Blended Learning: Striking the Perfect BalanceThe right blend of learning and development tools, tactics and strategies

W H I T E P A P E R

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E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y

When it comes to learning and development, most of us know what to do, and what tools and resources

are now at our disposal. The challenge often stems from being able to identify and understand all of

the elements at play, and still strike a perfect balance. This paper discusses how to create a recipe for

success. It examines areas such as learning styles and auditing, right through to knowing your audience,

timing, cost and how to blend the variety of learning tools.

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I N T R O D U C T I O N

A blended approach to learning and development (L&D) is a well-established strategy. But how do organisations strike the right balance

between traditional training methods and resources such as books, reference materials and workshops, with new innovative technologies

such as social and video?

All too often L&D is typecast as the ‘walk on’ player, responsible for retrofitting the workforce with competencies and skills. But forward

thinking organisations are discarding this reactive approach in favour of a highly integrated L&D strategy that continuously builds and

reinforces workforce skills and capabilities for performance.

In part that’s because there is a new generation of employees that need to be considered when thinking about the design of learning

content and platforms. Not necessarily young or millennial, this digitally connected and technology literate generation expects a new

approach to learning delivery.

Time pressed and eager to engage in anything that is relevant to their role or career aspirations – they’re already adept at using digital

technologies in the pursuit of knowledge acquisition when it comes to life tasks like shopping, researching and booking a holiday, or

undertaking a DIY task or hobby. What’s more, they expect the same ease of access to multi-mode knowledge resources in the workplace.

This connected generation of workers want independent access to learning, at a time and place that suits them and they expect to learn

at a pace that works for them. Plus, they want to be able to collaborate, using social media to share experiences or source peer support

and insights.

Increasingly, they expect access to relevant learning the moment they need it – ideally as part and parcel of the daily workflow - so they

can acquire in-the-moment knowledge and skills to tackle the immediate task at hand.

The good news is that the enterprise learning environment is evolving fast. Today’s L&D professionals can take advantage of interactive

mobile learning and offer social media style collaboration options for learners. Video is increasingly becoming an affordable medium

that’s a great addition to the learning intervention toolset.

Short-form video platforms such as Vine have taken off, bandwidth is increasing, and today’s mobile devices make the consumption of

video easy for users. All of which makes it cost-effective for L&D teams to leverage video as a medium for learning content.

This connected generation of

workers want independent

access to learning, at a time and

place that suits them and they

expect to learn at a pace that

works for them.

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As organisations evolve towards a learning growth model that delivers against the demands of the connected generation, one thing is certain:

learning within the enterprise is becoming a continuous process.

Today’s L&D professionals will need to be able to combine digitally enabled resources with more traditional approaches to maximise learner

engagement and outcomes. But achieving this goal begins with a deep understanding of the learning styles of each learner audience.

1 . W H A T ’ S Y O U R L E A R N I N G S T Y L E ?

Two people can do the same job in a different way - and it’s the same for learning.

Today’s connected learners are highly experimental. At home with technology, they want to acquire learning in ways best suited to help them

achieve thorough meaningful learning. They seek engagement and connection, and are easily bored by passive lectures.

Expert multi-taskers for example, are adroit at monitoring phone and email feeds while participating in a videoconference. What they expect is

learner-centric experience that connects them with content – and each other.

This generation of learners wants L&D to become their learning partner – and they’ll expect you to make their learning ‘real’. So, as well as

expecting you to stimulate their interest in the subject matter, they’ll want you to show them the real-world application of this knowledge or skill.

E N G A G I N G T H E C O N N E C T E D G E N E R A T I O N

Don’t be mistaken in thinking that the connected generation means anyone under the age of 24. Millennial learners (those born in the early 1980s

through the turn of the 21st century) typify any digital native who is perfectly at home with technology. So, forget generational traits – we’re talking

about people who use technology and expect instant interactions, are team oriented and comfortable working in groups.

Age isn’t the key differentiator when it comes to information consumption. Today’s connected workers expect their professional life experiences to

match those in their personal and social lives. This is something you’ll need to keep in mind when evaluating learning styles and course content

or length.

We all live in an increasingly connected world. Regardless of our age, we’re all using smartphones and tablets to unlock value, information, and

undertake our daily work activities. So, why not leverage that in workplace learning?

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The biggest issue is that employees say they ‘don’t have time to do training’. That’s nothing new, and will probably never change.

In some ways, planning L&D is easier now; because today’s learners value content they can access anywhere, anytime. They are also hungry

for a mix of resources; videos, podcasts, e-books, assignments that generate participatory learning opportunities – like a group discussion on

learning input.

This gives L&D greater scope when it comes to building organisational capabilities such as leadership development or industry-specific

capabilities and skills.

K N O W Y O U R A U D I E N C E

Keep in mind that this connected generation of learners has a simple mantra: know me; entice me; improve me; reward me.

Evolving this user-centric learning focus means L&D will need to take the lead when it comes to developing assessment processes and

competency mapping. Building foundational capabilities is a top strategic priority for senior managers looking to drive organisational

performance. That means enabling hyper-personalised learning frameworks that are both perfectly tuned to individual audiences and wider

organisational objectives.

Yet research1 has identified that fewer than 33% of L&D departments understand their key audiences; lacking incisive knowledge of their

preferences, priorities, work environment, habits, career goals, business environment or skills.

1 Bersin by Deloitte; Key Findings: Becoming a High Impact Learning Organisation, 8/2012

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A U D I T I N G L E A R N I N G S T Y L E S

All too often learning plans are targeted at departments or job roles, rather than individuals. While multiple

modalities may be offered, these are rarely targeted on individual learning styles or needs.

The journey to implementing high impact blended learning design can be inhibited by a number of factors:

� Decision-making stakeholders request poor learning design methods

� Resources are not available to produce more effective designs

� Poor needs assessment aligns content to incorrect topics

� Poor media choices limit motivation and learning impact

A learning styles assessment will give L&D the ammunition it needs to convince stakeholders of the importance

of making learning-design improvements. It will also uncover and refine key objectives and priorities that will

inform the design of each blended learning programme.

It all begins with an evaluation of current business initiatives and the problems these are trying to solve. After

which, L&D is able to identify the most appropriate mix of content it needs to employ in order to address these

issues and enhance learner engagement.

Profiling the audience – its demographics, workplace environment, expectations, existing skills and knowledge and motivations to learn or participate in

the programme will be key to the impact and outcomes for all concerned.

Armed with these insights, you’re able to evaluate all available learning interventions as you map competencies to the project. So, for example, you may

have found two courses that match a particular need, five videos (there are more, but you’ve narrowed it down to the most relevant) and a selection of

other tools.

Now you’re in a position to identify which resources to bring in, rationalising your selection against available budget, your target audience, and outcome

measurements.

Along the way you’ll need to review and refine your learning blend, remembering that you’ll need to demonstrate to learners that the curriculum is more

than just an academic exercise – linking learning inputs to real-life scenarios and project assignments that will resonate with learners.

Learning inhibiting factors

Decision-making stakeholders request

poor learning design methods

Resources are not available to produce

more effective designs

Poor needs assessment aligns content

to incorrect topics

Poor media choices limit

motivation and learning impact

g

quest

oduce

ntent

1234

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2 . W E W A N T O U R L E A R N I N G N O W – A N D E A S Y - T O - C O N S U M E

Today’s digitally empowered worker has a distinctly different approach to learning. They like their content served up fast and on their terms.

As a consequence, learning input needs to be high impact, engaging, and short.

The ‘webification’ of workforce talent is driving the trend to shorter, more concise (and highly targeted) training inputs. So, while a few years

ago the average desktop course was six hours in duration, today the typical length of an elearning course is just 30 minutes – and there will

be a lot more video-based content.

It’s an approach that pays off for time-pressed employees. With limited windows of opportunity for learning, they respond well to

engaging with short ‘to the point’ learning inputs. If you can provide a short executive summary or three minute video that ‘hooks’ them in,

demonstrating why they should prioritise this activity over the other demands competing for their attention, then even better.

Once they realise they don’t have to commit an overwhelming amount of time to learning and can access it when

they want – during a lunch break, at the start of the day, or travelling on the train to a meeting – then they’ll

commit to taking on board all relevant learning opportunities, skills updates, or latest management thinking,

with aplomb.

High impact, fast and regular training inputs has a similarly strong appeal for young millennials, who will

eagerly consume a three-minute bite-sized learning module if they’re given the freedom to do so on their

timeline – not yours.

And when it comes to online classroom experiences, they’ll put more energy into training if they can socially

connect with co-workers to share content, post on a discussion board or rate learning modules.

Gamifying the learning experience is another great way to appeal to this cohort of learners; allow trainees

to unlock badges as they make progress, or earn awards that acknowledge exceptional performance. But be

warned, Generation Y sees competition as a fun road to personal development but grading feels like an ancient

relic that’s a poor indicator of workplace success.

Above all, whatever the demographic of the learner audience, make sure the training you offer is relevant.

Today’s connected employees have zero tolerance for irrelevant content; with on-demand access to billions of

articles, videos, blog posts and images, they’re experts at skipping anything that seems boring or beside the point.

If it’s not credible, appropriate,

or targeted to ‘change the way

you work’, then you’ll lose

learner engagement fast.

EngagingUsers

ExecutiveSummaries

RelevantContent

VideoContent

MobileLearning

RegularTraining

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They also really need to ensure that they are only presented with content that has been filtered and pre-approved as accurate, up-to-date and from a trusted,

qualified source.

Enticing them in will mean using a short introduction video, image, headline or bullet point to show why each module or session is worth their time investment.

Senior managers, in particular, will want to know they’ll be learning from peers and people they can respect – leaders in their field, management gurus, top

people in winning companies.

Get to the point fast - and make sure your content selection is spot on. Because if it’s not credible, appropriate, or targeted to ‘change the way you work’, then

you’ll lose learner engagement fast.

That goes for learners at every level of the organisation – from senior management to junior trainees.

Don’t forget to offer social collaboration options too. Make it easy for learner cohorts to make recommendations to colleagues, highlighting resources and links

to books they’ve found valuable. Or provide platforms where course participants can raise questions online – and in class – allowing users to create their own

support groups and knowledge repositories that contribute to the organisation’s self-learning growth model.

3 . C O U N T I N G T H E C O S T

Organisations around the world spend billions each year training their current employees in the skills they need to improve corporate performance.

Given how important skilled workers are – and how frequently employees need new skills to deal with changes in an organisation’s strategy or

marketplace – it’s hardly surprising that training budgets are constantly under pressure.

Making every penny count is critical, and L&D constantly has to balance budgetary considerations against the usability of learning resources in order

to maximise the value of every penny spent.

Yet many organisations still use precious in-person training time to impart basic knowledge and skills development that’s often far better

delivered online.

As we’ve seen, the online approach pays dividends in terms of learner motivation and minimising time out from role.

Organisations are becoming increasingly self-developing. They are faced with a plethora of business challenges such as technical skills evolving rapidly, an

endless supply of well developed learning materials (such as open online courses, online learning and internally developed content), and people that expect to

learn wherever and whenever they need it.

£

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As a consequence, business and HR leaders are struggling to build a culture of coaching, feedback, development, and mentorship. This is exacerbated by the fact

that millenials compromise a large part of the modern workforce and crave someone to learn from.

These self-developing organisations are able to tap into a widening range of cost-effective elearning solutions that help employees gain skills and achieve desired

progress. It falls to L&D to work with management leads to identify the most appropriate resources, tools and content, fashioning a delivery approach that’s the best

fit for managers and line workers.

Each time L&D works with business leaders to design and deliver training programmes, it will need to do a value comparison between available formats; whether a

two-day classroom-based management course represents better value than, say, an online course that will require user licensing.

More often than not, a blended learning solution will prove not only the most cost-effective – but also the most effective in terms of impact and lasting outcomes.

But it’s worth remembering that, while there’s a temptation to get maximum ‘bang’ from every training buck spent, less expensive doesn’t automatically mean less

value. There is a misperception that instructor-led training (ILT) will deliver a need for ‘human connection’. Yet, the demonstrable reality is that elearning alongside

social collaboration can have the same effect. It’s very much a case of designing for the individual when assembling the blended learning menu.

4 . G E T T I N G T H E B L E N D R I G H T

Sophisticated talent development providers like Skillsoft are always on hand to offer advice and ensure you’re on track for ensuring that learning is integrated into

the life of the enterprise – and the modern workflow.

T H E R O A D T O H Y P E R - P E R S O N A L I S E D A N D C O N T I N U O U S L E A R N I N G

So, what’s the secret for making this all work?

Delivering a hyper-personalised learning experience that appeals to the connected generation of workers depends on being able to handle dynamic competencies,

deliver trusted content, and – to assure continuous development – the provision of personalised (and even predictive) content recommendations for each individual.

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Targeted at the individual – who they are, where they are today and where they need or want to be tomorrow – your best practice blended learning model

will incorporate:

� Access to high quality and relevant content

� Flexible delivery (at the desk, mobile, face-to-face, coaching)

� Structured delivery that sequences and tailors learning materials and activities

� Evaluation – to check learner progress and understanding and provide feedback

� Personalised assistance – if learners need to talk, or are struggling with a particular format or learning input, then they need to know who to turn to

� A design and delivery approach that delivers learning resources in a variety of formats – blending video, gaming, and social media style collaboration

� Demonstrates why learning is appropriate and relevant, aligning inputs to real-life project assignments or materials that are relevant to the job role/current

skills position of the audience

� Data analytics to benchmark learner performance

W H A T ’ S C O M I N G D O W N T H E L I N E ?

There’s a growing recognition that focusing on relevant content and context is all – and that one size does not fit all.

Organisations are becoming more focused on equipping leaders with a small number of competencies that will make a difference to performance rather than a

complex web of dozens of competencies that typically get ‘lost in translation’. Learning needs to be linked into an explicitly tailored path that takes participants

from A to B.

Training programmes will feature shorter formats, cutting through the noise to get to the heart of the matter fast. Skills will be delivered via a high impact

regular ‘drip feed’ approach that’s sympathetic to the time constraints of the intended learner audience.

The self-learning organisation will provide opportunities for learners to undertake their own self-directed exploration of materials and resources that expand on

these knowledge nuggets. They’ll be able to pursue this learning at a time that suits them – and at their own pace - using social networking platforms for shared

knowledge creation.

Immersive executive learning will increasingly feature everywhere from introducing topics, to demonstrating the application of skills in workplace scenarios, to

snippets and viewpoints from global thinkers and gurus.

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We’re also set to see the emergence of quick video tutorials that will help learners discover for themselves the importance of materials, stimulate debate and critical

thinking, and enable deep reflection on course materials or personal goals.

Of course, we are going to see course materials appearing in even more languages than before, a reflection perhaps of the growing globalisation of the talent pool.

5 . G E T T I N G T H E B A L A N C E R I G H T

Cementing organisational goals and learner preferences is the name of the game when it comes to balancing old and new L&D resources. Engaging with today’s

connected workforce means implementing hyper-personalised continuous learning – and using a mix of media to target individual learning styles and needs.

The growing application of big data is helping organisations transform corporate learning, cementing organisational goals and learner preferences with the

successful experience of users with similar learning experiences.

As L&D struggles to assess the relative cost and benefit gains of using new digital technologies to evolve high impact learning frameworks that deliver against

enterprise self-development aspirations and satisfy cost-saving metrics, it’s easy to be tempted to leave behind traditional L&D resources. While elearning can

deliver everything that ILT can, and more, we should be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater because there are times when classroom training can

still add value.

A highly effective blended learning programme will bring together a range of resources, selected for their appropriateness and relevance.

A B O U T S K I L L S O F T

Skillsoft is the global leader in eLearning with a long history of innovation. We train more professionals than any other

company in the world and are trusted by the world’s leading organisations, including over 50% of the Fortune 500.

We currently serve over 6,700 customers and more than 45,000,000 learners worldwide and provide continuing,

hands-on support to assist them in maximising their ongoing success.

Skillsoft has grown rapidly, with 2,500 employees across multiple locations in North America, EMEA and APAC.

For more information, visit www.skillsoft.com.

linkedin.com/company/skillsoft

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skillsoft.com/emea

01276 401994

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