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.

This post is part of an occasional series “Advice from the Virtual Trenches” where we share real lessons learned when virtual and blended learning didn’t go as planned.

Virtual classrooms have been available to training organizations for over 20 years. As someone who has specialized in this domain during that entire time, I tend to forget that not every organization has adopted virtual training as an acceptable alternative to more traditional approaches.

I was definitely reminded of this recently when we worked with a global organization to implement their first substantive virtual training project.

A new year presents new opportunities for modern learning advancements. Undoubtedly, exciting technologies will emerge, and practitioners will identify creative and innovative ways to engage learners while working to reach organizational goals.

What does the next year hold? We don’t have a learning & development crystal ball, but based on some trusted sources, a few predictions give us hope for a productive and successful year.

And it may surprise you to learn that none of them relate directly to technology!

Another year has come and gone. This time of year encourages reflection, both personal and professional, causing the InSync Team to ask questions such as:

• What did I learn this year?
• How did training evolve?
• Which developments resonated with modern learners?
• Where did learning provide innovative value to our companies?

For us, 2018 marked a widespread shift towards truly blended learning. Organizations, learners, and practitioners alike began to embrace the possibility of building skills outside of formal events. Complex, purposeful, and at times frustrating, the evolution to the new blended reality required us all to consider a handful of key elements: modern learners, engaging facilitation, comprehensive instructional design, and planning for the unexpected.

This week, most of us in the United States stop for a single day to eat turkey, watch a famous parade or a football game (or three), and give thanks for the things that make our lives great.

The general feeling of gratefulness got InSync Training’s team thinking: what do we love most about our learning experiences?

When asked, our team of training experts openly and graciously shared the things that bring them joy and gratitude in the modern classroom every day.

ATD Webcast Recap

With all of the options available to accommodate individual learning objectives, many practitioners assume, “Oh! I’m only creating microlearning. I don’t need ADDIE or SAM or any complicated framework.”

However, when thinking about flipping your classroom to a more modern program, our team offers one critical reminder: instructional design becomes more important than ever. Standalone courses do not exist anymore, and neither do standalone training resources. Everything connects to everything else, making thoughtful design a critical piece of your blended learning puzzle.

During her recent ATD Webcast Blended Learning: A Five-Dimensional Puzzle, Jennifer Hofmann shared the factors she considers when embarking on a new design project. Whether you design, facilitate, or manage training programs, these three elements provide a foundation for understanding modern blended learning.

Organizational boundaries keep growing and becoming more fluid, and as our learner base disperses around the globe, training programs have to adapt appropriately. That’s no small feat in the face of multi-cultural classrooms, emerging technologies, and stakeholder expectations of learning success.

Multi-method delivery, or the simultaneous support and instruction of non-co-located learners, provides a popular and effective solution in the modern workplace. Organizations managing remote and in-person learners have had success with this approach, as they’re able to balance the needs of both groups, while successfully engaging all participants.

Ready to incorporate multi-method delivery into your modern blended learning methodology? Make sure you implement the four factors required for success!

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.

Here's a radical idea: maybe we've been thinking too small when it comes to instructional design.

Relying on proven principles while purposefully expanding the scope of our vision can help us accomplish organizational goals and empower learners to better navigate their modern workplaces. We believe in a more thorough model so much that we practice and preach perpetual learning design.

Our new video explains the concept in under three minutes - click here to view. 

When designing and delivering content, we need to balance five elements of the learner experience: technology, design, people, place, and time.

In order to achieve this balance, we need to focus on the learner experience. We need to define and leverage how learning is structured, including when it is taking place, where it is taking place, and how it is being delivered.