About BlendEd

Why is the project necessary?

Across the world, the Covid-19 pandemic has reduced children’s access to education. Blended learning – a mix of traditional in-person learning with a teacher in a classroom and learning activities using digital technologies, often at home – is a way to support children’s learning during disruption. BlendEd is a programme of free professional development and resources for teachers to support blended learning pedagogy.

Who is the project for?

BlendEd is designed by teachers for teachers. We know that teachers have huge demands on their time so all our resources and online courses are bitesize.

Who is behind the project?

Supported by the IBM UK Charitable Trust, BlendEd is run by Education Development Trust’s Connected Learning Centre, a team of teachers and learning technologists with over 20 years’ experience of delivering high quality digital CPD to teachers.

Meet the team

Sarah Horrocks

Director
Sarah is the director of the Connected Learning Centre. She was previously a primary teacher and deputy headteacher. She now oversees the centre’s programme which includes research, digital strategy, developing teachers’ digital competencies, involving young people in the creative use of digital technologies, supporting families’ digital skills and making partnerships between schools, businesses and cultural organisations. Sarah’s areas of expertise include digital equity, school digital strategy and transformation, blended learning, parental engagement, digital skills, early years education and digital in creative and cultural learning. Sarah has a particular interest in blogging, digital portfolios and children’s writing online. She co-wrote Educational blogs and their effects on pupils’ writing with Myra Barrs. Sarah and her team have supported UK schools in the move to remote and blended learning with a particular focus on supporting children and families experiencing digital disadvantage. Sarah and the CLC team have also supported UNICEF’s ‘Education During Emergency Plan’ through the creation of teacher training materials in blended learning. London Connected Learning Centre won the BETT Award for service and support to schools in 2019 and 2020. Sarah is involved in a number of European projects which include supporting young children in computational thinking, developing blended learning practice and using AI for personalised learning.

Peter Lillington

Teaching and learning
consultant
Peter leads on the creation of content including our weekly blogs. We continue to learn and share from our own practical experience and the wide community of teachers and educators we are connected with and have a particular focus on what constitutes successful teaching and learning with technology in a blended, remote and hybrid context as well as face to face in the classroom.

Rowan Roberts

Teaching and learning
consultant
Rowan leads on the development of our On Demand courses, working closely with project partners and CLC team members to produce many of our webinars and self-paced courses, alongside other multimedia resources. A keen computer scientist, Rowan is fascinated by the ways in which programming can support learning in a range of curriculum areas, particularly in the context of blended learning. To this end she has worked on a range of resources featuring the block-based programming language Scratch, several of which you can find within our webinars.

Caitlin McMillan

Teaching and learning
consultant
Caitlin leads on the BlendEd live events, bringing external experts and educators together to share experience and advice. She hosts our regular series of conversations with education professionals, looking at how they use blended learning in their practice. Caitlin is particularly interested in the way that blended approaches to learning can increase accessibility for pupils, parents and teachers alike.  

James Goddard

Project Manager
James supports the team with coordination of the BlendEd project and helps ensure the project’s services are delivered to the highest standard. James has experience managing and supporting projects with Tate and IBM.

Ben Butcher

Business and operations
manager
Ben provides support to the BlendEd team ensuring that they have everything they need to do their jobs. He is an experienced senior manager, a PRINCE 2 and Agile qualified project manager and is focused on delivering exceptional customer service. 

Afeefa Wilson

Marketing
Afeefa supports the online interaction and outreach for BlendEd courses, events and live events – she ensures educators stay up to date with content that increases their knowledge. Afeefa organises cherry-picked Twitter content to ensure our followers are learning something new every day. Afeefa brings her experience of working as a teaching assistant in schools and her passion for creativity to support children to achieve the best of their ability.

Still got questions?

Got  a question you can’t find the answer to on the site or want to speak to one of the BlendEd team?  Please fill in this form to contact us and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

London CLC

The Connected Learning Centre is part of Education Development Trust and supports schools and other settings in using digital technologies creatively and critically. The CLC provides outstanding curriculum support, technical services and professional development.

Education Development Trust

At Education Development Trust, our vision is a world in which all lives are transformed through excellent education. We combine global research and our longstanding expertise with regional knowledge to inform education policy and practice and deliver programmes around the world. Through our work and expertise – which spans from early years education right through to post-school careers – we seek to strengthen education systems, transform teaching and learning, ensure effective transitions into work, and contribute to global responses to key education challenges.

IBM

IBM (and the IBM UK Charitable Trust) is committed to being a responsible technology innovator and a force for good. We are a leading cloud and cognitive solutions company and a global leader in business transformation. We invent and build things that matter to the world, helping to make organisations and their operations more resilient, efficient and sustainable for people and the planet. Throughout our 109-year history, we have been guided by principles of trust and transparency. We support a more inclusive society by continuing to invest in skills and re-skilling for the digital era. #GoodTechIBM. For more information, visit ibm.com/uk

0207 720 7514
[email protected]

© London CLC, Rectory Grove, London, SW4 0EL

Search BlendEd

Featured Resources

A blended approach to outreach - in conversation with Ant Sutcliffe

How has university outreach worked in an online environment? What lessons have we as educators learned from the last year? How can our learnings lead to a quality, multi touchpoint outreach programme? In this recorded session, head of Higher Horizons+ and recent NEON ‘Contribution to Widening Participation Award’ winner, Ant...
A blended approach to outreach – in conversation with Ant Sutcliffe
Secondary
View Resource >

Digital learning in the pandemic and beyond with ALT

This course is a series of recorded sessions from the virtual conference ‘Digital learning in the pandemic and beyond’ (Feb 24th 2021). Run in collaboration with the Association for Learning Technology, the conference looked at online learning from a variety of angles, including accessibility, copyright concerns, and the future of blended education....
Digital learning in the pandemic and beyond with ALT
Primary, Secondary
View Resource >

Blended teaching in early years

This is a recording of a live session facilitated by CLC educators Sarah Horrocks and Peter Lillington on Tuesday 11th May 2021. The facilitators worked with a group of early years practitioners to explore their blended teaching strategies during the pandemic, including periods of home learning. Teachers shared examples from...
Blended teaching in early years
Primary
View Resource >

Parents & blended learning - in conversation with Sophie Linington

As we move out of the period of remote schooling, how can we keep parents and families engaged with and excited about the potential of digital technology? In this recorded webinar, Sophie Linington (Deputy CEO, ParentZone) discusses the importance of digital skills inside and outside of the classroom, how to...
Parents & blended learning – in conversation with Sophie Linington
Primary, Secondary
View Resource >
All Resources

Featured On Demand Learning

A blended approach to outreach - in conversation with Ant Sutcliffe

How has university outreach worked in an online environment? What lessons have we as educators learned from the last year? How can our learnings lead to a quality, multi touchpoint outreach programme? In this recorded session, head of Higher Horizons+ and recent NEON ‘Contribution to Widening Participation Award’ winner, Ant...
00:30
Secondary
View Course >

Digital learning in the pandemic and beyond with ALT

This course is a series of recorded sessions from the virtual conference ‘Digital learning in the pandemic and beyond’ (Feb 24th 2021). Run in collaboration with the Association for Learning Technology, the conference looked at online learning from a variety of angles, including accessibility, copyright concerns, and the future of blended education....
Webinar
01:00
Primary, Secondary
Webinar >

Blended teaching in early years

This is a recording of a live session facilitated by CLC educators Sarah Horrocks and Peter Lillington on Tuesday 11th May 2021. The facilitators worked with a group of early years practitioners to explore their blended teaching strategies during the pandemic, including periods of home learning. Teachers shared examples from...
Webinar
01:30
Primary
Webinar >

Parents & blended learning - in conversation with Sophie Linington

As we move out of the period of remote schooling, how can we keep parents and families engaged with and excited about the potential of digital technology? In this recorded webinar, Sophie Linington (Deputy CEO, ParentZone) discusses the importance of digital skills inside and outside of the classroom, how to...
Webinar
00:45
Primary, Secondary
Webinar >
All On Demand Learning

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