There are many terms that describe the range of online learning formats. They include ‘remote learning’; ‘distance learning’; ‘online learning’; ‘e-learning’; ‘web-based learning’  and ‘hybrid learning’. The Digital Schools Awards recognises that some of these are established terms and widely used in certain contexts.  Our preferred term, Blended Learning seeks to augment the social interaction of teachers and peers in the classroom with the use of digital technologies outside the classroom.  Blended Learning suggests that classroom learning and online should form one continuous and integrated set of learning activities where each contributes to and develops from the other.  The Digital Schools Awards programme therefore provides an excellent opportunity to help teachers understand this interaction and plan effective integrated learning activities.  We offer the continuum below as a set of summary descriptions for blended learning, each of increasing depth and breadth.  

The continuum recognises that for some teachers, online learning may mean simply posting work online (for learners to use off-line), or using a platform for administration of, for example work submission or dissemination of information (feint boxes).  Digital Schools Awards will seek to guide teachers towards activities that use an online platform to engage in the process of learning. Therefore, Digital Schools Awards offers four blended learning progressive levels of increasing depth and complexity as a potential road map for development.