The Harmonization of Learning Approach Systems

8/8/2019 The Harmonization of Learning Approach Systems

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Feature Article appearing in the May 5, 2010 e letter

The Harmonization of Learning Approach Systems

By Bradley DJH Loiselle, PMP President of iPal Interactive Learning Inc.

Co-Author Scott Hunter, CMA, PMP President of the Project Management Center

Today there is an ongoing debate around instructor-led versus self-led learning and the benefits that eachcan bring and each can take away from the learning approach. Both approaches offer advantages anddisadvantages in terms of costs, flexibility, productivity, learning experience, competency development,collaboration and support. The debate continues today about these differences and how the twoapproaches could work together in harmony. The key word here is harmony because the blendedapproach being used in the market today, for the most part, is not as seamless as most would believe.

The blended learning approach brings the two teaching methods together and makes them work insynchronization providing the students and the instructors the benefits of both approaches. Thedifficulties that people have in blending the two approaches, seems to stem around the uncertainties thatone approach might take away from the others outcomes or advantages.

An example of this conflict is with courses that focus on practical knowledge or have an applied elementthat requires the student to interact with certain tools or products; an approach that allows the learner togain hands on experience. At first glance, most would agree that self-led learning is a difficultproposition within this teaching environment, but in fact it is possible. A blended learning approach, whendone correctly, provides the student with the support and attention they require in their weaker areas,while providing the instructor with details about the strengths and weaknesses of the student. These

benefits of Personal Student Support and Instructor Understanding are critical to being able toeffectively enhance and advance the education of a student.

Many workshops or instructor-led courses end with the students being asked to complete a test,assignment or activity in order to measure how well they understood the lesson. The main problem withthis process is that, in most cases, the students would still be able to recall what was discussedthroughout the day, since they just took the course. Does this provide the instructor with confidence thatthe student truly understood the lesson? Truly knows how to apply the knowledge? Or will remember it,after they return to work or their other priorities? It is hard to gauge a students understanding andretention of knowledge without further testing, comprehension measurement, and reinforcement of lessonobjectives.

Some would also say that the final exams and further Instructor-led testing at the end of the course wouldbe able to address these concerns. But, is it effective to wait until the end of the program to determinesuccess or failure? Would it not be more rewarding to have all students that complete the course, passsuccessfully and achieve the desired competency?

For the most part, the knowledge obtained through Instructor-led courses is typically forgotten andshelved along with the course text books shortly after the course. I must admit that in my earlier years, Iwas one of those students that would forget most of what I was taught and in some cases went back tomy old working habits almost immediately and never looked back.


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The blended approach succeeds when you have the proper technologies, resources, knowledge and

infrastructure, that allows you to develop the processes that will be required to be integrated into theInstructor-led and self-led programs. When developing a blended program it is important to ask yourselfhow will the self-led program support the instructor-led programs and reinforce or augment the lessonsthe student has completed without taking away from the instructor-led lessons. These questions aretypical and relevant because the blended program should support and not conflict both approaches.

The solution to developing a blended program really comes down to the technologies used in itsconstruction. When building a blended program one must look at:

1. technology compatibility issues through integration of different platforms;2. competency or capability measurement with regards to being able to track a student`s self-led

progress;

3. the ability to tie into a students immediate online results and provide them with further training asrequired to support areas of weakness;

4. ensuring that content already delivered by the instructor reinforces and augments versusrequiring the student to go through the entire course again; and

5. providing feedback to the instructor on each student`s understanding and ability to apply theknowledge while identifying who requires additional support.

At this point you are probably asking yourself how it is possible to make this happen. This seems like a lotof things to take into consideration; how can I bring them together? The answer You have to have theright resources in place and plan to make it happen. Not one tool will enable you to develop a blendedprogram that provides the benefits of both learning platforms. Even the purchase of an e-learning tool isnot enough to create this type of program.

In order to successfully develop a blended approach, you require the instructors program content,experiences, workshops, interaction and applied understanding converted into the self-led supportprogram by tapping into multiple technologies including such things as: designing software, learningdevelopment software, a Learning Management System LMS 1 system, as well as content developers,and a delivery methodology, Refer Figure 1a.

1 A Learning Management System LMS includes a series of training components that enrolls students, allows them to select and complete courses, measures their progress at and within the course or curriculum level, and directs them to lesson reinforcement exercises or skill and competency learning paths.


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Figure 1a Development elements

The most important aspect for a blended program to work effectively is to ensure that it includes thepositive outcomes for both the instructor as well as the student within both instructor-led and self-ledapproaches. If you lose the benefits of one in the trade off, the program will not be successful. Lets takea quick look at the different approaches in order to better understand the advantages of each and howthey will complement one another.

Instructor-led courses:

The student participates in an Instructor-led program. This could include such things as hands onpractical learning (Applied), workshops and other collaborative events along with the social and teambuilding environment. The interaction with other students within this environment helps foster immediatequestions to answer responses in areas of uncertainties for the students.


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Figure 2a A blended program

The above model illustrates how a blended program, which is instructor-led (the center of the model), canbe combined with a self-led online program (the outer rim) which encompasses the entire life-cycle of thecourse. For each lesson (L1, L2...etc) a student would work through the instructor-led approach, whichwould be followed-up by an online assessment that is predetermined by the instructor. The assessmentcould be immediately after the course, a week later, a month later. The purpose of the online assessmentis to ensure that the student has understood and has been able to retain the information. Thisassessment is tied directly into the same lessons that were instructor-led.

The instructor-led lessons are built into the self-led online program in such a way that the student issupported in the areas that they need help.

Here is how it would work.

Self-led courses:

1. The student is required to take a follow-up online assessment/test and then is taken through aseries of activities that would test their understanding of what they learned through theirinstructor-led lesson. Based on their assessment scores, which could be benchmarked or set atany percentage, the student would be either directed through to the next assessment/test


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(because they passed the level of acceptance) or forwarded to a reinforced lesson that is

designed to provide them with additional support in the areas of weakness;

2. The students results are then recorded into the LMS and made available to the instructor. Theseresults would provide the instructor with a better understanding of where the student might behaving issues. If most students are having the same issues, it also provides the instructor with anindication that perhaps the Instructor-led lesson is not effective in teaching that lesson point,

3. The student would then have the ability (either required or not by the instructor) to retake theassessments/tests and lessons as many times as they require in order to grasp the message.This approach is a form of Coaching that provides a cost effective and customized trainingapproach to one-on-one support.

4. If the student still requires support, the self-led approach can also provide online collaborationand forums that would enable communication with other students or the instructor.

A primary benefit of the blended approach is that the instructor-led program can continue to move forwardwith each lesson from one module to the next with the confidence that students are receiving the rightsupport throughout the entire program. With this strategy the online self-led approach becomes aneffective tool that can help instructors provide a quality education to their students and improve theirability to achieve competency in the subject being taught.

The Self-Led Approach

Now lets take a look at how the self-led approach would work. There would be 3 types of results from theassessment. Either the student 1) understood the lesson, 2) understood the lesson, but is unclear in acouple of areas, or 3) requires support throughout most of the lessons. The following outlines theprocess a student would follow when they log into their LMS and move through the assessments.

Keep in mind that with the development of the online program, you will need to ensure that all the lessonsare incorporated into the self-led program because one student might be having a problem in one area,while another is having a problem in a completely different area. The set-up of the assessment andlessons, need to tie into and support the instructor-led lessons in its entirety.

1. Student understands the Instructor-Led lesson

In this scenario, the student successfully completes all the assessments/tests that pertain to each lessondelivered by the instructor-led program. The student has understood the lesson and the instructor is madeaware that the student has passed the assessments/tests without any issues. In this case, the studentwould not need additional support.

Figure 3a Assessment with correct answers


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2. Student understands most of the Instructor-Led lesson, but needs a little more support

In this scenario, the student has successfully completed most of the assessments/tests, but has made afew mistakes that have resulted in an assessment/test not being completed. In this case, the student isthen directed to an online version of the Instructor-led lesson. The student then has the opportunity toreview an interactive, engaging lesson that is designed to better address their particular needs as itpertains to their competency requirement. They will not have to watch lessons where they succeeded,

only those that they did not. This ensures that their lessons are focused on key areas for improvement.The results are then carried forward, through the LMS, to the instructor where he/she would be able tosee the individuals results and follow-up.

Figure 3b Assessment with mostly correct

3. Student does not understand the Instructor-Led lesson and requires more support

In this example, the student is not successfully completing the majority of the assessments/tests. Thatbeing the case, the student is directed to reinforced lessons for each failure and then back up to the nextassessment. This strategy provides additional support to the student and makes the instructor aware ofthe issues. It also enables the instructor to set rules within the LMS that state if a student fails mostassessments, that they will be automatically bookmarked for another review of the lessons in theupcoming weeks. This automated tracking of competency attainment will help the instructor maintaincontrol of the students` progress.

Figure 3c Assessment with mostly incorrect answers


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Conclusion

In conclusion, the blended approach is a very worthwhile program if it has been set-up properly andincorporates the necessary elements to not only support the students, but also provide the right feedback

to the instructors on progress, issues, successes and areas that require the student to improve. The fightbetween instructor-led courses and self-led courses is no more. With the right approach, the right set-upand the right resources, you too can have a program that will make your students learning experiencemore rewarding and successful.

Bradley Loiselle has had the fortune to work with many industry leaders worldwide including some of the top companies such as The Walt Disney Company. His experiences have taken him across Canada, the United States, UK, China, Australia, Europe and Mexico. Brad currently sits on several Boards, including Ottawas Project Management Institute Chapter. His speaking experiences include teaching multiple project management courses at Algonquin College to classes of 25 to 58 students, to a technology

lecture at the Ottawa Congress Centre to 100 project management peers. Brad is the founder and President of I-Pal . Brad will be speaking at the 2010 CSTD Annual Conference .
http://www.i-pal.ca/http://cstd.ca/conferencehttp://cstd.ca/conferencehttp://www.i-pal.ca/

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The Harmonization of Learning Approach Systems