Blended Learning 101: Where Tech Meets Tradition

HTA is widely considered to be a leader in the blended learning model of education - a model that combines face-to-face instruction, virtual instruction, and independent learning. HTA’s blended learning program uses technology to seamlessly connect students to certified teachers, regardless of where the students’ learning spaces may be. Some might wonder how a blended learning model, in which students experience fewer hours of face-to-face time with their teachers each week, can provide the high level of relational teaching and connectedness that parents value in a traditional brick and mortar school. Here at HTA we have seen that one of the many real benefits of a technology driven community has been a marked increase in the human element of education - that personal touch that many parents consider so vital in the overall education of their children. This is where tech meets tradition at HTA, and our families have reaped the benefits!

At HTA, synchronous learning in virtual classrooms, along with adaptive teacher-created curriculum delivered through online platforms for independent learning, complement face-to-face time. This creates a comprehensive education program that combines the best of both traditional and cutting-edge, technological worlds. Our students receive targeted instruction because teachers are able to personalize learning through technology and the flexible scheduling that is inherent in a blended learning model. Suddenly the limited face-to-face time that teachers have with students increases its value, and classes are engaging and purposeful. Virtual classrooms and independent learning allow for the more traditional, direct dissemination of information to also take place outside of the school's four walls. This paves the way for an abundance of collaborative, hands-on learning activities to take precedence in HTA’s face-to-face classes.

By using technology to streamline many of the time consuming processes of the traditional education model, students and parents receive a more personalized education experience.  Students who need more support or more enrichment are just a Google Hangout away from personalized teaching and learning. Even our parent Learning Coaches, who have an active role - a partnership - in the education of their children, benefit from the timely interaction and support a technology driven learning community can provide. The traditional desire for effective parent-teacher communication is satisfied even more effectively through technology. No more waiting for those returned phone calls or emails! Parents have the opportunity to interact daily with teachers in the student’s Personalized Learning Profile (PLP), a digital collection of goals, reflections, artifacts, data, and evidence that tells each student’s unique story. This leads to an authentic parent-teacher partnership in which the parents and teachers are working together to support and enhance the student’s overall learning. A blended learning model, where tech meets tradition, is truly the future of learning!

One overarching goal that transcends educational models is that students, throughout the course of their education, would become college and career ready. By the nature of our blended learning program, HTA students develop strong communication and organization skills necessary for success in college and beyond. Although it might seem like technology would create a physical barrier between humans, in many cases the purposeful and meaningful use of technology at HTA actually enhances communication and teacher-student-parent interaction. Students who may struggle in the area of oral communication seem to flourish in the virtual setting! Parents also report that they feel more supported and connected because the use of technology for daily communication is so ingrained in the culture of a blended learning school like HTA.

Children who have been brought up during this age of digital technology - digital natives - thrive in our technology-based program. It is no surprise that many students at HTA have a passion for technology outside of its application to their academic work. Though this emphasis on technology differs, in many ways, from the traditional school setting, a blended learning program maintains the value and appeal of the traditional educational model. Since students work online from home part of the week, they have ample time to also pursue their passions outside of school. The traditional idea of developing well-rounded, multi-dimensional students is only enhanced when tech meets tradition in a school like HTA! In a blended learning model, virtual teaching and independent learning comes with flexibility that allows students additional time to be athletes, artists, and involved in community organizations, instead of being bound to the physical restrictions of a five day per week, brick and mortar school.

Blended learning is truly the future of learning, and we are proud that Hawaii Technology Academy is pioneering this education model here in Hawaii. It’s no wonder that HTA is Hawaii’s largest public charter school, serving over 1,000 students across Oahu, Maui, Hawaii, and Kauai!

Are you seeking a different kind of school? A place where flexibility and accountability go hand in hand? A place where tech meets tradition? Discover Hawaii Technology Academy - a community embracing the challenges of today and the opportunities of tomorrow.

---