First Ever Blended Learning Lenses Course A Success!

August 2014 – This summer, Hidden Sparks piloted its new blended-learning Learning Lenses course with 19 educators from the Metropolitan area. Marrying the best of in-person and on-line learning, the course was  comprised of the material covered in the traditional 4-day course, in the new presentation format of two in-person training days accompanied by on-line modules. Together, teachers and administrators learned, through multiple lenses—developmental, temperamental, ecological—and real-life case studies, to understand student strengths and challenges, and identify strategies for all learners, including those who struggle academically and present challenging social-emotional issues.

Elizabeth Fox, Director of Education is excited by the prospect of reach for this course. This sentiment is echoed by Debbie Niderberg, Executive Director, “There has been a very high demand for our course and the Hidden Sparks lens for understanding children, It has been very important to us to make the course and content accessible to teachers who either live too far away or are not able to take off four days for the course. The Blended Course is a vehicle to reach more people.”

This course, developed in collaboration with The Churchill School and a consultant from Bank Street College of Education, provided opportunities for the participants to learn and collaborate with their colleagues on-line and on a flexible schedule. Hidden Sparks hopes to make this course available to educators and parents at the national level in the upcoming years.