Blended Learning: The Right Cocktail for Corporate Training
Tell me, and I'll forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve
me, and I'll understand"
-- Chinese Proverb --
A simple quote which tells us everything we need to know about
corporate training. As technological innovations have led us to
explore newer ways to eliminate the human element in training, the
performance of pure e-learning solutions in training has not been
encouraging. Yet due to the cost efficiencies, e-learning cannot
be wished away. What’s the solution then?
According to a SIMBA Information research (a leading
authority for market intelligence and forecasts in the media industry)
the size of corporate training (sold by US firms) is $ 13.15 billion
in 2006 out of which 8.12 % is of LMS related infrastructure solutions
and live e-learning. Here I would like
to emphasise the word ‘live e-learning’. Before I expand
further on this, let us review another question, which is important
in the context of corporate training.
Today e-learning service providers offer seamless management of
audio-visual media and efficient delivery of training courses through
elaborate feature rich learning management systems (LMSs). They
even provide rapid content development tools for just-in time learning.
But are these technological innovations able to help in training
delivery with business impact?
Keeping audience engaged and motivated for the entire duration
of the training program is a big challenge. Technology has still
not conquered the basic attitude of humans neither it is expected
to do so in near future. Unless e-learning solutions can cross this
big challenge they cannot become a universal solution for training
delivery.
Traditional classroom training has always been favored for the
human interface of training which takes care of audience motivation
but this is mostly conceived as a stopgap arrangement. Training
to show business impact needs time and sustained efforts both on
the part of the organization & the learners. Also the shortened
business cycles & competition has changed the training focus
on measurable results with business impact rather than knowledge.
This trend has created a need for a longer engagement with learners.
In such a scenario what is the best approach? A rational logical
analysis will help us arrive at a solution which takes the best
of class room and combine it with the best of e-learning to achieve
what is known as ‘Blended Learning’, which could overcome
the challenges, we identified earlier. This approach has been termed
as ‘live e-learning’ by SIMBA Information
research.
Following are the two good definitions
of Blended Learning:
“Blended Learning integrates seemingly opposite approaches,
such as formal and informal learning, face-to-face and online experiences,
directed paths and reliance on self direction, and digital references
and collegial connections, in order to achieve individual and organizational
goals.”
- American Management Association
An integrated strategy for delivering on promises about learning
and performance. They further elaborate that blending as a strategy
involves “a planned combination of approaches, such as coaching
by a supervisor; participation in an online class; competency descriptions;
reference to a manual; participation in seminars, workshops, and
online communities.”
-Rossett,
Douglis, Frazee
Synthesizing the essence of both these definitions, we can infer
that: Blended learning can be thought of as a ‘choicest cocktail’
of learning solutions to meet the training objectives by combining
the best of class room training and e-learning platform to deliver
training objectives. There is evidence to prove that Blended learning
is more effective than pure e-learning solutions...Thomson Netg
have released a 2003
white paper that reported speedier performance on real world
tasks by people who learned through a blended strategy—than
those studying through e-learning alone.
However when we say that blended learning works well, we need to
be careful how the total training engagement has been designed.
In my experience the critical skill building or attitudinal modules
are better dealt with an instructor led format. However assessments,
coaching & mentoring sessions can be effectively covered on
a web-based module. The judicious mix of learning solution however
would depend on the profile of the learning audience, degree of
engagement with the audience, the organizational mandate for training
i.e. on-the-job or off-the-job and also the cost implications.
The content design in a blended learning has to be flexible enough
to accommodate the various delivery mechanisms. Let me elaborate
upon this point. Instructor led training sessions always lay emphasis
on the ‘flow of content’ from simple to complex with
the facilitator emphasizing on the learning points being extracted
from the learning audience through interactive techniques. If the
chunking of the content is not correct and not in line with the
blended modules, the audience will not respond effectively. All
this has to be in sync with the basic instructional design principles.
Another reason that the blended learning approach works well in
training is the collaborative learning which happens in the class
room. It is true that peers act as a strong motivation factor in
learning. This has been well documented
by Barbara Gross Davis in her book ‘Tools for Teaching’.
I must also emphasize the fact that blended learning needs to be
seen as a strategic initiative and therefore two important factors
need to be considered:
- The performance deliverables need to be spelt out and incorporated
in the curriculum design.
- A strong buy-in for implementing the solution by the organization
is necessary
At the end I need to reiterate that despite overwhelming evidence
of inherent advantages of the blended learning approach, it would
be short-sighted to position it as a panacea for all corporate training
needs unless it has the right ‘cocktail’
to understand the business problems, processes and technologies
to make it work.
Author:
Manish Chandra,
Group Manager
Bharti Comptel Ltd. email:
manish.chandra@sify.com
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