Introducing 5 Domains of Blended Learning Teaching

School and district leaders that are thinking about personalizing education tell us one of their top concerns is how to train, support, and develop teachers effectively to teach in ways that may feel new and unfamiliar.  As former educators we agree that this is crucial, and are happy that they recognize the challenge and are ready to take it on.

First and foremost, in order to support the teachers we are asking to teach in blended learning environments we have to understand the implications on teaching practice.  Over the past three years, we’ve worked with thousands of teachers tackling the question of how to personalize learning in their classrooms and we’ve gathered a set skills into 5 domains of blended learning teaching that we believe are new skills to master for veteran and novice teachers alike.

This five-domain rubric was created, not for evaluation purposes (there are enough evaluation rubrics out there!), but for teachers to be able to self-assess, set goals and progress.  In the same way, we want blended learning to allow for students to have a better understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses, we want teachers to be able to identify blended specific skills and better understand their own strengths and areas for growth.  We wanted to give teachers, their coaches, and their leaders, a sense of what to strive for, and help them plot a path to get there through aligned professional development.  We also found that the teachers we work with cherish the opportunity to self-reflect, identify the skills they have and the skills they need, and take the time to set goals around where they want to shift their practice.  Many of our schools infuse these concepts into community of practices discussions for continuous learning.

Our five domains are below but, as always, the devil is in the details so we encourage you to check out the full rubric and subdomains here.

• Blended Learning Classroom Culture

• Blended Learning Classroom Management

• Blended Learning Planning and Delivery

• Blended Learning Assessment and Analysis

• Blended Learning Classroom Technology

We believe that an entrepreneurial and growth mindset is key to mastering the 5 domain skills and can not be understated.  However, our focus for this rubric is specifically around skill development.  And while it was developed by, with and for our schools, we want more feedback on how to make it better, and what other tools to develop around it. For us - this is just the beginning, so let us know what else you need and how to make this better.  Join the conversation on Twitter: @edelements #BLTeacherRubric

You might also be interested in our "Blended Learning Classroom Walkthrough Form"