Last year I walked the Camino to Santiago, a part of the St. Jacob's pilgrimage. Sitting together to have dinner in a big group of travellers, all conversation started with “Where are you from?”. However, the second question would often be: “What is your profession?”. Me saying “I'm a blended learning expert” always caused confusion. Let me clarify, once and for all.
So what the heck is blended learning? In fact, it is easily explained: you just mix different learning methods to get the desired effects to fit the educational needs of the target group.The most important task is to match the method with the learning need and the learner.
The variety of learning methods is amazing! For example, think of flyers, eLearnings, videos, discussions, role play, quizzes or even pictures (these can provide learning too!) and of course traditional books. It is easy to see that these differ a lot, not only in the time and material necessary!
There are different angles from which one can assess these criteria, for instance, the purpose of the training, and the timing.
Let's have a closer look at the purpose of the training. To simply provide knowledge, you may create a flyer or share a link to a well-written article. To deepen the knowledge with exercises you could create an eLearning or quiz. If you would like to change a given behaviour, these methods will most probably not be sufficient – for a change of behaviour you need to get in touch with the emotion of the learner! A video might reach that, and even more promising would be involving discussion and practice situations as you can use them in workshops or webinars.
Another aspect of the learning method to consider is the timing. Doing things together, called synchronous learning, in a live Webinar, a live chat or a workshop provides higher motivation. Asynchronous learning like reading or watching a video is highly flexible to the learner's schedule. Both of these have their pros and cons and can be used for different learning methods. It is the job of a blended learning expert to consider these possibilities and judge what is needed for the training at hand.
Creating a blended learning solution is the art of finding the right methods for the learning, respecting the pros and cons, the advantages and the limitations of each method.
For example: A learning solution focused on reducing the use of energy to be more sustainable and cost efficient. It could start with sending a pre-read about energy consumption in general and specifically for the learner's location. The second step could be to discuss emerging ideas in a webinar, followed by a real-life task (in the workplace). As saving energy definitely needs a change of behavior, a workshop or webinar for wrapping-up, reinforcing and motivational sharing of improvements would be a senseful recommendation. Regular follow-ups, a quiz, or an energy-saving competition could ensure the long-term implementation of the learning.
The blend is key.
In well-designed blended learning, the outcome of the whole solution is better than just the single elements it is built of - like a real well blended whisky!