5 Benefits Of The Blended Learning Approach - TalentLMS Blog

6/16/2019 5 Benefits Of The Blended Learning Approach - TalentLMS Blog TOUR FEATURES PRICING CUSTOMERS BLOG START FOR FREE LOGIN Instructional Design 5 Benefits Of The Blended Learning Approach September 30, 2013 • by Dimitris Kaplanis • 6 min read Before understanding why it works and which its benefits are, we first need to give a solid blended learning 1/9 definition. So, what is blended learning? It is a training approach that combines different learning techniques. In the standard educational model, blended learning often refers to the use of laboratory equipment or computers to complement the class sessions and strengthen the teaching process through practice and the application of theories learned in class. In the world of eLearning, the blended learning approach refers to the complementary use of eLearning in the standard education model, due to the benefits it offers on a broad scale, to name a few, self-paced learning, testing and quizzing, monitoring and feedback. How does this approach make the user experience better? Let’s have a look at the blended learning benefits that justify why it’s an effective learning approach! Blended Learning Benefits The advantages of this method are far more important than one might think, as they affect not only the trainees, but also the trainer and the learning process itself! 1) Learner is more engaged using a variety of content types https://www.talentlms.com/blog/5-reasons-why-blended-learning-works/

6/16/2019 5 Benefits Of The Blended Learning Approach - TalentLMS Blog The reason why books for younger ages are illustrated is rather simple. A child is much less likely to sit LOGIN TOUR FEATURES PRICING CUSTOMERS BLOG START FOR FREE down and read pages and pages filled with text. Firstly, we take into account the comprehension level of the learner, and realize that pictures will make the material easier to understand. Second, in the instances that the material presented is easy to grasp, the illustration is oftentimes a good way to help the learner sink-in the information faster. Another good way to have that effect is presenting the learner with practical examples of the theory taught. To achieve engagement, the blended approach in learning uses a plethora of different material types. Video, audio and visually enhanced presentations are included in a blended learning course design to help keep learners engaged and, also, to make sure that all material is easily understood – something that is not always the case in the fast-paced environment of a physical classroom. 2) Different learner, different learning style You might think “and how am I supposed to account for everyone?!”. The answer, as in most cases, is that you can’t always make everyone happy. However, diversifying your teaching methods is a good way to approach the issues that arise when you offer an online course to a possibly large amount of individuals from all over. This could not be more true for the traditional training model as well, whether we are talking about a classroom full of students, or a business training environment. Blended learning complements both environments and helps all types of learners in various ways: a) Time is always an issue in a physical class environment: you will either be restricted by a one or two hour limit and getting all the information across is sometimes a trivial task. Especially when facilitating understanding is of essence. Blended learning allows trainees to take information home and have their own time to assimilate it without the pressure of keeping up with the rest of the class. b) Quizzing and Testing online allows for trainers to have more time to educate in the physical classroom environment. It earns the trainer extra time to facilitate contact with learners and answer questions, address concerns and make sure that everyone’s issues are being resolved. 3) Instructor can assess learner trends and act accordingly As advanced as technology may be, some things are just not doable in the physical education environment, and that’s where the benefits of blended learning shine. Two of the many reasons that eLearning is very appealing to instructors is that it allows updating and tweaking of material on-the-fly. An awesome feature that some Learning Management Systems (LMS) offer is Reporting. Reporting is not only good because it allows for a graphical representation of information found within the LMS: it’s also a good way to have a quick overview of what learners are doing, how far they’ve progressed, how they score in different kinds of testing methods, amongst others features. By trying out different methods of testing, quizzing, and even different types of material, a professor has the ability to tweak around how much emphasis they give on traditional types of material in eLearning (such as text and video), and how much they want to diversify using other types of material or testing methods. https://www.talentlms.com/blog/5-reasons-why-blended-learning-works/ 2/9

6/16/2019 5 Benefits Of The Blended Learning Approach - TalentLMS Blog This one is probably the most useful of the blended learning benefits, as it helps training become much LOGIN TOUR FEATURES PRICING CUSTOMERS BLOG START FOR FREE more meaningful in practice, with the eLearning process being adjusted according to the learners’ progress. 4) Improved feedback Blended learning greatly affects the way feedback is facilitated. To begin with, by testing and quizzing online, as mentioned above, the trainer has the time to arrive to conclusions about the learners’ performance without wasting valuable time from the class. Blended training allows for feedback to be prepared from home, and then, harvesting all the benefits of blended learning, the trainer can provide it to learners in the physical environment, simply by using information from within the Learning Management System, in the forms of a report or automatically generated feedback. This advantage of blended learning is also very important for the learners, as feedback is the primary indication of their performance and progress. So, the trainer needs to make use of both the right tools and blended training methods to prepare feedback, in order to assess learners’ performance, spending as little time as possible. 5) It can make learning fun! I can’t stress this enough! Learning is not a one-sided all-serious process. You simply cannot deny that adding an entertaining twist to the material is more likely to increase the engagement level of the learners. By fun I don’t mean that learning should be set aside, but the combination of the two, by using different and more interactive material (like presentations that are not just pages filled with bullet-points), or what we call Gamification. The end-of-day result should be to allow the learners to have access to information from anywhere, effectively empowering them to take learning into their own hands, create their own schedule, and enjoy the process by doing something interesting. Thus, the importance of blended learning as a training approach does not only show in words, but it’s more prevalent on the learning process itself, as well as the learners. So, next time you ask yourself “why use blended learning”, make sure to consider these 5 benefits of this approach. 5 Bene ts Of The Blended Learning Approach In e… https://www.talentlms.com/blog/5-reasons-why-blended-learning-works/ 3/9

6/16/2019 5 Benefits Of The Blended Learning Approach - TalentLMS Blog Let us know how you integrate different training methods with your LMS. How does fun mingle with START FOR FREE LOGIN TOUR FEATURES PRICING CUSTOMERS BLOG learning, and it is eLearning the appropriate medium to deliver both effectively? Save time, frustration and money with TalentLMS, the most-affordable and user-friendly learning management system on the market. Try it for free for as long as you want and discover why our customers consistently give us 4.5 stars (out of 5!) Try for free! #Blended Learning You may also like How to Create the 7 Essential Skills & 60 Questions to 6 Benefits of How the Internet Perfect Training: Training Tools For Include in your Post- Informal Learning Changed the Aligning Training training Evaluation Goals with Business Trainers Learning Process Survey Objectives 13 Comments talentlms 1 Login  Recommend t Tweet f Share Sort by Best Join the discussion… LOG IN WITH OR SIGN UP WITH DISQUS ? Name Le Tran • 10 months ago 4/9 https://www.talentlms.com/blog/5-reasons-why-blended-learning-works/

6/16/2019 5 Benefits Of The Blended Learning Approach - TalentLMS Blog Le Tran • 10 months ago I'm Le Tran. My wonder is how to motivateTsOtuUdRentsF' EreAsTpUoRnEsSibilitPieRsICfoINr GtheirCleUaSrTnOinMgE. RTShe eB-lLeOaGrning START FOR FREE LOGIN system should be applied in a consistent way. △ ▽ • Reply • Share › Nikos Andriotis @ TalentLMS > Le Tran • 10 months ago Hi Le Tran! We've gathered some strategies that can help you motivate your students in eLearning here: https://www.talentlms.com/b... Hope it helps :) △ ▽ • Reply • Share › Brittany • 6 years ago Hi Dimitri, Our campers are ages 7-17 - so a lot of it depends on the age of the class. Younger students needed a guidance throughout the week while older students could work more on their own pace. I do believe that using the blended learning approach helped keep students engaged throughout the week; even if an instructor was busy helping another student, they were able to continue working and learning (as opposed to just waiting their turn) which made a huge difference. △ ▽ • Reply • Share › Dimitris Kaplanis > Brittany • 6 years ago Thanks for the swift response! I have a question, and this is for the sake of observation... Did you block or advise against students deviating from your content to Social Media? To make the question simpler... was idle time filled with Facebook-ing or tweeting, or did kids really find a way to keep engagement and keep on researching the topics at hand? I'm glad I can ask questions, since you seem to have the experience here! :) Best, D △ ▽ • Reply • Share › Brittany • 6 years ago Great article, Dimitris! At the tech camp where I work, we instituted blended learning in our classrooms this summer for all of the reasons you outlined above. What is most interesting is that even with the online portion of our courses, students still relied heavily on instructor feedback and guidance (as they should!). We found that our campers and their parents were very happy with amount of personalized instruction our staff were able to deliver with this blended approach, and I'm looking forward to seeing how blended learning tools evolve over the next few years. △ ▽ • Reply • Share › Dimitris Kaplanis > Brittany • 6 years ago Sounds Great Brittany! What portion of the homework/assignments/reading was online? Would you say that blended learning was the reason they did better versus other times? did they seem more engaged? △ ▽ • Reply • Share › Dimitris Kaplanis • 6 years ago Dear Rick, I will be contacting you personally; thank you for your kind words and interest in my work. Best, Dimitris △ ▽ • Reply • Share › Rick Saul • 6 years ago 5/9 Hi Dimitris, I enjoyed reading your article. https://www.talentlms.com/blog/5-reasons-why-blended-learning-works/

6/16/2019 5 Benefits Of The Blended Learning Approach - TalentLMS Blog I am about to publish a new magazine calleTdOU“ERye oFnEAeTLUeRaErnSing”P, RICING CUSTOMERS BLOG START FOR FREE LOGIN exclusively on the Apple Newsstand and I think the readers of the magazine would enjoy reading this article too. I was wondering if I could reprint that article in the magazine. If there is a specific web page you want me to point people to I would be more than happy to do it. Because it is an interactive magazine, once people have read the article they can be directed straight to a web page of your choice. I hope to hear back from you soon. Kind Regards, Rick Saul △ ▽ • Reply • Share › Debbie Sheroke • 6 years ago Add to Christopher's original list of reasons: 6) Within any course/lesson/module there are likely to be objectives at various levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. Different types of objectives need to be practiced and assessed differently. 7) Blended learning allows for learning to be truly performance-based, whether the desired end result it technical proficiency, knowledge, or soft skills. △ ▽ • Reply • Share › drora • 6 years ago I have used blended in middle school through adult and really believe in it. I am very interested in hearing about blended in the k-3 sphere. △ ▽ • Reply • Share › Dimitris Kaplanis > drora • 6 years ago Hey drora! Well let me add a bit of personal opinion here... I think it goes with the times - K-3 is still an untapped niche for blended learning. I've heard of cases where technology is used as a stimulus to get children interested in activities, but I would assume that it should be done lightly. It's still an age where children realize what they like, what they don't like, and slowly but steadily develop habits. Also, what I've seen in my experience is that as children tend to grow up in more tech- powered families, they use tablets and computers in ways that would surprise any adult. It's something I'll be doing some further research on to come up with more information though! Thanks for that ;) △ ▽ • Reply • Share › Sara • 6 years ago Thank you for sharing this. I am in the process of creating educational modules via LMS that align with a workbook/text. I'm interested in progressing it further through integrating more gamification techniques, and would love to see the article you mentioned by Roberta Gogos. However, there is not a link. Would you kindly repost? △ ▽ • Reply • Share › Dimitris Kaplanis > Sara • 6 years ago Dear Sara, thanks a lot for your feedback; a teeny weeny bug stripped my text off its links but now they should be back on for you to click! :) Go ahead and check out Roberta’s blog on Gamification. It’s a great starter to get someone interested in getting more information and actually applying the principles of Gamification in the learning environment. Let me know how you do! :) △ ▽ • Reply • Share › ✉ Subscribe d Add Disqus to your siteAdd DisqusAdd ������ Disqus' Privacy PolicyPrivacy PolicyPrivacy https://www.talentlms.com/blog/5-reasons-why-blended-learning-works/ 6/9

6/16/2019 5 Benefits Of The Blended Learning Approach - TalentLMS Blog Type here to search... TOUR FEATURES PRICING CUSTOMERS BLOG START FOR FREE LOGIN We love social, let’s connect!  Blog Categories Infographics Instructional Design Interviews / Opinions Mobile Learning Research TalentLMS Features & Updates Trends Most Popular Posts The definitive guide to new employee orientation Are you training your remote workforce? 67% say they want more. The top 7 most used online employee training tools 5 tips on setting realistic training objectives How to take your employee training & development online https://www.talentlms.com/blog/5-reasons-why-blended-learning-works/ 7/9

6/16/2019 5 Benefits Of The Blended Learning Approach - TalentLMS Blog TOUR FEATURES PRICING CUSTOMERS BLOG START FOR FREE LOGIN https://www.talentlms.com/blog/5-reasons-why-blended-learning-works/ 8/9

6/16/2019 5 Benefits Of The Blended Learning Approach - TalentLMS Blog TOUR FEATURES PRICING CUSTOMERS BLOG START FOR FREE LOGIN Start your eLearning portal in 30 seconds! Get started, it's free! TalentLMS is free to use for as long as you want! You can always upgrade to a paid plan to get much more! https://www.talentlms.com/blog/5-reasons-why-blended-learning-works/ 9/9