Okay. Not really. Leading a global training project takes more than being an instructional designer or a trainer or even a project manager. I've identified three critical steps to leading a successful global training project:  

1. Evolving your role into a learning experience architect. 
2. Mastering how to connect people and content in a way that meets the needs of the business and the learners.  
3. Creating a plan that addresses the complexity of a global rollout. 

A global training implementation is much more complex than a blended learning solution designed for one country or for one region. Managing learner schedules, understanding the impact of regionalization, and getting content out in the most appropriate way are just some of the considerations the learning architect needs to consider.

A global program will probably be a blend. However, the old metaphor of a blended learning solution being a recipe, where you need to combine the right ingredients to get the right results, is not powerful enough to support the needs of modern organizations. Modern blended learning is more accurately described as a formula: combining the right elements in different ways to achieve a balance that meets the needs of all the stakeholders within the organization.

It’s really about chemistry.

Virtually There session recap

As training adapts to innovative, ever-changing workplaces, our approaches to designing learning and supporting employees evolve, too. We know blended learning gives us flexibility, but it can overwhelm us, too.

Recently, Russ Powell and Joe Halpin, the founders of Peregrine Performance Group, believe, “One of the most effective ways to build training is to focus on performance, build a job aid, and build the training around it.” Sounds like a great plan. But what counts as a job aid? Why does this blended method work so well?

This blog will cover the basics of job aids, as Russ and Joe shared during their recent Virtually There event How to Recognize and Create Damn Good Job Aids. Click here to watch the entire session for a helpful 7-step process you can use to create your own exemplary job aids.

Picture this: you’re facilitating a live training session for your organization, and it comes time to ask for learner input. You open the floor for contributions with the common phrase, “A penny for your thoughts?”

And you get crickets. Your previously lively cohort goes silent. Some participants look utterly confused.

What happened? Your figure of speech may have confused your global learners.

Blended learning incorporates a variety of ways to deliver learning materials and activities, and selecting delivery approaches is part of the instructional design process.

The approaches you select will depend on who the learners are, what objectives have been developed, what methods of assessing learning you have designed in alignment with those objectives, and whether or not collaboration will enhance the learning experience.

After establishing all of that, we still need to decide where, when, and how this blend of learning is going to be delivered.

Are you moving towards blended learning with your modern instructional designs? Microlearning provides a viable approach for many training content pieces and learner support resources.

On the surface, microlearning may not sound like a universally accessible option. “My topic’s too complicated to teach in five minutes!” you lament. And you’d be right – using microlearning effectively doesn’t equate to compressing a three-day, hands-on training program into one five-minute explainer video.

Carla Torgerson provided a helpful use case that will guide you towards best practice during her informative BYTE session, Embracing Microlearning in Your Ecosystem.

Modern workplace learning professionals wear many hats. Gone are the days of specialization. Our organizations expect us to design, deliver, implement, and manage entire training programs. Learners see us as facilitators, producers, learning guides, subject matter experts (SMEs), and sometimes technical support.

I’ve advocated for a modern title that encompasses all of our responsibilities – the Learning Experience Architect. We’re the hub of modern learning. To make the transition, we have to do more than assign ourselves a new label.

BYTE Session Recap

Over the past 200 years, training has been moving in the wrong direction. Our approach to training and education no longer supports how learners work. Guest BYTE speaker Martyn Lewis explored a modern solution to an old-school problem.

Read more for Martyn’s definition of our learning struggles, how to get started with blended training, and the seven keys to a successful learning and development approach.

Watch Martyn’s BYTE recording for a discussion of learning through the ages, moving away from the physical classroom, the 7C approach to blended learning and a case study. Click here for the recording.

Your blended learning course is set to go. You are certain that online and face-to-face elements are well aligned; the design engaging; and the content relevant. You're confident learners and instructors will greatly benefit from it.

So, what could possibly go wrong?

We know that any number of things can go awry. It's an expectation built into our work. Being prepared to tackle common challenges up front can make for higher quality blended learning opportunities.

There are three obstacles that I see as topping the list of blended learning challenges.

Martyn Lewis, Principal and Founder of 3GS, joins the ranks of both InSync guest bloggers and BYTE presenters. Don't miss his BYTE session, Reversing 200 Years in the Wrong Direction with Blended Training, on February 28, 2017. 

There is always at least one. One person in a training program, or worse still, that couldn’t make it to the program, that asks, “Can I get a copy of the slides?"  I am on a personal mission to never hear anyone ask for a copy of the slides again.

Why do we so often hear people ask for a copy of the slides?  Simply put, it is in the belief that the learning content of the training program exists across a sequential series of PowerPoint slides. It is the belief that if you were to “read” the slides, you could get the content, rather like reading a book.

However, in defense of those who ask that question, we have trained them to think this way. Frequently training programs are designed, or rather not designed, by using PowerPoint like a book upon which to spread out our content.