End of semester thoughts

We are finishing up our first semester in Honors physics. Here are some if the pros and cons that I have noticed during the first semester in using the blended format of instruction:

Pros

1. Since students in the blended section have an independent "Library day" about every other day, I've been able to individualize instruction for students better. During "Library Days" most students go to the library to work independently, but if a student has missed class or needs extra remediation, I've allowed them to stay with me in the class and address any issues that they have in an individualized way. Admittedly, the fact that the blended section is so small (7 students) helps a lot with being able to give personal attention to each student.
2. Most students are still pretty happy about "Library Days" where they can complete work independently or with each other in the Social Learning Commons. 
3. Anecdotally it seems like the students in my blended Honors physics section are becoming more independent learners compared to the students in my traditional Honors physics sections. They still ask questions, but they are more willing to try and figure out how to fix the problem first on their own, before they ask me. I have no actual statistic to back this up, but that's the impression I get.

Cons

1. Some students still don't like learning from the Khan Academy physics videos. Some of this may owe to the fact that I haven't been having them watch all the Khan videos on a topic. I've selected the ones most pertinent to the ideas we're developing. Since the Khan Academy physics videos are somewhat sequence based, and one video flows directly from the last video and into the next video, having them watch only some of the videos might be giving them a disjointed experience that is less enjoyable. The problem is that since each Khan Academy video is about 10 minutes, I can only have them watch about one or two during their "Library days" or else there would be no time for them to try any sample problems during that time. I suppose I could have them just watch videos for a whole library day, but 55 minutes of lecture (no matter who is lecturing or whether it is on video or not) is a long time to ask a student to maintain their attention span (and one could make a case that doing so is more akin to child abuse than education). 
2. The Braingenie site and problem sets are great for the most part. But a few Braingenie problems are worded vaguely or just plain incorrectly and the site at times is a little buggy. Giving students problems that are worded vaguely is not useful to my purposes. The most important thing I am trying to teach my students is to be able to think clearly, precisely, and in an organized manner. So being precise is very important for the educational goals I've set for my students. In fact, helping my students think clearly/precisely and in an organized manner to me is much, much more important than any physics topic or equation that they will learn about. (I give my students extra credit if they can point out any time I've been imprecise/vague in the questions I've asked them. I am never so pleased/proud during the school day as I am when one of my students calls me out on being vague/imprecise.)
3. The grades for the blended section during first quarter were higher than the traditional sections, but the second quarter grades for the blended section are no longer the highest of all the physics sections (they aren't the lowest either). I am pretty sure that the cause for the drop is student absences and missed assignments and missed classes that are forcing students to catch back up. I expect that in the last couple weeks we will see the grades for the blended section rise back to equal or greater than the other sections.

I have one more interview exam to give. My blended section did not receive the highest scores (or lowest scores) during the last interview exam, so I am interested to see how they do this time.

To me the biggest test for whether this blended class has been a success or not will be the performance of the students on the semester I exam, since it is a sampling of everything we've done this quarter. Every Honors physics section (blended or otherwise) will take the same semester exam at the same time in the same large area. I am interested to see how the blended section semester I exam scores compare with the rest of the traditional Honors physics sections.