Here are some effective ways to blend e-learning with the classroom training format.
Online training courses are more flexible and cost less than classroom training. But what’s really exciting about e-learning is that there’s no one way of doing it. So, organizations across the globe try to combine various formats in the form of a blended approach to maximize their training effectiveness.
Blended learning is the use of technology to complement classroom sessions and strengthen the teaching/training process through practice and the application of concepts learned in the classroom.
Blended learning is preferred because it streamlines the training process and allows you to deliver training to a large audience in quick time. For learners though, a blended learning approach means they have the ability to access training resources/materials outside their ILT training sessions, whenever needed.
Here are some effective ways to blend e-learning with the classroom training format.
1. Analysis of the training needs:
Is your company having trouble determining what aspects your new employees need to be trained on? Are you experiencing productivity or performance issues? Chances are,the lack of a sophisticated structure to identify training gaps is playing spoilsport.
Analysing the training needs is crucial for any organization. With e-learning, you can plug the holes in your leaky boat and identify the learning needs of your workforce. Here’s how it works. You give them an online pre-test and allow them to give it their best shot. Based on their scores, you can get a clear idea of where they’re lagging and you can then plan a training program accordingly.
2. Reinforcement of learning:
Let’s say you have conducted an ILT session on Workplace Health and Saftey. It is quite an unfortunate fact that we not only have a ‘learning curve’, but also a ‘forgetting curve’. So once the employees resume their work after the training, it is likely that the skills they’ve learned will fade with time. So, what do you do to ensure the learning stays put in their minds?
One of the ways you can complement ILT is by assigning them an e-learning course which can reinforce the knowledge gained in the training.Generally, it is delivered in cycles, once every 3 months or 6 months. But based on the kind of job and skills required on the job, it can be implemented before the specified period, whenever the need arises.
3. Evaluation of learners:
Another great way of blending ILT with e-learning is to have the tests and assessments online while the teaching happens in the classroom. Through online assessments, you can evaluate the learners after an ILT session.
If you have an LMS, you can create online assessments for the ILT program. The benefit of doing so is that with an LMS, learners’ performance can be tracked and completion certificates can be generated automatically.Tracking their performance is crucial if you want to guage their overall understanding of the training.
4. Provide performance support:
Imagine your employees are undergoing training on how to use a piece of machinery your company has planned to introduce after two months. A couple of months later, the machinery arrives. The employees try their hand but don’t remember how to operate it anymore. So what do you do?
If you had e-learning in place, this wouldn’t have been a problem. E-learning courses can be very useful in providing performance support to the learners.Once they complete their classroom training, online courses can act as job-aids that help them in performing their tasks. The main purpose of offering performance support is to help employees apply a skill, or solve problems.
E-Learning or technology-enabled learning has become a buzz in the education industry and today it caters to the needs of modern-day corporate learners. The infusion of technologies in classroom learning can help you:
- Analyse training gaps
- Reinforce learning post-ILT
- Evaluate learners through online assessments
- Offer performance support through job-aids
Hope you liked the blog. Do share your views in the comments section.
