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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.)
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