Innovative Teaching
Methods & Classroom Design
A proactive approach to integrate new methods and teaching strategies into a classroom.
Innovative Classroom Design
Flexible Seating & Classroom Design
Use my Pinterest board to explore, or search for "innovative classroom design" or "innovative classroom seating" and find ideas for yourself!
The SAMR Model
The SAMR Model is a framework created by Dr. Ruben Puentedura that categorizes four different degrees of classroom technology integration. The letters "SAMR" stand for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition.
How is SAMR like a swimming pool?
This video helps explain the importance of "swimming laps" with the SAMR model
Blended Learning
Blended learning is a modality of instruction. As we at the Christensen Institute define it, blended learning is a formal education program in which a student learns:
at least in part through online learning, with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace;
at least in part in a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home;
and the modalities along each student’s learning path within a course or subject are connected to provide an integrated learning experience.
Blended learning, in other words, is a modality in much the same way a textbook, lecture, or project constitutes a modality. It does not refer to a particular philosophy or pedagogy (unless you consider using any technology whatsoever to be a philosophical or pedagogical decision unto itself). Blended learning has both online and offline components. These components of a blended model can be as diverse as the number of students in a given class or as uniform as an utterly traditional classroom.
The Hallmarks of Blended Learning from Catlin Tucker:
Catlin Tucker is an author, speaker, teacher, and innovator. Read more about her here.
Personalization: providing unique learning pathways for individual students
Agency: giving learners opportunities to participate in key decisions in their learning experience
Authentic Audience: giving learners the opportunity to create for a real audience both locally and globally
Connectivity: giving learners opportunities to experience learning in collaboration with peers and experts locally and globally
Creativity: providing learners individual and collaborative opportunities to make things that matter while building skills for their future
Blended Learning in Action: a Practical Guide toward Sustainable Change, by Catlin R. Tucker et al., Corwin, a SAGE Company, 2017, p. 6.
