TRIAL AND SHARE: Two of our very own, Darri Stephens and Leonard Medlock, along with Brian Greenberg, formerly of Envision Schools, have released the long-anticipated paper, Blend My Learning: Lessons Learned from a Summer Blended Learning Pilot, all about the Khan Academy trial this past year in Oakland. A fitting wrap-up to their popular summer blog, the report details the team's observations--the good, bad, and ugly--of one Oakland high school's summer algebra class experiment in blended learning, using Google Chromebooks and Khan Academy. Through a combined effort from Envision Schools, Google, and Stanford's d.school, the report tackled not only pilot results (the Khan group fared slightly better than the control group), but other practical stuff, such as redefining the roles of teachers and students and redesigning how class space, software, and hardware were used. No promises of a "one-size-fits all" solution, but we agree that this kind of "lessons learned" report is badly needed, as it will encourage others to not only attempt similar experiments, but to also share their experiences with the education community.
