Has she lost her mind?

Several people have asked me what this Guide School business is. This post is to answer those questions about why I’ve made a pivot in my personal life.

Q: Why did you take down www.readytoblend.com?

A: The term “blended learning” became toxic for some during COVID. In some places, it became synonymous with teacher-led conventional instruction over Zoom to zombie children sitting alone in masks at home. So, I decided to choose a new name without that baggage, even though I'll still use the term blended learning with you because there’s no better term to describe the mix of in-person learning and software-based instruction.

Q: Why the sudden obsession with the Flex model?

A: For years, Ready to Blend helped schools design and implement Blended Learning Plans using any model of blended learning that teachers wanted, whether Station Rotation, Lab Rotation, Flipped Classroom, Individual Rotation, A La Carte, Enriched Virtual, or Flex. 

But that agnosticism regarding the model stopped feeling right. Rotation models–including the nearly ubiquitous Station Rotation and Flipped Classroom–sustain the conventional classroom model; they don’t “disrupt” it (in the technical sense of genuine disruptive innovation). As Clayton M. Christensen, Michael B. Horn, and I wrote in “Is K-12 Blended Learning Disruptive: An Introduction to the Theory of Hybrids” (Christensen Institute, 2013), Station Rotations and the like:

. . . are on a sustaining trajectory relative to the traditional classroom. They are poised to build upon and offer sustaining enhancements to the factory-based classroom system, but not disrupt it. The models that are more disruptive, however, are positioned to transform the classroom model and become the engines of change over the longer term, particularly at the secondary level.

Over the years, I’ve grown disillusioned with Station Rotations and other sustaining models. They’ve offered moderate improvements in some cases to conventional classrooms. But there are too many children and youth who need the new value proposition that the disruptive Flex model offers–namely, the flexibility that adaptive software offers over teacher-led instruction to teach each student at the right level, the affordability of this method to deliver personal tutoring, and the convenience of not needing in-person subject matter experts for every subject in every building.

In short, the Flex model can help the marginalized, stymied, gifted, lost, incarcerated, transient, and atypical in a way that “sustaining innovations” (in Clayton Christensen parlance) relative to the conventional classroom model can’t. With the arrival of AI, the opportunity is even bigger.

Q. What’s your new business model and why?

Ready to Blend LLC was a single-owner LLC that earned revenue from keynotes, workshops, facilitator certification, and one-to-one consulting. I’ve searched for the right business model to be the most helpful to people now. Recently, I discovered a business model that feels right. It’s a one-to-many model based on digital courses and blended (in-person+digital) retreats. It will entail employees instead of my previous solopreneurship. Its prime drawback is that it requires me to feel awkward as I post and email to tell you about upcoming courses and programs so you know they exist. But I’m hopeful the benefit is a deeper helpfulness to you.

Q. What’s up next?

Pursuant to that last paragraph, please join me for a free webinar next week: “Why parents are flocking to the Flex model . . . and what schools can do about it.” I’ll share examples of Flex models worldwide, disclose their main pitfalls and potential, and offer five ways to open Windows of Opportunity in your life if you want to use the Flex model. I’ll do the webinar three times, so please choose the one that works best for you here.

“You’re entirely bonkers,” the Mad Hatter said to Alice. “But I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are.” Here’s to that hope.

Yours for the ride,
Heather

P.S. Here's the link again to register for the webinar next week: "Why parents are flocking to the Flex model . . . and what schools can do about it." Hope to see you there!