackboard user analytics regarding student usage to ensure materials support learning.
Effective Formative Assessment.
Formative assessment requires teachers to “check for understanding” throughout a lesson or unit, not just at the end. As we’ve already mentioned, the power of formative assessment is in the feedback it can provide. Successful feedback allows teachers and students to take positive actions to improve teaching and learning.
Effective Summative Assessment.
Summative assessments are used to determine students’ learning at the end of a unit or course. To be effective, the assessment content must reflect the unit’s standards, but the design can vary. Below are some considerations for assessment design in hybrid learning. • Expand testing formats: Teachers may have concerns about how to proctor traditional exams online, but there are many forms of assessment. For example, while oral tests are almost impossible in class due to time constraints, students in online classes can record their responses for the teacher to view individually. If teachers need to use traditional exams, they can keep the test short and use timed live sessions to proctor them – students just need to have their cameras on so they can be observed. • Emphasize academic honesty: Be proactive by discussing honesty and ethical decision-making frequently in class. Teachers should also provide a statement of academic honesty in the first weeks of school (and post it on Blackboard). Some schools also include a statement of academic honesty in summative assessments for students to sign.
The Distance Learning Playbook, Grades K-12, Corwin
© The Main Idea 2020 hjjyffg.ne..net2009
The Distance Learning Playbook, Grades K-12 by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and John Hattie
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