Learning is a process.

As workplaces rapidly evolve to adapt to changing market dynamics, skill building must change too. Trainers work to support technical and soft-skill improvement within the same program.

How can we balance both? By using learning campaigns.

Virtually There Session Recap

The future of learning is blended. As content becomes more complex, learner attention spans shorten, and new technologies emerge, a combination approach to training offers engagement and impact.

But what stars need to align in order to create an effective blend? Expert Dr. Rebecca Sutherns joined the Virtually There series to share five case studies from her career that defined her personal best practices. Four success factors proved particularly pertinent to our processes.

With plenty of new instructional strategies, techniques, and technologies available to us to create modern learning, it seems creating a comprehensive and instructionally sound blended learning solution should be fairly easy.

But it’s not.

Simply stringing together a bunch of learning assets into the curriculum isn’t enough to encourage individuals to complete the blend. That’s because blended learning is much more than content associated with a common theme. Blended learning should create a purposeful learning journey; a journey in which the traveler recognizes the value of each step along the way.

The design and implementation of blended learning includes many moving parts. We consider the LMS that will host all the content, and the virtual classroom platform on which we will deliver live online components. We consider our learners, and the skills they need to build, and the wisdom they already possess. We also consider where learning will happen – whether in a classroom, on a mobile device, at a learner’s desk, or on-the-job.

One element we often overlook, though? Time. By not thinking through how learning takes place, we limit the potential of our programs.

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. 

The modern learning landscape presents a unique set of challenges. Never before have learners had greater access to information, a greater drive to discover answers for themselves, or a greater number of demands on their time.

Formal training no longer provides the end-all-be-all solution for our organizations. While it has an important place in the instructional design line-up, it represents just one of many options we need to include in our blends.

By better understanding our audience, identifying a training solution, and transitioning to something new and innovative, we can improve the learning experience within our organizations.

Virtually There Session Recap

So your organization has made blended learning a priority. But while you know you need to move your training programs into the future, you wonder how doing so will affect learning results. And though some of you have tried blended learning before, the programs didn’t meet your expectations and you worry about trying again. 

A strategic plan quells these fears and improves the likelihood of program success. Get started with Jennifer Hofmann’s exclusive blended learning instructional design and implementation model: Campaign Blueprints. 

Measuring Your Success

In other blog posts published previously, we’ve discussed the modern learner – who they are, and how we can best serve them. We know that as modern learners, we take responsibility for much of our learning by creating our own learning pathways, exploring content, and interacting with other learners.

We are essentially curating our own blended learning campaigns, and we end up holding ourselves accountable for a lot of this learning that is taking place.

But how do we know if we are successful?

Back in 1922, Thomas Edison once predicted that the motion picture would transform the way we learn:

"I believe that the motion picture is destined to revolutionize our educational system and that in a few years it will supplant largely, if not entirely, the use of textbooks."

According to the book, The Flickering Mind, by Todd Oppenheimer, Edison had been “even more pedagogically expansive” back in 1913, when he said that film makes it “possible to touch every branch of human knowledge.”

Research followed in 1939, when Henry Arthur Wise sought to prove Edison’s forecast. Again, according to The Flickering Mind, Wise studied the impact of films on learning and found that the films helped “low-ability students to learn factual information, while helping high-ability students in acquiring spirit and atmosphere.”

Spirit and atmosphere? To me, that sounds like engagement. Interesting.

Virtually There Session Recap

Every organization experiences change. Whether it’s implementing a new onboard training program or overhauling production processes, the only constant in business is change. What’s the most effective way to plan for, implement, and manage critical new developments within your company?

Recently, guest Virtually There presenter Laura Goodrich of GWTnext shared her experience-proven, expert opinion during her session, Driving it Home: Real Change is a Process, Not an Event.