Golf and Blended Learning- Replace Your Divots

People may want to describe blended learning as classroom training with an extra element of online content, or may choose to see a face-to-face element of training as a way to boost the value of online learning. I think focusing on the delivery channel when creating these experiences is an exercise in semantics and can limit the potential for creating the best learning curriculum possible.

Obviously, means of delivery is an important element of any training and can dramatically affect its ability to make relevant learning stick. However, my first thought when I design curriculum is not whether I should add eLearning to classroom training. The focus when I’m creating my strategy is divided between the learner and the content. When I look at my learning objectives, I’m thinking about what delivery method is best suited for the content. I also try to gauge how the learners will respond to the way the content is delivered.

Complex concepts or content surrounding human interaction may lend themselves better to classroom training because the exercises that reinforce knowledge may work best when a facilitator or a classmate can clear up confusion immediately. Other topics may be delivered more effectively and efficiently in eLearning.

I live in Florida, so according to state statutes, I have to mention at least one of three things to random out-of-staters on a daily basis. 1) Florida has incredible oranges. 2) Our beaches are awesome, and 3) golf.  So to avoid being booked by the Tourism Police for a class 2 misdemeanor, I'll use a golf analogy. I apologize in advance, but hey, it's the law.

I look at delivery methods like a golfer looks at the clubs in his bag. eLearning might be the 5- iron, classroom the reliable 3-wood, a podcast could be the pitching wedge, and a hastily recorded webinar might be the club that I throw into the woods in disgust. The club used by the golfer depends on the circumstances (the condition of the course, the wind, the location of hazards, etcetera). So does the delivery method (the learners’ readiness, their comfort with technology, logistical issues regarding facilities and getting the class into one room, the subject matter's complexities, and so on).

If I determine that for learning to take place, the learner has to get different perspectives from others, I look to see if the delivery method is up to the task. We know face-to-face training is well suited for this, but I have also been able to simulate the classroom experience in eLearning and through other online methods.

In short, the approach to meeting your course objectives drives the ability to use your delivery methods to maximum effectiveness. Thinking of online elements as an add on to classroom diminishes the emphasis on content that happens to be delivered elsewhere.