Month: May 2019

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3X3Learning Futrlabs Futureshift

Learning Series – Blended Learning Approaches (Part 3)

Blended Learning Approaches

In our earlier post – Learning Series – Why Blended Learning Strategy (Part 2), we went on to see why Blended Learning and the three primary reasons why blended learning is used.

Dependent upon your definition of blended learning, you can argue that there are as many approaches to blended learning as there are various combinations of all the different media available. What becomes paramount to a winning training strategy is the instructional design strategy and approach. It all starts here, and the decisions that are made here ripple throughout the learning. Poor instructional design choices cannot be covered up by slick programming or outstanding graphics. A poorly designed training session will still be a poorly designed learning event, regardless of how fancy the animations or how sophisticated the delivery. The only difference is how much money is lost in the process.

Futureshift Learning distills blended learning approaches into two major categories: learner-centric and business-centric drivers.

Poor instructional design choices cannot be covered up by slick programming or outstanding graphics. A poorly designed training session will still be a poorly designed learning event regardless of how fancy animations or how sophisticated the delivery. The difference is how much money is flushed away in the process.

Learner-Centric

A learner-centric approach provides considerable upfront instructional design emphasis on the learner and the learner’s conditions of learning; for example, the use of Gagne’s The Five Conditions of Learning, which includes five categories of learning: verbal information, intellectual skills, cognitive strategies, attitudes, and motor skills. Learner centric approaches rely upon sound upfront instructional systems design. The tried and true analyze, design, develop, implement, and evaluate (ADDIE) process starts with analysis and include evaluation throughout its process model. Adherence to these processes ensures that the training created is designed to provide maximum transference to the learner, thereby optimizing the available solutions to the learner.

Business Centric

The intent of a learning event is to transfer knowledge, skills, and/or abilities to a learner. Therefore, you could assume that all approaches are learner centric; however, this is not the case. The core of a business centric approach is the reality of understanding and meeting the business drivers. Learning in and of itself is a great thing, but it is not always a company’s primary mission to educate their workforce. Manufacturing and productivity are requirements that must be met; therefore, the business demand can dictate the design steps and decisions just as readily as a focus on the learner.

Training exists in many forms, and certainly, it depends on the content to determine the need for complexity. For example, if the business driver is to ensure that all employees receive training concerning changes to administrative practice, the training design should be limited to communication. Conversely, should the situation involve the deployment of a brownfield launch, including new manufacturing equipment, the business impact will drive the design decisions, this time with a very robust modality. These two approaches are not necessarily mutually exclusive of one another. With some creative forethought and design, many learning projects handily weave both learner needs and business needs into the final design. In the next post, we will visit the Blended Learning Design Models – Learning Series – Blended Learning Design Models (Part 4).

You can also visit – Learning Series – Crafting a Blended Learning Strategy (Part 1) and Learning Series – Why Blended Learning Strategy (Part 2)

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3X3Learning Futrlabs Futureshift

Learning Series – Why Blended Learning Strategy (Part 2)

In our earlier post-Learning Series – Crafting a Blended Learning Strategy (Part 1), we had an overview of a blended learning strategy. In this post, we are going to go a little deeper into ‘Why/ of a Blended Learning Strategy.

Why Blended Learning?

Blended learning is heavily favored for three primary reasons:

  1. Optimal learning strategies – mixed-media learning approaches have been proven to be the most effective means of learning, especially when you are dealing with large numbers of learners;
  2. Reach and flexibility –blended learning can reach across large areas at any time or (virtually) any place; and
  3. Economics – done right, blended learning is a highly valuable business solution that can be a very good economical investment.

Optimal Learning Strategy

Numerous studies are available in both the commercial and academic fields that clearly demonstrate that the most successful training approaches are those that involve higher interactivity and use more than one modality for learning transfer. Therefore, answering “Why blended learning?” becomes simple; it is the most effective approach for learning.

Be careful though, blended learning still requires sound instructional design in order to be effective. Simply creating a series of different modes of content does not make for excellent learning transfer.

Reach and Flexibility

Traditionally, training was completed by trainers who diligently traveled from site to site ensuring that all personnel was properly trained. Often the cost and time associated with delivery remained a challenge. Adding on large enterprise-wide training rollouts introduced a great deal of variation due to the sheer number of instructors required.

The face-to-face benefits of training are undeniable, but some form of interactive exchange mixed with face-to face training was required. Blended learning neatly fills that niche. Blended learning also offers flexibility. Considering instructor-led sessions, where participants are required to attend at set times, dates, and locations, blended learning offers flexibility in the delivery so that personnel can attend at their convenience.

A word of caution, though—simply setting up webinars as a distance learning solution without first truly understanding the learners and the business need is not a sound decision. Good intentions without well- constructed instructional strategies can still end in poor results.

Economics

Cost will always be a factor in the selection of a training approach. Blended learning requires an investment at the onset of the training. Like most things, you get out of the investment what you put into it. Instructional design steps can appear to be expensive steps that many organizations are tempted to skip. Beware of that slippery slope!

Building an optimized training plan through instructional design is really the only way to go. The old adage “penny wise and pound foolish” comes to mind. Many organizations pursue the false quest of a rapid blended learning solution that skips the details in the planning stages; consequently, the results can be catastrophic. Remember, most companies’ greatest differentiator is their people. Why are organizations in such a hurry to shortchange that competitive edge?

In our next Chapter, we we will talk about Blended Learning Approaches and how you can use them.

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3X3Learning Futrlabs Futureshift

Learning Series – Crafting a Blended Learning Strategy (Part 1)

Like even the most complex decisions, blended learning strategies are rooted in the basics. Upfront instructional design is required for truly meaningful learning. Review your organization’s culture and structure to determine whether a learner centric or business centric approach is best for the design and implementation of learning in your environment. The model can be distilled into one of two types: a linear model or a hub-based model. From this design stage, the next step is to factor in the various types of training media or modes that best suit your training program and its audience. If you can address these main components, you are well on your way to launching some of the best learning tools and techniques.

Overview

Perhaps one of the most difficult aspects associated with today’s blended learning solutions isn’t in the technology or bandwidth; it’s understanding that successful blended learning is firmly rooted in sound instructional design strategies – design strategies that focus on transferring skills and knowledge to the learner while delivering value to the business.

In any competitive business environment where time, resources, and money is the differentiators, your people are your competitive edge. Leveraging the value of your people relies heavily on deploying the right learning solutions and having learning solutions that effectively transfer skills and knowledge to participants in a timely fashion. So what type of learning solution is truly the right solution? As it turns out, the answer is blended learning; however, the media, modes, and makeup of each training solution should be different, depending on a number of variables.
At Futureshift, we base our learning strategies on determining what those variables are and how they will impact the learning process. Before deciding upon training media or modes, Futureshiftrecommends that you assess and investigate your proposed approach. Make sure your targeted training approach can achieve both learning and knowledge transfer expectations and deliver business-tangible and measurable results.

What Is Blended Learning?

Futureshift defines blended learning as the combination of synchronous (e.g., face-to-face training) with asynchronous (e.g., computer-based or alternative media) training that creates the best possible learning solution for a given target audience.

Blended Learning Definition

Blended learning is the combination of synchronous (e.g., face-to-face training) with asynchronous (e.g., computer-based or alternative media) training that creates the best possible learning solution for a given target audience.

Mastering the new instructional avenues that technology continues to provide can result in some of the best learning programs ever made available. Blended learning provides multiple modalities in which participants can explore and learn. Yet for all its attraction, blended learning also can be fraught with many dangers, too, the worst cases involving staggering amounts of money for beautiful and elaborate sessions that are poorly received and ultimately never used or valued. Blended learning isn’t the issue; it’s the decisions made associated with it that may lead to negative experiences. Blended learning is by far the best learning solution available today—as long as we have done due diligence, which we will discuss in our next series of posts.

Next Post – Learning Series – Why Blended Learning Strategy (Part 2)