New Master's Degree Program

Foundations for Blended Learning Micro-Endorsement

Shift to a flexible classroom model with 6 essential competencies for blended teaching

Although the grit and love teachers bring to schools are heroic, many are experience stress without access to modern instructional tools.

But with blended-learning strategies that incorporate a variety of online and offline tools into the student experience, teachers' jobs become much easier.

Teachers are able to reach and connect with each learner while other students are self-directed and on task.

Teachers have time to cultivate 1-on-1 relationships to nurture each student's gifts.

Teachers can confidently meet an array of learning needs.

And they are able to respond with agility to the changing dynamics of school as we’ve always known it.

INTRODUCING…

Foundations for Blended Learning

A package of micro-credentials, coaching, and seminars that guides teachers through the basic principles of setting up a flexible classroom—a simple, modern design for student-driven, teacher-supported learning.

brought to you by BloomBoard and Ready to Blend

Drawing of notepad, coffee, stickie notes, pens

With the Foundations for Blended Learning program you have:

A professional development solution that’s adaptable to your district’s needs
A tactical model that provides meaningful change in practice, guided by expert coaches
A fully supported implementation structure that prevents duplication of effort

Your teachers will learn how to:

Shift to a flexible learning model so that they have options for when and where learning occurs
Implement practical strategies to reach and engage each student, responsive to individual needs
Plan schedules, establish classroom norms, and equip students with habits that empower them to achieve courageous goals this year, both independently and collaboratively
Implement with the priority of equity for all learners

The Foundations for Blended Learning Credential

This program is not “one more thing” to add to your plates.

Rather, this is THE thing to ease your efforts as you update your practice to meet the demands of school in an ever-changing, modern world.

Ready to Blend has curated the best set of instructional resources and training modules on the market for helping teachers make the critical shift to flexible, blended instruction. The Foundations for Blended Learning package respects teachers’ time and gives them the guided support they need and want in order to be rockstars for their students.

MANDY FROEHLICH
Director of Technology & Innovation in Wisconsin,
author of The Fire Within and Divergent EDU

The Six Micro-Credentials

MICRO-CREDENTIAL 1

Assessing individual student needs for blended learning

demonstrate that the educator can assess unique student learning needs that can arise when instruction moves to a blended or remote teaching modality.
complete an Student Needs Analysis; identify gaps related to student needs.
create an action plan to fill those gaps.

MICRO-CREDENTIAL 2

Designing a weekly Blended Learning Arc

develop a weekly learning schedule that blends face-to-face and remote teaching modalities.
design a weekly blended learning arc that requires the educator to plan for whole group launch and closing sessions and to structure individual student learning sprints, collaborative projects/games, and 1:1 student check-ins.

MICRO-CREDENTIAL 3

Building relationships with individual students in a blended environment

demonstrate that the educator can project a warm and accessible personna to students that supports the shift to a coaching and mentoring rapport.
develop a communication and feedback process that ensures quality interactions with individual students, and provide unconditional positive regard showing complete support and acceptance of all students even when students struggle to connect.

MICRO-CREDENTIAL 4

Establishing norms of engagement for blended environments

develop community norms for positive and rigorous engagement in face-to-face and remote interactions necessary to thrive in a blended learning environment.
learn how to onboard students successfully to this new learning experience and embed the community norms into the classroom culture

MICRO-CREDENTIAL 5

Engaging parents to support blended learning

engage with parents as partners to address the unique demands of a blended learning environment.
establish accessible systems for two-way communication with parents and develop parent commitment to giving balanced support to their students during any remote portion of blended learning.

MICRO-CREDENTIAL 6

Onboarding students to blended learning

guide students to develop the skills needed to effectively engage in a blended learning environment
teach students digital technology literacy skills so that they can access and participate in content online, nurture agency habits so they can manage their own learning processes, and support students who are not productively engaging in a blended environment.

I cannot say enough about our work with Heather and Ready to Blend related to our new Foundations of Blended Learning program. Heather's expertise and passion for enabling educators with the right skills at the right time have enabled us to create and deliver a robust, best-in-class micro-credential based learning experience for educators in an incredibly short period of time. We couldn't be more excited about the partnership and our joint work with Ready to Blend.

SANFORD KENYON
CEO of BloomBoard

How It Works

Upon your enrollment, a senior learning strategist and program manager from BloomBoard will meet with your team to customize your program, including goals, incentives, and timelines. They'll also help you select participants, including educators who want to be Blended Learning Ambassadors.

Next, your Blended Learning Ambassadors will begin the 6 micro-credentials, with 24/7 access to BloomBoard's learning platform with Ready to Blend's exemplar videos, guided practice activities, and specific competency indicators. Professional evaluators review teachers’ evidence of implementation to give them real-time data and support. Completing the 6 micro-credentials takes roughly 15 weeks and results in a Foundations for Blended Learning Micro-Endorsement.

Along the way, expert Blended Learning Coaches work closely with Ambassadors to give them individual support plus structured professional learning community (PLC) facilitation.

Other staff in your organization are invited to a series of 7 synchronous Blended Learning Seminars to familiarize themselves with the basic competencies and unify your organization around a shared vision.

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Program Design & Delivery

The program design for Foundations for Blended Learning is led by Heather Staker of Ready to Blend and delivered by BloomBoard through the support of a dedicated BloomBoard Learning Coach.

About Heather Staker

Heather is a researcher and author in the United States who has spent 15 years studying innovation in education and the rise of blended learning as the enabler of student-centered learning.

She is the co-author of the Amazon bestseller Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools and The Blended Workbook, as well as her latest report Developing a Student-Centered Workforce through Micro-Credentials.

As the founder of Ready to Blend, Heather leads a team of 150 facilitators in the United States, Middle East, and South America who have been certified to deliver blended-learning workshops to their teachers.

About Bloomboard

BloomBoard is the leading platform for enabling educator advancement via micro-credentials, a form of micro-certification. With BloomBoard, districts can provide meaningful professional learning experiences, improving how they support, scale, and grow effective teachers. For educators, BloomBoard provides a place to build new competencies and earn certification through micro-credentials.

Not only did the content provide the blended learning expertise and practice our faculty and staff needed to prepare for the upcoming year, but the methodology and approach were a perfect fit for our needs as well. We are already seeing results. Additionally, we feel confident that our teachers will be supported this fall as we organize and execute upon this new endeavor in a way that more effectively meets the needs of each and every student.

LAURA DAVIS
Chief Academic Officer, McDowell County Schools

FAQs

What is a micro-credential?

Micro-credentials are digital certifications that verify a teacher’s accomplishment in a specific skill. To earn a micro-credential, educators must submit evidence—such as a classroom video, student surveys, or a lesson plan—to demonstrate their competence. Educators can start and finish a micro-credential whenever they want. The Foundations for Blended Learning package includes the six most important micro-credentials to help teachers shift their instruction this school year.

The Christensen Institute report, Developing a student-centered workforce through micro-credentialing, published September 2020, gives a theory-based rationale for micro-credentials as a modular solution for stackable, customizable, easy-to-set-up teacher PD and names the Foundations for Blended Learning cluster of micro-credentials.

How does the program work?

Participating organizations select teachers to be "Blended Learning Ambassadors." These ambassadors are invited to complete the full program, including earning the six micro-credentials, participating in PLC discussions, and helping guide the way for other staff. The experience takes roughly 15 weeks and leads to a full transformation from the traditional-classroom model to a flexible, student-centered model, customized to the needs of the school. Along the way, a BloomBoard Blended Learning Coach provides support, facilitation, and expertise. Meanwhile, all other staff in the district or network are invited to participate in seven synchronous online seminars to develop baseline skills.

How are BloomBoard micro-credentials structured?

BloomBoard's micro-credentials help educators master and demonstrate one discrete competency at a time in five steps:

Educators begin with the Explore phase, which includes watching a video and reviewing the targeted outcomes.
Next is Engage, when educators watch, read, or discuss specific strategies aligned to mastering the competency.
After that, educators Exercise by starting to apply the new strategies in their practice.
When ready, educators Evidence mastery by implementing the principles they've learned and collecting artifacts to demonstrate implementation.
Finally, educators Evaluate by reflecting on their learning and sharing their insights to lead the way for others.

What is the research base for Foundations for Blended Learning?

The primary research base for this program includes the following publications:

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