TEACHER ROLE IN THE BLENDED CLASSROOM, OR WHEN 1 + 1 IS BIGGER THAN 2. A BRIEF PRESENTATION OF HOW LEARNINGS PLATFORMS CAN HELP BUSY TEACHERS WITH ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING

The title of this presentation gives a promise. A thoughtful integration of physical- and online learning spaces can give teachers opportunities to meet increasing demands and expectations.

For a long time, education researchers, such as John Hattie and Dylan William, have been pointing out important and necessary changes that need to be made in order to raise achievement for all students in schools. Hattie’s main point is that teachers need to understand how students think in order to teach them. The students on their side need clear learning intentions and a clear understanding of what success look like. Dylan Wiliam point out that teachers do not allow much time to answer questions and that the questions often is affective rather than cognitive. His advice to teachers is to ask questions that require thinking. These recommendations may appear to be obvious. However, they also demand a lot more work from the teachers if they are to put them into practice. Look into any classroom and you will quickly discover how differently students learn and how differently they master the classroom situation. Some students are very independent and do not need much instruction in order to understand what they should do when the teacher gives them tasks. These students may also understand when they have met the learning goal and not just completed the given task. Other students need very concrete instructions and just-in-time feedback in order to understand where they are at in their learning, where they should go next and how to get there.

In order to keep up with the expectations do more and more teacher reach to use of technology. Different types of online technology are emerging in schools and presentations at conferences around the world show how innovative teachers are experimenting with new technology and how they are developing their teaching practices in order to meet the high expectations demanded of them. With technological development, learning can occur in a variety of settings; either in on online- or physical classrooms or in combination of the two. When learning takes place in the combination of these two learning environments it can be referred to as blended learning. The two classroom formats offer different characteristics that teachers can utilise for different purposes. I refer to the combination of the two as a blended classroom and the teaching that takes places as blended teaching. A well-balanced blend will provide both teachers and students with great opportunities to experience visible teaching and visible learning.

This presentation aims to lay out some of the possibilities offered by technology. It demonstrate the potential in the combination of physical- and online learning spaces, and perhaps most important it will point out the potential in the intersections between the two spaces. The title of the presentation argues that one plus one can be larger than two, but this will only happen if the blend is appropriate. We live in exiting times with great opportunities, but the teachers must take the right decisions and select appropriate means to intended purpose. A poor blend can lead to chaos and confusion – and as a result, one plus one will equal less than one. My contention is that blended teaching is not a cure in itself. The key to success lies in the design of teaching and the blend must be made in a thoughtful teaching design.