STEP 1: understanding blended learning
Think about what will work for you now and how you can build on it when the time is right.
Step 2: Planning
►Q: What resources do you have available for students to access the material? When & how will they participate in the on-line activities?
►Q: What will you use as your host for your material? Options include your districts LMS, an independent LMS like Edmodo or Schoology or a website like Google Sites or Weebly, Whichever you choose, it should be able to hold all the information you need to allow the students to learn and work as independently as possible and be user friendly for both you and your students.
►Q: How will your students do their assignments? How will they turn in those assignments? Will it be done virtually~ in the cloud? Most hosting sites have options for this to some extent. Using Google Drive or Office 365 will give you more options. Does your school utilize GAFE or subscribe to Office 365? If so, start there. If not, consider using Google Drive on your own. It's free for you to get an account and even if your students do not have accounts, will give you useful services.
There are web sites available to enroll your students for free that will teach them the standards and assess their progress. Consider using these sites for individual instruction or to supplement whole group/small group instruction.
►Q: How will you manage the different resources you will be using? There are many options for bookmarking in the cloud. I prefer the look and simplicity of Symbaloo. Find the one that works best for you.
►Q: How will you be creating content? Along with having students explore websites, read text, watch videos, complete worksheets and do reports consider creating a WebQuest and your own videos and screencasts.
step 3: organizing
►Overall: There are many information management sites available. You will want to decide how you will organize your materials, ie; by subject matter, by calendar date, etc. Then decide where you will keep your materials. Let's look at an easy and very visual way to do this with Symbaloo.
►Documents: Creating or uploading documents to Google Drive enables you to easily share with others. You can organize those folders by placing them in folders.
For further organization consider using a Symbaloo webmix for your Google Docs. You can control access based on how you are sharing each document.
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►Videos: Embed videos or including a link to a video so your students can easily view them. Find a way to keep the videos you want organized.
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Click to set custom HTML
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►Interactive Websites: Find sites that allow your students to practice skills.
step 4: creating
Often you can search the web and find much of what you need to teach the lesson. You may have to "recreate" or tweak it a little and upload it to a new format. Sometimes you will even want to create brand new content. Let's look at ways to create content.
Text Based Content: Documents, Quizzes/Polls, Forums, Blogs & Video Based Content: Video Lessons, Screencasts, Audio
Text Based Content: Documents, Quizzes/Polls, Forums, Blogs & Video Based Content: Video Lessons, Screencasts, Audio
►Using Google Drive to create documents, presentations, quizzes and more:
►Other WebTools for Formative Assessment:
►Create Videos or Screencasts:
* Create your own videos or screencasts then upload them to YouTube or grab the code to embed in your site.
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You can use your interactive whiteboard screen recorder to record lessons, save those lessons and upload them to YouTube, then embed them in your site. Remember: YouTube videos can be kept private.
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step 5: evaluating, developing, updating
Gadgets & Widgets that you can use to add creativity and functionality to your host site:
More web tools for you to use in your blended learning platform :
for your students ~ web Tools that Use information learned to create something new
so your students can design, build, construct, plan, produce, devise, invent...
Consider having your students create a digital portfolio to store and showcase their digital creations.
A Sample of web tools your students can use: