What is the use of further training if, just a few weeks later, nothing of it is implemented in everyday work? Unlike traditional seminars, the Blended Learning method excels here: Trainers can support employees intensively over a longer period of time. In this article, I will show you three practical examples where Blended Learning has been successfully implemented in companies!
Further Training 2018: Good Content – Lack of Transfer Performance
What does further training look like in your company? In the DACH region, company training is an important factor in the success of a business. Those who train their employees professionally and sustainably strengthen their company from within. The topics are diverse, and the range of training and coaching is usually very good.
But how long does what is learned stay in memory? Learning transfer is essential for the success of training: If the knowledge fades within a few weeks, the training was a waste of time and money. For the content to be applied in everyday work, your company needs further training that is as practical as possible.
Blended Learning in Companies
More and more HR departments of companies are recognizing the opportunity of Blended Learning: They combine traditional (in-person) seminars with online support. The Blended Learning method is particularly strong in ensuring transfer for the following reasons:
High focus on the participant and their needs
Location-independent learning allows for frequent practice
Greatly extended training through online support
More and more success stories from practice speak for the effectiveness of Blended Learning. Below, I present to you three example projects that have found a way to high learning transfer through Blended Learning.
Examples from Practice: Successful Blended Learning Projects
The following three examples are significant because they are very differently structured and yet all rely on the Blended Learning concept. All three projects have already been successfully implemented in practice.
The HR Performance Campus
Productivity Enhancement with Peoplebuilding
The Trainee Camp for the Savings Bank Day 2016 by agateno
Learn in the following sections how each example of Blended Learning works and for whom it is suitable.
1. Example Blended Learning: The HR Performance Campus
This is how it works:
The HR Performance Campus relies on a mix of analysis, communicative exchange, and reflection tasks. If the topic of a training focuses on improved employee management, several leaders of a company usually participate in the training.
At the beginning, each leader conducts a potential analysis for themselves to get to know the methodology. Afterward, all leaders meet in a face-to-face event to exchange experiences and receive new input from the trainer. Finally, the leaders apply what they have learned to their own employees – and are accompanied online by the trainer for several weeks.
The Blended Learning model of the HR Performance Campus illustrated:
Blended Learning model of the HR Performance Campus: Each leader in the training begins with a potential analysis. Then everyone meets again in an in-person seminar. After this opening, the online phase begins, taking place alongside their daily work.
This is suitable for:
The trainings of the HR Performance Campus are suitable for companies that want to further educate their leaders so that they can better understand their employees. The potential analysis at the beginning of Blended Learning aims to develop a sense of people’s motivations.
Practical example of online support at the HR Performance Campus:
Screenshot from a demo course from the HR Performance Campus using blink.it software: The green units have been seen by the participant; the purple ones have not yet. Even before the kick-off event, units have already been unlocked. Following the units for the kick-off, there are further online impulses (not visible in the screenshot).
2. Example Blended Learning: Peoplebuilding with Zach Davis
This is how it works:
The trainer Zach Davis offers trainings around topics such as time management and productivity with Peoplebuilding. He always begins with a face-to-face event, which serves as a crucial starting point for the entire training. The leaders of the participants and other relevant individuals are also included from the beginning by Zach Davis – after all, they are the ones who can support the employees in the long term. Thus, the trainer ensures from the start that all participants receive the best possible training.
After the kick-off event, each participant individually engages with the content. This occurs a) online and b) in small bites over several weeks. Each participant can work on individual units at their own pace. A unit usually consists of an insight or exercise for daily work or a subsequent reflection task. The Blended Learning at Peoplebuilding is based on the following broad model:
The Blended Learning model “Heron”: The training starts with an in-person event (e.g., a seminar) and then continues online over an extended period alongside daily work.
This is suitable for:
The Blended Learning trainings by Zach Davis or Peoplebuilding are generally suitable for all goals aiming for a long-lasting change in the employee. Zach Davis’ experience shows that due to the long online support, participants internalize significantly more content after six months than in a traditional one or two-day seminar.
Practical example of online support at Peoplebuilding:
Screenshot from a course by Zach Davis / Peoplebuilding using the blink.it software: An overview of the first units from a Blended Learning is visible. The yellow-highlighted units have not yet been seen by the participant; the gray ones will be unlocked later.
3. Example Blended Learning: The Trainee Camp from the Savings Bank Day 2016
This is how it works:
The Trainee Camp was a major event of the Savings Bank in April 2016, where the trainee participants exchanged heavily among themselves in advance and learned together. The goal was to discuss the future of savings banks. The motto was: Provide space for interactions – both online and offline. The concept was developed by agateno and implemented with blink.it software.
The Blended Learning around the Savings Bank's Trainee Camp also began with a kick-off event, here in the form of a webinar. Here, the trainees were already divided into small groups and assigned mentors. Subsequently, a longer online phase took place, during which the small groups received and created video impulses. The Trainee Camp fits the Blended Learning model “Sandwich”: Both at the beginning and at the end, the participants meet live (initially in the webinar, later at the major event). In between lies an online phase with impulses and tasks in small groups:
The Blended Learning model “Sandwich”: The beginning and end occur live, while participants work with online impulses in between.
This is suitable for:
The Trainee Camp is a good example of successful Blended Learning measures, which on one hand aim at an event and on the other are suitable for large participant groups. Through high online interactivity, the participants were able to discuss, learn from each other, and be brought to a common level by their mentors, even over longer distances.
Practical example of online support:
Screenshot: An excerpt from the online support by agateno for the Trainee Camp at the Savings Bank Day 2016.
Learn more about this project in the article “The Best of Both Worlds: Savings Bank Links Offline and Online with blink.it” by my colleague Hans Peter!
