1st Edition
Improving Schools with Blended Learning How to Make Technology Work in the Modern Classroom
Improving Schools with Blended Learning is specifically designed to address the important issues needed to successfully modernise education within the context of technological change. It does this by first providing a clear roadmap for designing Blended Learning environments able to respond to the technological imperatives challenging schools at present, and then illustrating this roadmap via specific, original research that details the 'how to' aspects of a successful technology-based design process. School leaders, teachers, teacher education students and researchers will all find highly relevant information about how to manage for disruption in the new and informative approach to Blended Learning (BL) they will discover in this book.
This book arose from two different research projects the authors have been pursuing over the last 3–5 years, including school improvement research and Blended Learning research designed to investigate the role of technology in effective teaching and learning. By combining the insights gained from these two different research areas, this book is able to present a novel understanding of BL that is both insightful and clearly evidence-based.
Improving Schools with Blended Learning also provides several original contributions to specific knowledge in the areas of BL and school improvement that most educators will find highly useful, including the use of BL schemas, a clear and extended BL continuum, how to measure and evaluate the success of BL, how to scaffold teacher ICT knowledge and skills, and a specific process for contextualising applied BL in relation to the ‘disruption’ imperatives of the Knowledge Economy.
Chapter 1: Education and schooling in the digital age. Chapter 2: The case for education reform. Chapter 3: Educational disruption: Why all the fuss about Blended Learning? Chapter 4: What does the research evidence say about effective schools? Chapter 5: Exploring the key role played by school leaders in relation to educational change Chapter 6: What does the research evidence say about Blended Learning? Chapter 7: A Vision for the future of schooling: Positioning Blended Learning in relation to School Improvement. Chapter 8: Using embedded Blended Learning to create the outstanding school. Chapter 9: Taking stock of Blended Learning as a school-based reform journey
Biography
Tony Yeigh is an experienced research academic and Deputy Leader of the SCU TeachLab Research Group. He is an education professional, with a demonstrated history of successful research focused in the areas of Blended Learning, school improvement and school leadership.
David Lynch is Research Leader of TeachLab, a research entity focused on teacher education, and Professor of Education in the School of Education at Southern Cross University. He is the author of numerous books and articles on teaching and teaching improvement, specialising in whole-of-school teaching improvement.
Paul Fradale has been an educator for over 25 years; he’s been involved in teacher training as a school leader, conference/seminar/workshop leader, and a university lecturer. His doctoral dissertation and publications investigate shifting teacher practice within the context of Blended Learning.
Edward Lawless has had a 35-year career in education which has spanned four continents and multiple curricula in institutions around the world under face-to-face, blended and online conditions. He is passionate about reimagining education under flexible and sustainable Blended Learning conditions that can increase educational access and opportunity for all.
David Turner is Director of Professional Learning for the Queensland Association of State School Principals. He has enjoyed a successful career in educational leadership as principal in a variety of contexts and in university sector roles. He is interested in the leadership mindsets necessary for a rapidly changing world.
Royce Willis has a background in psychological science, currently working as a Research Officer and Casual Academic at Southern Cross University. Royce’s research spans psychology, environmental psychology, sport psychology, psychophysiology, neurobiology and education. His education-specific research includes Blended Learning, school improvement, teacher identity, and teacher and student retention.
In a world that is now built on technological innovation and disruption, schools and their teachers face a challenge in transforming their practices to accommodate the diversity of students and the opportunities that a new world logic potentially provides for all. This book provides an instructive guide for the teacher and school leader in how to implement a whole of school approach to Blended Learning by providing fresh and research-based insights into what the effective school looks like in the future-Professor Bruce Allen Knight, Deputy Director, Centre for Regional Advancement of Learning, Equity, Access & Participation (LEAP)/ Professor of Education, Central Queensland University Australia, Townsville Campus
This is a book for our time. It provides a clear framework and set of guidelines for understanding how to use technology to effect school improvement and gives the reader plenty of evidence and specific examples for using technology to this end. I found it very helpful as a guide for navigating the balance between personal and online learning at this point in time-Dr Rick van der Zwan, Manager: Education Research and Innovation, Catholic Education Office, Sydney Diocese, Australia
Blended Learning and School Improvement is an important ‘how to’ book for education at the current time. It provides essential information and rich examples about the role of technology in education today, as well as extensive guidelines and strategies for teachers and school leaders to apply technology effectively. This book is a fundamental resource for the modern educator, and especially so in light of the need for schools to embrace technology more fully in response to the COVID-19 pandemic- Iwao Shibata, Board Chair, Aoba-Japan International School, President, Business Breakthrough, Inc.
Transformational learning is an exploration of what is possible in a rapidly shifting world. In this text the authors provide a scaffold to embrace the possibilities of technology in a learning world. Through connecting, personalising, and facilitating, this text provides a path for learning communities to optimise blended learning. Taking advantage of our digital world, the text connects teaching and learning in a contemporary, authentic and interesting way. It takes time, thinking and resolution to embrace the possibilities. The text charts the course- Janeen Silcock, Principal, School Leadership.
