Mentor Public Schools Experiment With Blended Learning Classroom

There are quotes from Dr. Seuss and Mahatma Gandhi on the wall of Ridge Middle School math teacher Tommy Dwyer's new classroom.

The quotes inform the students that they can "steer (themselves) in any direction (they) choose" and that they should "be the change (they) want to see."

The walls also hold Plexiglas boards on which the students can do their work.

But there's no chalkboard in sight.

In fact, Dwyer's blended learning classroom can be disorienting because it resembles a typical classroom so little.

There are no desks. Instead, students sit in groups around tables and work on their Google Chromebooks. If they have questions about the work, they can ask another student or Dwyer.

Also, their chairs are on wheels so students -- if they wish -- can scoot themselves to the wall and use the Plexiglas boards as scrap paper.

"We wanted an environment where there was no front of the classroom," Dwyer explained.

"Students are a product of their environment so we wanted to create as room that was sleek and modern."

Furthermore, the class room emphasizes each student's individuality and choice, as well as the spirit of change -- as highlighted by the Seuss and Gandhi quotes, respectively.

Blended learning

Dwyer teaches eighth grade math and his classroom is a pilot program for the district -- an experiment in blended learning.

But what is blended learning?

Blended learning combines traditional teaching methods with online tools and new technology in an attempt to find a more effective way to teach students.

In this case, Dwyer's class is using the aforementioned Chromebooks and online programs like Khan Academy -- a free, web-based mathematics curriculum -- and Camtasia, video capturing software that lets Dwyer create video lessons that the students can rewind or speed through depending upon their need.

Dwyer's classes also use Schoology, which is like a social media site designed for education. It lets students ask questions of their classmates, students in other classes or teachers.

Essentially, it lets students crowdsource themselves if they're struggling with a question or a lesson while they're in the classroom or at home.

And -- because it's designed for schools -- teachers can see everything that students post on Schoology. (That way they can't use it for anything subversive.)

But a description of the tools Dwyer uses only gives us the how. It doesn't give us the what or why.

Ultimately, the blended learning classroom and technology allows the each of Dwyer's 120 students to individualize his lesson plans.

Children who understand a concept can speed ahead to the next lesson or participate in enrichment programs that allow them to use their mathematical acumen in different ways. (One example of an enrichment program: some students made comics that had to use the concept of probability in some fashion.)

Meanwhile, students who are struggling with a lesson can revisit Dwyer's lessons or ask for help without being singled out at the chalkboard.

Even better, because all of Dwyer's lessons are on the Chromebooks, he immediately knows what students need help and can give them individual attention.

Dwyer said that, ultimately, the technology makes his teaching to be more personalized for each of the students.

"The Chromebooks are a way to multiply 'me,'" Dwyer said. "It's physically impossible for teachers to individualize lesson plans for 120 students without this stuff."

Furthermore, with the lessons being more personalized, the students feel like they are more in control of their own education. Dwyer calls it "guided independence.

"They are the engine of their own learning," he said.

Dwyer's blended learning classroom has only been up and running for about two weeks, so it is too soon to say if the program is helping kids learn more effectively.

But -- based upon anecdotal evidence -- Dwyer said the students are learning more enthusiastically.

"I've heard the kids comment time and time again that 'class flies by' and it's because the students are engaged for the entire 45 minutes," he said.