Product Overview of Blendspace (now TES Teach)
What is Blendspace?
Blendspace, now rebranded as TES Teach, is a versatile and user-friendly platform designed to help educators create, organize, and deliver online lessons efficiently. This tool is ideal for teachers looking to enhance their classroom practices with blended learning resources.
Key Features and Functionality
Lesson Creation and Organization
- Blendspace allows educators to curate lessons by integrating various multimedia resources such as videos, websites, images, PDFs, Google Docs, PowerPoint files, and more. These resources can be easily dragged and dropped into a lesson grid, making it simple to create and customize lessons.
Flexibility and Accessibility
- The platform supports different educational approaches, including the flipped classroom model, Socratic teaching methods, and elaborative paths that provide educational scaffolding. Lessons can be accessed by students with a WiFi connection, and full participation is possible without an account, except for in-platform forums.
Integration with Other Tools
- Blendspace seamlessly integrates with various tools like Google Drive, YouTube, Dropbox, and quizzes. Educators can embed external websites, links, and files directly into their lessons, enhancing the learning experience.
Classroom Management
- Educators can create classrooms, add students, and track their progress. The platform allows for the creation of classes with up to 35 students and hosting of up to 100 lessons per account. It also provides tools to monitor access, engagement, participation, and quiz scores.
Asynchronous Learning
- Blendspace enables asynchronous learning, allowing students to review and complete lessons at their own pace. This flexibility is particularly beneficial for students who need more time or additional challenges.
Study Guides and Collaboration
- The platform facilitates the creation of study guides by both educators and students. Students can collaborate to gather material, share resources, and prepare for larger assessments. This feature promotes digital literacy and the development of good judgment in selecting educational resources.
Time Efficiency and Cost
- Blendspace is free to use, with no costs for educators or students to access the material. The drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to create valuable learning tools quickly, saving vital classroom time for more interactive and engaging activities.
Reporting and Analytics
- The platform offers reporting features that allow educators to track student engagement, participation, and quiz scores. This helps in assessing student understanding and adjusting the lesson plans accordingly.
Additional Benefits
- Segmented Design: Educators can segment their content delivery using modules, scaffolding lessons with collaborative activities to build upon student understanding over time.
- Learner Control: Students have control over the time spent on each lesson or block, allowing them to review material as often as necessary.
- Deliberate Design: The platform ensures a coherent and straightforward delivery of lessons, free from distractions that might occur when navigating multiple links or platforms.
In summary, Blendspace (TES Teach) is a powerful tool for educators to create, manage, and deliver online lessons efficiently, supporting a variety of teaching methods and enhancing both the teaching and learning experiences.