Just in Case You Aren't on the Blended Learning Bandwagon

Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know.
Daniel J. Boorstin

Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.
John W. Gardner


Most folks I work with know that I spent my early years in the education and training field as a high school teacher. I learned early on that you can’t just drop theory and content on kids via lecture sessions and expect them to have those “a-ha” moments that are so rewarding. When I moved into the realm of corporate training and recently leadership development, I discovered that too often training departments fall back on that style of training. Guess what? Adults don’t respond to it either.

I recently came across a white paper on trends in learning in the workplace, http://www.skillsoft.com/infocenter/whitepapers/documents/Learning_at_work_2008.pdf, published by the Chartered Management Institute in October of 2008. There is plenty of great data around the value of blending learning solutions. I enjoyed the paper for several reasons.

It provides a definition of blended learning right up front. Often in this field we use different terms to describe the same thing. It’s nice to have a point of reference. It provides lots of data around the trends based on survey results from over 1,000 managers. Plenty of good feedback about what works and what doesn’t. It proves the case for blended learning as a better way to learn not just beneficial for cost savings or efficiency.

I also find it interesting that several organizations saw the benefit of a blended approach as a way to make learning something that happens every day. Think about that for a moment: learning should happen every day. How much more powerful would learning be if the workforce could access it and glean valuable information every day? That’s the point where learners start to discover “what they don’t know” and start wanting to close the gap. I’m not talking about simple performance support tools or job aids. Rather, I’m referring to independent study as well as social interactions that improve retention and impact the business.

Often training organizations fall into the trap of justifying the work on the basis of student enrollment, course completions and dollars saved using blended (read as: online) solutions. The true value in blended learning is the ease of accessibility for users and therefore the value they bring back to the job.

Finally, if you’re looking at ways to improve your blended offerings, check out the “Practical Recommendations” at the end of the paper. It lists eight very good tips for making the leap to more blended learning.