Call them "blended" call them "hybrid"... Whatever.
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The online learning environment and the "mixed" environment is a blessing for people who work and can't attend normally scheduled courses. A great way for some people to continue being educated and make themselves more valuable/marketable.
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Do you use computers with online functions at work? Most folks do. Why shouldn't the learning environment reflect this to some extent. How much and when can be hotly debated, but to suggest it's inappropriate is silly.
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Blaming low achieving high school grads on "blended" or "new" curriculum ignores the elephant in the room... Broken homes and parents who do not work with their children to keep them up to speed... Yes it's the fault of schools when they keep passing students to the next grade when they are not doing work at a level appropriate to pass, but that is not the key.
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Have you looked at the math, english, science and history curriculum at your kids school? Exactly how do you find it lacking? If it is lacking in some componant, why havent YOU given your child instruction on what the school isn't covering? The basics are being taught, this is not disputable if you take the time to look at what is actually taught. But if the PARENT allows the student to fall behind, it is their responsibility to do what is necessary to right the ship... Teachers are very willing to work with *involved* parents who need guidence in matters like this.. But the school cannot do it alone.
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Are new names and acronyms confusing? Sure... But that has nothing to do with staying on top of Jr's education.. Not in the least.

Look at todays graduating classes, you can already see the results and they are not pretty.

I thought the term "blended learning" would be better suited for my Mom's childhood educational experiences. She grew up in the country and went to a one-room schoolhouse. All the local farm kids sat through every lecture the teacher gave, and the older students helped the younger ones. The kids took turns pumping well water and bringing in firewood for the stove - a nice reminder that the alternative to remaining in school was going back to the farm and working the full day.

Rather than having her own living quarters, the teacher rotated spending a week living at the parents different farmhouses. This cut down the very small school board's expenses and ensured there would be no "snow days" required due to staff shortages when heavy snowfalls filled the unpaved roads in rural Rock County. It also provided plenty of opportunity for the teacher to observe the student(s) in their home environment and for parents to discuss their children's education and evaluate the teacher.

In my primary and seconday education days, I had to endure "team teaching" in elementary and junior high schools, and "New Social Studies" - the ill-conceived and mismanaged 'Integrated Social Studies' program at Parker High School which replaced both their Humanities program for students who liked advanced coursework and bonehead history and geography classes for students who couldn't care less about the subjects.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Perhaps one day, computers will be advanced enough so simulation students can be programmed to prescreen new educational programs or initiatives and see if they will result in better learning or not, instead of having to experiment on kids and wait (up to decades) to see the results.

I believe that the recently "flipped classrooms" tell us something special about Alphabet Soup Learning in America today. We appear, in educational circles, to be trying to mystify our business for parents and students alike. Such mystification will not really lead to a better education for students. It will not endear the public to teachers, superintendents or school boards. The attempt to "vocabularize" the general public into submission is silly. Witness the expansion of "acronymious" language in education over the last fifty years. When I grew up my IGE included as much learning as was possible in my time in school. Today, I could not possibly succeed because my ADD and ED would be reported in my IEP and my parents would be maginalized in their roles as parents and they might grow to dislike (hate) IEP team members. My teachers would probably grow suspicious and be tempted to not rate me very highly. I would languish in the halls of mediocrity with fellows like me. Luckily, I learned that people like Albert Einstein, Gregor Mendel and Thomas Edison shared the same kinds of experiences. When will we return to real honest learning and teaching, face to face, in America? If we continue to "blend" our learning, might we succeed at pooling our ignorance? Frankly, you are right to question our "penchant for creating new terminology".

These both sound great! It would mean more responsibility on the student's part for their own education - so would work well for some, maybe not so well for others.