About Blended Learning as a Pathway to Personalized Instruction
At Alvo, We See Blended Learning as Pathway to Personalized Instruction; A Technology Enhanced Extension of Differentiated Instruction
Alvo’s definition of blended learning is inspired by The Christensen Institute’s definition, but with a data twist:
“Blended learning brings together the best from traditional instruction together with the most relevant and appropriate online and technology-supported instructional innovations to create a variety of integrated instructional experiences. In a blended model, teachers and students make decisions about a student’s instructional experiences based on close and regular analysis of real time student data. Students have some control over the pace, path, time and content of their learning experience. The opportunity for personalized instruction is deep, but will vary depending on the specific model.”
We believe that blended learning is highly dependent on regular data use that drives thoughtful and creative differentiation to the level of personalization. After years of talking about differentiation, the new generation of data management systems offer extraordinary opportunities to differentiate, whether in small groups or at the individual, personalized student level. The ability to work with real-time data in combination with the move towards using multiple curriculum and content providers (some online learning opportunities and some traditional texts) have significantly increased the possibilities for differentiation.
Our Philosophy on Personalized Learning
As the first tech-agnostic firm in the nation to support blended learning, with some of the earliest and most successful pace-car schools in the nation, The Alvo Institute has been a driving and deeply influential force in the K-12 educational landscape in defining how blended learning should be used as a pathway to personalize instruction. We believe personalizing the time, place, path and pace, of student learning, in a culturally responsive environment, best meets the needs of the each unique, whole child.
We believe competency based education (CBE) methods, even more so than standards based approaches, coupled with thoughtful use of growth mindset, is the deepest and most complete way to help support students with personalized learning. Not only do we believe in CBE and growth mindset, Alvo has been a pioneer in developing the methods, tools and implementation strategies to help schools successfully implement and refine the implementation of these complex and relatively new combination of methods. Personalize learning is not just a theory for Alvo; it is an integral part of services proven to increase student achievement.