A New Spring whitepaper

White paper

How to design blended learning?

by Ger Driesen Learning Innovation Leader at aNewSpring

About blended learning At one time, the major approach to learning was the ‘face-to-face’ learning in a classroom setting. With the arrival of computers and then the Internet, the new approach of e-learning became more popular. Attempts to integrate these approaches led to the concept of blended learning. Of course, this is a ‘small’ and specific definition.

Some professionals suggest that all learning today is, or should be, a blend of different learning interventions, to be effective, relevant and inspiring. From a professional perspective, the chosen blend should be based on a good analysis of the issue to solve and the characteristics and context of the learner.

Today, many more learning interventions and approaches exist, and creating ‘the right mix’ of interventions leads to blended learning.

Often, some type of e-learning is part of the blend, but not necessarily.

Customer case Fire-learning created a blended learning programme to train firefighters in a more efficient and effective way.

READ MORE

www.anewspring.com

1/5

Most important features of blended learning • It includes ‘the best of many worlds’ and offers the benefits of different approaches for learning.

• It gives the opportunity to think about and choose the most-effective approach for each learning objective.

• Learners like to be engaged in learning activities that are effective and make sense in relation to their learning objectives.

• A blended approach supports learner engagement; a variety of approaches makes the learning journey more attractive.

• Although traditionally referred to as a blend of face-to-face learning and e-learning, the definition doesn’t have to be that strict because: Blends of a variety of face-to-face learning interventions can also be seen as blended learning (classroom training, coaching, mentoring, group discussion, role play, teamwork assignments and face-to-face games).

Blends of a variety of e-learning interventions can also be seen as blended learning (e-learning, social learning via a platform or social media, memo training, digital games and online assessment).

Blended learning features in aNewSpring: • Events • Social and Mobile Learning • MemoTrainer™ as retention tool • Conditional learning activities • Certificates of participation • Hand-in assignments • Video hosting • Catalogue

LEARN MORE

www.anewspring.com

2/5

5 reasons to use blended learning 1. Achieve results A good analysis of the issue to solve, the ambition to realise, the characteristics of the learners, and the learner’s work context, will often show that a blended approach is the most-effective way to reach the desired results.

4. Savings A good blend of offline and online interventions might save time and money when it comes to travel time and costs and the costs of venues

2. Innovations New technologies will continuously offer new opportunities for effective learning approaches; the availability of new ‘ingredients’ will create new opportunities to create optimal blends.

3. Optimal mix

5. Targeting

Most people at work use a ‘blended reality’, with both an offline (face-to-face) and an online presence to get their job done. It is a logical consequence that the learning situation reflects the work situation.

A blended approach serves different types of learners with different preferences for how they like to learn.

www.anewspring.com

3/5

How do you design blended learning Covering the basics of blended learning • Start with analysis: a good analysis will give you clues on how to choose the right blend.

• The analysis has to do with the learner and the context.

• Make sure you understand the needs of the learner: the ‘user’ of your blended learning design. What does the learner want to solve, do better or become more proficient at?

• Think about performance objectives (related to tasks or jobs).

• Consider the learning objectives.

• Choose learning content related to the learning objectives.

• Understand the characteristics of the learner: age, education level, experience and background. Create a ‘persona’ for the learner that you focus on.

• What are the factors that might contribute to and that might hinder application of what was learned?

• Be sure that you have and keep a good overview of different learning interventions, both for face-to-face and online learning.

• Be sure that you fully understand the learning mechanisms of each learning intervention.

• Be sure that you understand the most-effective match of different learning interventions related to different learning objectives (what works best for what?).

• Be sure to create an interconnection between the different components of your blended learning elements: avoid ‘loose sand’; create an integrated learning journey

• Understand the context of the learner: What are the specific circumstances in which the learner has to apply what he/she learned?

www.anewspring.com

4/5

Making blended learning awesome • Prototype, test and refine: involve (future) learners at an early stage to test and give feedback on your analysis and design. Do it at the different stages of analysis and design.

• Make learning active and challenging: learning is a ‘verb’—it needs activity by the learner to be effective.

• Think ‘content curation’ combined with content creation. Look at what is already available in the context of the learner and use it in your design.

• Try to include learner-created content (that is relevant, of course)—learners will be proud and engaged. Learner-created content will, most of the time, be easy to recognise by other learners

• Make your blended learning approach adaptive: include adaptivity to create a learner-specific experience. A personalised route, order, content and approach (say, a personalised blend) creates a ‘one-size-fits-one’ experience for each learner. Just enough, just in time, just for me optimises the result, minimises the costs and maximises learner engagement.

• Scan for new applications, approaches and technologies and add new, relevant elements over time (and be aware that you don’t get blinded by all the new, shiny bling-bling stuff).

Create your own blended learning recipes with The Inspiring Learning Cookbook!

GET FREE COPY

www.anewspring.com

5/5