My experience with blended learning may be different than some other people in education. I would have to say that it really began when the pandemic hit in 2020 and all of our schools switched from regular in class learning to online and blended learning. Since I am a School Support Coordinator, and at the time a Literacy Facilitator, my experience was more from the outside looking in.
My main role is to support the schools and teachers in the best way possible with whatever they need at the time. In the beginning, it consisted of setting all of the teachers up with Seesaw (K-4) and Microsoft Teams (Gr. 4-9). This meant that my colleagues and I did a lot of professional development on how to use the programs, then in turn, we passed this knowledge onto the teachers and school staff in the best way that we knew how.
As teachers became more comfortable with the platforms, our focus switched to supporting teachers with online teaching methods of instruction and engaging tools, while also supporting them transitioning between in-class teaching and online teaching at a moments notice. Our team created resources for teachers to use both online, in-person, and also resources for famillies to use while their children were out of school.
To support the teachers with professional development, our method of instruction went from in-person group sessions and a lot of one-on-one support within the teachers classrooms, to online learning sessions through Microsoft Teams. The learning curve was huge. We sent up weekly TLCs for the different grade groups (K-3, 4-6, 7-9, and HS) to connect the teachers working at the same grade levels across all of our schools. The idea was to connect, share what is working and what is not, and allow the teachers to share, vent and grow as professionals. We also used the time to introduce new online tools that can be used in the digital classroom and while teaching in person (e.g., Kahoot, Whiteboard, Slidesmania, etc.). To make things more interesting and create ‘connection’ between the teachers, we often played games like show and tell. I have to say that while some TLC groups were strictly professional, some grew into beautiful communities. Looking back on this, I would have to say that the level of connection between TLC members was dependent on their participation and their willingness to show vulnerability.
Overall, my experience with blended learning would be different from the experience of a classroom teacher. My role was to support the teachers and school staff in furthering their own knowledge about online learning and teaching practices.