K–12 Blended Teaching Readiness: Model and Instrument Development

Abstract

An increasing number of K–12 schools have adopted blended learning approaches. Current empirical research has been sparse regarding preparing teachers for blended teaching, including the skills they must develop to teach in blended contexts. This research is focused on that weakness, with the purposes of systematically identifying the skills needed for teaching in a blended learning context and of developing and testing an instrument that can be used to determine individual and school-wide readiness for blended teaching. In this study we present a measurement model used to develop items for measuring K–12 blended learning readiness. Specifically the instrument contained the following top-level areas: (a) foundational knowledge, skills, and dispositions, (b) instructional planning, (c) instructional methods and strategies, (d) assessment and evaluation, and (e) management. Each top-level construct also had two to four subconstructs. Through confirmatory factor analysis using survey responses from 2,290 K–12 teachers we found that the data met all four fit statistics cutoffs set forth in the literature (root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA]= 0.041, comparative fit index [CFI] = 0.926, Tucker–Lewis index [TLI] = 0.923, standardized root mean square residual [SRMR] = 0.041, X2 = 978.934, df = 1992).

Keywords::

• K–12 blended learning
• blended teaching competencies

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Michigan Virtual through a Fellowship with its Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute.

Author Notes

Charles R. Graham is a professor at Brigham Young University who studies technology-mediated teaching and learning, with a focus on the design and evaluation of blended and online learning environments. He also researches the use of technology to enhance traditional teaching and learning. His current research publications can be found online at https://sites.google.com/site/charlesrgraham. Please address correspondence regarding this article to Charles R. Graham, Brigham Young University, 150C MCKB BYU, Povo, UT 84602-0002, USA. E-mail: [email protected]

Jered Borup is an assistant professor in the Division of Learning Technologies at George Mason University and is the professor-in-charge of the Blended and Online Learning in Schools master’s program. His current research interests include developing online learning communities and identifying support systems that adolescent learners require to be successful in online environments.

Emily Pulham is a PhD student at Brigham Young University who studies K–12 blended and online learning, educational philosophy, and instructional design. Some of her work can be seen at emilypulham.com

Ross Larsen is an assistant professor at Brigham Young University who specializes in methodology and statistics. He interested in structural equation modeling and in the pedagogy of statistics. His publications are available at: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Rsh-HicAAAAJ&hl=en