# Blended Learning in K-12/Characteristics of Blended Learning

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What are the main characteristics of Blended Learning? What makes
blended learning unique, different, special?

The term "Blended Learning", while popular, has been subjected to
criticism, mostly because the definition lacks specificity. (See section
1.1 \"What is Blended Learning?\")The term applies to diverse
situations, including professional development in the business world,
and technology integration in the K-12 and university settings, and
describes a range of instructional practices. Indeed, one critical
article has suggested that it is the very focus on instructional
practices that is problematical, and that blended learning should
instead focus on content from the learner's, rather than the
instructor's, perspective. (Oliver and Trigwell, 2005) Although
criticizing the terminology appears to be merely a discussion over
semantics, the lack of specificity raises an interesting question: What
are the characteristics of blended learning? A number of sources
summarize the following characteristics as being unique to the blended
learning environment.

-   General Comparisons in Blended
    Learning

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-   Pedagogical Models- blending constructivism, behaviorism and
    cognitivism

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-   Synchronous and asynchronous communication
    methods

`   Taking each of these point for point, we may attempt to characterize blended learning by examining its appearance point for point. In other words, by describing these blends as they should appear in a “real” context, we can begin to understand blended learning not as a textbook definition, but as a concept for learning and instruction in the Twenty-first Century.`
