Technology is an integral part of of our educational system and innovation is occurring at an incredible speed. Online learning is becoming increasingly popular in today’s education. Innovation in technology is expanding the range of tools and strategies available to present educational learning opportunities to our students. Our focus as teachers, with regards to online education, is creating a more effective learning experience for our students that is easily accessible as well as being flexible for differentiated learning that can be self paced.

Online learning can be both formal and informal when utilizing the web. More and more schools are increasing educational opportunities through the web that include learning modules and resources for new skills to be acquired. A blended learning approach utilizes best practices of face to face teaching with online digital learning. Our goal as educators is to utilize the best teaching practices of traditional face to face teaching methods and online learning environments. Traditional teaching practices, generally whole group lesson instruction, can potentially result in a one size fits all education. With today’s new technology, we can utilize online learning and/or self paced learning. It is clear that technology in our classrooms is evolving and growing and it remains important to understand how to create an effective learning experience for our students that will incorporate traditional best practices with digitized learning components.

References:

Williams, J. K. (2008). The Handbook of Blended Learning: Global Perspectives, Local Designs, by Curtis J. Bonk and Charles R. Graham (Eds.). San Francisco, CA: John Wiley and Sons, 2006. 580 pages, hard cover. Academy of Management Learning & Education,7(1), 132-133. doi:10.5465/amle.2008.31413871