Hamilton High School to Offer First Blended Instruction Class

Next year, a select group of students will get a real taste of what it will be like to learn in a college or university setting with the school offering its first blended instruction course.

 Two sections of a senior level communication arts class will experience the combination of online and face-to-face instruction.

“We have identified 20 to 30 students who would be a good match in terms of their aptitude and abilities,” said Denise Dorn Lindberg, spokesperson for the .  “This class will be much more like a college level class where students are expected to have understanding of working in an online environment.

“There’s some traditional face-to-face instruction and there’s also 24/7 access through the Web to get content to participate in the class.”

The advantage of the blended instruction course is that it will prepare students for the real world in terms of their future education while providing them with 21st century skills for the world in general.

“We’re more technology oriented and there is greater use of the Web,” Lindberg said. “Right now our students have a lot of interaction on the Web. All of our teachers in our district have classroom web pages and they use them at different levels for different things. At the elementary level it’s used more as a communication tool to the home, parents, etcetera.

At the secondary level, it’s more of a course management and content where kids can take quizzes online, submit assignments, participate in classroom forums based on subjects and topics that are part of the curriculum.”  

Hamilton is part of a pilot initiative through Cooperative Educational Service Agency No. 1, which encourages school districts to participate by forming research clusters around personalize learning, technology integration, adult support of personalized learning and assessment of learning profiles, practices, progress and performance.

Hamilton was part of the first wave of school districts to begin working on these transformational initiatives.

“The kids won’t have to meet every single day,” added Dorn Lindberg. “In the first two weeks, they’ll meet face-to-face every day during first period. Eventually, they’ll transition to having more interaction in an online environment. 

“The teacher will call the students for face to face gatherings as needed on what needs to be taught.”

The online instruction will include synchronous and asynchronous learning where at times students will be online as a group and other times they will be learning alone.