Investigating Student Perceptions and the Effectiveness of K-12 Blended Learning Communities

Richard Hartshorne, Gina Tovine, April Fleetwood, Andrew Shepherd, Colton Tapoler, Raquel Pesce

OAI: oai:igi-global.com:312816 • DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-7540-9.ch097

While the growth of blended learning environments in higher education and non-educational settings has continued to increase in recent years, this has not been the case in K-12 settings. Recently, in an effort to explore the viability and effectiveness of K-12 blended learning environments, Florida Virtual School (FLVS) has been piloting blended learning communities in a number of their schools, providing opportunities to explore factors that influence the effectiveness of K-12 blended learning communities. Thus, the purpose of this chapter is to report the results of a study designed to assess conditions that influence the effectiveness of K-12 blended learning communities, and to explore learner, instructor, course, and other factors important to successful blended learning communities. Findings will inform the design, development, and implementation of future K-12 blended teaching and learning environments in an effort to support and strengthen student achievement, the preparation of teachers to facilitate effective blended learning environments.

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