Hybrid learning, or otherwise known as blended learning, is a great strategy for your corporate training program. What you have to remember is that any training that will happen in a workplace has to be well thought of because it will have to be squeezed into their workload. If you are the instructor, you will have to make sure that your learners will have the focus needed to complete the program. Not only that you want to ensure that you have enough time to drive in the message and information into your learners.
This dilemma is what makes hybrid learning the perfect strategy for your training program. It allows you to train the necessary people without being in competition with all other tasks that they need to accomplish.
There are three distinct reasons why blended learning is important to any learning initiative in the workplace.
First of all, you want to maximize the offline and online learning capabilities that hybrid learning provides. For instance, if there is a system that is newly implemented and employees are meant to learn how to use them, you can begin with an online learning material. This way, the employees can study the packet of information in their own time without disrupting their usual work flow. Then, the instructor can set up a practical training class that will now be cut short because the participants of the class have a background on the new system. That is just one way of doing it. Another is you can set up the classroom learning first to introduce the update or new information. Then you can just send the updates online as it is needed. Any of these will be set up in such a way that the offline and online phases of the training program will support each other.
The second reason why you want to use this strategy in your learning course is it simplifies your logistics – especially when you have to train a lot of employees. Hybrid learning allows you to utilize both offline and online learning scenarios even at the same time. For instance, you are located in the headquarters and you need to train people from offices all over the country. You can set up a classroom setting in the headquarters with the employees from your area that require training. Then you can broadcast live to the satellite offices so the respective employees in each area can receive training at the same time. There are tools like video conferencing that will allow you to do this. You can let the LMS or learning management system to take care of the instruction materials.
The third reason why you want to use blended learning in your training course is to give you access to a centralized management tool – an LMS. While it could be tedious at first, it will help set you up for the next training programs that you will use – especially when it is just updates and follow ups from the original course. It should save you both time and effort.
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