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Example: The West Virginia Virtual School offers Spanish courses to seventh- and
eighth-grade students, using a blended model of instruction that combines face-to-face
and virtual instruction as well as paper and pencil and Web-based activities (Rockman et
al. 2007). These students attend schools in remote areas and would not otherwise have
access to Spanish instruction by certified teachers. The program was delivered by a
three-member teacher team that included a lead teacher (a certified Spanish teacher) who
was responsible for the design and delivery of the daily lesson plan and weekly phone
conversations with each class, an adjunct teacher (a certified Spanish teacher) who
provided content-related feedback by means of e-mail and voicemail and who graded
student tests and products, and a classroom facilitator (a certified teacher but not a
Spanish teacher) who guided students on site to ensure that they stayed on task and
completed assignments on time. A three-year evaluation study with a matched design at
the school level found that students in the blended condition did as well as those in the
traditional face-to-face condition on a multiple-choice test, including subtests on oral
and written comprehension of Spanish. The study also reported that the blended learning
course motivated students to continue learning Spanish in high school.
The blended Spanish course increased access to instruction provided by certified teachers,
especially those who would not otherwise have such opportunity. This was particularly
important in West Virginia, which had made two years of foreign language instruction a
requirement for all middle school students but had been experiencing a serious shortage of
licensed Spanish teachers. Additionally, the course provided a variety of opportunities for
students to be exposed to and practice Spanish. These activities included listening to Spanish
through CDs and Wimba tools and communicating in Spanish with a native speaker or
instructors during or after school hours. Moreover, the program enabled teacher teams to
build a professional community where teachers in different roles could learn from one
another.
2. Engaging Students in Active Learning
Online learning has a potential to improve learning outcomes by replacing lecture time with
group and individual work that engages students more actively in learning, enabling greater
motivation and deeper learning (Twigg 2003a, 2003b). These activities include online
discussions, continuous assessments with immediate feedback and increased computer lab
hours where students can get one-on-one support based on the work they have done from the
online learning system, the online teacher or the face-to-face teacher. Additionally,
simulations and visualizations that make challenging abstract concepts more accessible to
students represent one demonstrated advantage of computer-based resources (see Cavanaugh
2008; Kearsley and Shneiderman 1998). Some online programs are game based, facilitating
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