Blended Learning in the Elementary Classrooms

As superintendent of Utica Community Schools in Michigan, Dr. Christine Johns has received national recognition for her success in bringing technology to the classroom. Under its superintendent, Dr. Christine Johns, Utica Community Schools' kindergarten-through-second-grade classrooms have implemented a highly regarded blended-learning program that focuses on individualized instruction.

In the world of education, blended learning refers to a combined approach that integrates digital learning into the curriculum. The online component of the model exists to give students a greater degree of agency in the pace, and occasionally, in the time and place of their learning, as well as to further differentiate instruction and create a tailored education for each student

The blended-learning model may take one of six forms, several of which offer instruction that is entirely, or almost entirely, online. More common in the elementary classroom, however, is the rotation model. This enables students to access online resources for a portion of their day, either every day or a few times per week. In other schools, teachers schedule digital instruction delivery based on the needs of the curriculum and the students.

In both models, teachers select digital activities that enhance the curriculum and the student experience. Students are able to engage in content targeted at their individual levels of mastery, while teachers have the chance to review results and understand how, when, and what their students are learning.