Is it time to do blended learning PD the right way?

If we want teachers to use courses to teach effectively using blended learning, we need to design PD programs that use this approach

How often have we heard that education is changing, and that flipped learning/blended learning/integrated learning/hybrid learning/(enter the latest term here) is the future and needs to be embraced now?

Yet how many times do schools train their staff in blended learning by having professional development (PD) presented in the form of a lecture or a traditional lesson–exactly the type of learning that they are trying to replace in the classroom?

Teachers, as well as students, learn better by doing, and learn better by participating in models that work rather than simply discussing models of learning. Professional development delivery must change. It is time to “walk the walk” rather than just “talk the talk.”

The author has done this in a number of successful training courses in a K-12 school. The programs use a range of online materials, such as text, audio, video, surveys, feedback and embedded interactive and collaborative specialist resources such as VoiceThread. The courses also use features of the Online Learning Environment (LMS), such as conditional release of resources and activities, rubrics and quizzes.