BEDOUR AL-MUQAISEEB wite :USING BLENDED LEARNING IN TRAINING

USING BLENDED LEARNING IN TRAINING
BY BEDOUR AL-MUQAISEEB
THE HIGHER INSTITUTE FOR ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
FEBRUARY 5, 2022
Blended learning is a strategy to learning that integrates traditional place-based classroom approaches with online education materials and opportunities for online interactions (Allan, 2007). Blended learning needs the physical presence of both teachers and students, with certain aspects of learner control over speed, path, place, or time. The present period is characterized by speedy transformation originating from technological and scientific advancements, including information technologies (Duhaney, 2004). Blended learning integrates online and conventional face-to-face learning (the best of two training environments) to meet new-age students’ changing demands. Blended learning activities take training outside the classroom walls, making it possible to access resources both offline and online. By combining the best of online learning and conventional learning, blended learning can solve the problems that both approaches face
The traditional instructor-led learning aspects can be delivered online in real-time via live lectures and meetings if the case of blended learning in training and development. Likewise, workers can get a base for topics with online learning courses. They can then exercise these skills in live simulations with instructors. With workers having an average of about twenty-four minutes per week to spend on training, time for worker training is at a premium. While also scheduling sessions with trainers to track learning, answer questions, and check in, blended learning utilizes online modules to deliver information. Blended learning enables employees to review training materials as much as they wish (Duhaney, 2004). Without the pressures to keep up with the rest of the class, the employees take time to assimilate information.
Blended learning programs and courses combine advantages of traditional class teaching with emerging technologies to make training more engaging, real-time, and contextual. This assists in engaging all kinds of employees, both those who work best with computer-oriented and semi-autonomous training and those who work best in traditional classroom environments (Allan, 2007). Online learning provides self-paced customized learning with interactive media such as quizzes, tutorials, videos, and games, all accessible from the employees’ home pages in learning management systems. In contrast, classroom learning provides opportunities for immediate one-on-one interactions.
Blended learning improves training effectiveness. Hard and challenging ideas and concepts are more easily assimilated and digested by workers because concepts and ideas can be learned online and then supported in face-to-face settings (Allan, 2007). This is because of the range of strategies that blended learning uses. The broader net of blended learning catches more fish because not all workers learn information similarly. Successful training leads to empowered and competent employees and a higher retention rate. A good illustration of this blended learning benefit is when training soft skills. Take-home e-learning modules can support ideas explained face-to-face, offering opportunities and simulations for practice away from the colleagues’ eyes. At the same time, indeed, soft skills training is best carried out in-person with lots of practices (Duhaney, 2004). These balances can assist employees in learning and practicing without judgments for workers who struggle in this area.
Blended learning can be easily tracked. It can be difficult to gather feedback from in-person worker training. In the form of surveys, self-reporting is notoriously not reliable. Nevertheless, the blended learning efficacy in the workplaces is more easily tracked and measured. The employers can also utilize blended learning to collect feedback with an LMS that tracks employee activities and task completions. Blended learning can be tailored (Allan, 2007). Combining instructor-led training with online modules and programs provides special opportunities to tailor training to achieve workers exactly where they are regarding knowledge and skills, while instructor-led training has to take scattershot approaches to specific topics.
References
Allan, B. (2007). Blended learning: Tools for teaching and training. Facet Publishing.
Duhaney, D. C. (2004). Blended learning in education, training, and development. Performance improvement, 43(8), 35-38.