ERIC Number: ED535181
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2011-May
Pages: 184
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
The Rise of K-12 Blended Learning: Profiles of Emerging Models
Staker, Heather
Innosight Institute
Some innovations change everything. The rise of personal computers in the 1970s decimated the mini-computer industry. TurboTax forever changed tax accounting, and MP3s made libraries of compact discs obsolete. These innovations bear the traits of what Harvard Business School Professor Clayton M. Christensen terms a "disruptive innovation." Disruptive innovations fundamentally transform a sector by replacing expensive, complicated, and inaccessible products or services with much less expensive, simpler, and more convenient alternatives. Online learning appears to be a classic disruptive innovation with the potential not just to improve the current model of education delivery, but to transform it. Educators and entrepreneurs are increasingly creating blended-learning environments--where rather than doing online learning at a distance, students learn in an adult-supervised school environment for at least part of the time. This paper profiles 40 organizations that have blended or have plans to blend online learning with brick-and-mortar classrooms. These represent a range of operators, including state virtual schools, charter management organizations, individual charter schools, independent schools, districts, and private entities. The organizations profiled in this paper are not a "top 40" list. Thousands of other schools are currently participating in blended learning and may have superior programs. Furthermore, this report does not provide a comprehensive market analysis, but rather a survey that offers a more intimate look at a small sample, with the intention to identify emerging models. Appended are: (1) List of programs by model; (2) Technology wish list; and (3) Policy wish list. (Contains 12 figures.)
Descriptors: Blended Learning, Educational Development, Educational Technology, Influence of Technology, Technology Integration, Technology Uses in Education, Technological Advancement, Profiles, Delivery Systems, Institutional Characteristics, Educational Practices, Models, Definitions, Educational Trends, Check Lists
Innosight Institute. 2929 Campus Drive Suite 410, San Mateo, CA 94403. Tel: 650-887-0788; e-mail: info@innosightinstitute.org; Web site: http://www.innosightinstitute.org
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Innosight Institute
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A