Blended learning is using online tools to communicate, collaborate and publish, to extend the school day or year and to develop the 21st-century skills students need. With blended learning, teachers can use online tools and resources as part of their daily classroom instruction. Using many of the online tools and resources students already are using for social networking, blended teaching helps teachers find an approach that is more engaging for this generation of students. The benefits of blended learning include giving students a variety of ways to demonstrate their knowledge while appealing to diverse learning styles and fostering independent learning and self-directed learning skills in students, a critical capacity for lifelong learners. Blended learning incorporates online tools into students' toolkits, which in the past have consisted of notebooks, paper assignments and "stand and deliver" classroom presentations. This expanded toolkit helps students better develop their higher education and workforce skills. Blended learning extends teaching and learning beyond the classroom walls, developing critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration and global awareness. In this article, the author identifies the approaches and the benefits of blended instruction.