The Corporate Learning Camp 2018 was a special experience for us: A unique format, a unique audience, and three special favorite topics in focus! What those topics were, what we learned, and what future trends we brought for you, you will find out here!
The CLC: A Special Concept
Those who traveled to the fully booked Corporate Learning Camp in Kassel on September 27-28, like Michael and Hans-Martin, were actually not participants at allicipants. Under the large banner "Learning Worlds of the Future," about 300 trainers, coaches, and representatives from schools and universities gathered to be partakers of this very special event.
Especially exciting for everyone whose focus is on professional learning is the CLC due to its format: During the two-day bar camp, the participants set their own agenda and the "sessions" that would take place every morning. "Sessions" are a free format for exchanging experiences and ideas, organized and guided by the participants themselves. The aim is to enable active and hierarchy-free exchange - hence also partakers, as not just knowledge is accepted here, but the dialogue is at the forefront. We have already been to many events this year, but the CLC has a truly incomparable creative and inspiring spirit that you must experience for yourself.
Blended Learning as a "Learning World of the Future"?!
This year's motto "Learning Worlds of the Future" fits us perfectly: Blended Learning is still a new term for many, although the principle of combining traditional face-to-face events with self-directed online phases is super simple and incredibly effective. In addition to temporal and spatial flexibility, Blended Learning offers many other advantages for you, companies, and participants. We are firmly convinced that Blended Learning has huge potential to shape the "Learning World of the Future"! Therefore, the active exchange on this topic and raising awareness about Blended Learning was a matter close to our hearts for the CLC 2018.
In this exchange of ideas and experiences, Michael and Hans-Martin were once again at the forefront: They arranged three exciting topics in the form of "sessions" over two days - and not only shared knowledge but also gathered many impulses and impressions.
The blink.it Sessions:
From theory to practice, sessions are not traditional lectures where a few experts impart knowledge to many participants. Quite the opposite! Each session is unique: From discussion rounds to improvisational theater, every format is represented. They only share a length of 45 minutes. All topics are introduced in the morning, and the participants choose which topics interest them by raising their hands. To our delight, all three topics from Michael and Hans-Martin immediately piqued the interest of the participants and were included in the extensive daily agenda.
Session 1: Learning Transfer, How Do You Do It?
Imparting knowledge is just the first step. For successful training, coaching, further education, and training, the application of what has been learned is ultimately the exciting, and often challenging, point. In the session, various methods were collected on how the transfer and application of newly conveyed knowledge can be practically realized. In addition to traditional coaching and learning groups, digital aids such as apps or learning management systems like blink.it are increasingly coming into focus.
Once again, we clearly saw future trends, especially in the digital learning world. The big keyword for modern, flexible, and practical complements to face-to-face events is Blended Learning!
What we learned: The future trend is clearly moving towards combined learning methods. Blended Learning, meaning the combination of face-to-face and online learning, is becoming increasingly present in the mindset of trainers and companies.
What you can learn from it: These opportunities are YOUR opportunities. What today is a fantastic unique selling point for your training or coaching can in a few years become the foundation for lifelong modern learning - and if by then you become a Blended Learning expert, you'll always be at the forefront!
Creative mind mapping session with Hans-Martin at CLC 2018
Session 2: What Makes a Good LMS?
As we learned in the first session, digital learning transfer is becoming increasingly popular. Therefore, learning management systems (LMS) are also in high demand. In the discussion round, interested parties, active users, and providers were represented.
Three important points stood out:
Handling must be easy! The operation must be intuitive for both trainers and participants and certainly not be a block in the learning process.
Learning success must be measurable! Particularly important for trainers: Key figures for the success and sustainability of their training are an absolute MUST as a basis for customer acquisition and retention.
Individuality must be possible! A certain degree of individuality, with custom colors, logos, and recognizable features, is naturally desired by all trainers, coaches, and organizations.
Based on these and other wishes, a variety of learning management systems have already been developed. However, Blended Learning, in particular, places specific demands on an LMS. Why many traditional systems are unsuitable for Blended Learning and what you really need to pay attention to in order to find the perfect LMS for Blended Learning, we have summarized for you here: Why typical LMS are not good software for Blended Learning
Session 3: Studio @ Home - Why Video Enthralls Us!
Now it's time for practice! Michael's session "studio@home" on the topic of video recording at home and video creation with a smartphone was also extremely popular at the CLC, just like at many other events. Why the topic of video is so exciting is easily evident when looking at today's media landscape:
Videos are an integral part of the internet world. Whether as a short selfie on Facebook and Snapchat or tips and tutorials on YouTube: According to the ARD/ZDF Online Study, over 70% of Germans watch online videos at least occasionally, and over 50% do so regularly. And almost 25% use video platforms like YouTube daily! That is an incredibly large audience and speaks to the tremendous excitement that videos as a medium generate. Not least because nearly every mobile device now includes a camera - today, creating your own videos in good quality is possible for almost anyone who owns a smartphone.
Great crowds and enthusiastic participants at Michael's studio@home session at CLC2018
Online videos are making their way into all areas of life: when millions of people use videos daily for private learning purposes (in the form of tutorial or explanatory videos), it naturally raises the question of how this medium can also be used for targeted further education and professional training, and how you can create qualitatively and content-wise outstanding videos. These were probably some of the questions that drew so many participants to our session.
#CLC2018: Giving Impulses and Gaining Ideas
Our goal for CLC 2018 was to share our knowledge with experts from other fields through discussion and active exchange, to take new impulses for ourselves and our customers, and above all: to inspire the Corporate Learning Community for Blended Learning! And we have more than achieved this goal!
All three sessions were well-received. Over 40 participants attended Michael's session - in a setting with 10 parallel themes, truly a huge turnout and a clear sign that we are exactly on the right path and have hit the nerve for the future.
The interest in topics related to the digitalization and flexibility of training, coaching, and further education is growing. And the feedback on our sessions and on blink.it as a platform for Blended Learning was, as always, overwhelmingly positive. And so we are left with many inspiring impressions and new ideas from the "Learning World of the Future" and are already looking forward to CLC 2019.
We are interested in your opinion: What does learning look like in the future? Will Blended Learning be the standard learning method in 2025 - or will it even be pure E-Learning? Please feel free to leave us a message!
