Structures in companies are currently changing remarkably quickly: Digitalization is increasing and hierarchies are being dissolved. As a result, professional communication is automatically changing. Moreover, the requirements for further training are in flux – with agile processes, your training meets the pulse of the time. A good mix of collaborative and individual learning methods is essential.

Digitalization should no longer be a foreign term in training

Digital transformation? You have likely already encountered this buzzword. Behind this phrase lies the fact that digital devices and, above all, the increasingly intertwined internet our lives are changing in almost all areas.

In companies, digital transformation is in full swing. Managing directors can no longer excuse themselves with “Technology is not really my thing.” In the magazine managerSeminare from May 2018, the expert in digital learning, Isabel De Clercq, aptly describes this phenomenon with the words “Digital illiterates have no chance anymore”. She therefore advocates for internal social networking within companies, which is no longer just a vision for the future.

A need for digital and agile working methods

We note: Employees desire a working day that does not lag behind in progress compared to their private lives. More and more personnel developers are recognizing this need for digital and agile working methods. For professional further training, this trend means that new training methods should be found that support this need.

The desire for a more agile and digital working method is heading in two opposing directions:

On one hand, the dissolution of corporate hierarchies gives individual employees more power and promotes their individual working methods: demands for self-determination, such as regarding the scheduling of their work hours, are growing louder.

On the other hand, the introduction of digital communication tools promotes communication and collaborative teamwork: demands for closer networking between colleagues and leaders are also getting louder.

Individual or Collaborative Learning?

For you as a trainer, coach, or consultant, the question arises whether you should focus more on individual or collaborative learning forms. Both have their own advantages for your participants:

Advantages of individual learning Advantages of collaborative learning Participants can choose their learning times freely Participants can strengthen social skills, which is particularly helpful in soft skill training Participants can choose their own learning pace Participants can motivate and inspire each other to learn Participants can maximize their own strengths Participants can learn from the strengths and experiences of others

Individual and collaborative learning should also continue to have a roughly equal weight in the future, as the results of the Trendmonitor 2018 show. Accordingly, training and workshops should not only use one of the two learning forms, but ideally combine both.

Hitting the pulse of the time with Blended Learning

As a trainer, benefit from the advantages of both individual and collaborative learning, instead of limiting yourself. This way, you will not only convince your clients but ultimately also your participants.

Training, coaching, and workshops should therefore be structured in such a way that they

• support agile communication structures,

• facilitate individual learning and

• promote collaborative learning.

With the Blended Learning method, you get exactly that: By complementing your in-person events with online phases, you enable your participants to learn agilely. During the online phase, they can continue learning both independently and through networks with other participants to complete exercises together.

Through the combination of different learning forms, the following advantages for participants in Blended Learning arise:

• All learning types are addressed

• Everyone decides on their own learning pace

• All participants are at the same level

So is the in-person phase responsible for cooperative learning and the online phase for individual learning? Or vice versa? Both are possible. In principle, both phases are suitable for both learning forms.

Important in Blended Learning: The “blended” should also be lived – ideally, all learning forms are accordingly linked together. This means, for example, that in the in-person event, groups are combined, which then continue to work collaboratively during the online phase.

“In-person events gain significant importance when group learning processes are initiated and group work is carried out during E-Learning.”

So says education expert Susanne Kraft in her essay “Blended Learning – a way to integrate E-Learning and classroom learning.” According to Kraft, those who incorporate cooperative learning methods into their online phase simultaneously support the in-person phase of their Blended Learning.

Methods in Blended Learning

The in-person event is traditionally the place where participants and trainers interact in personal exchange. This fact does not change in Blended Learning. However, through the combination with an online phase, discussions initiated can be continued, and content can be worked on in depth – both individually and collaboratively.

Individually manageable tasks are relatively easy for trainers to create. With quiz questions, research tasks, or practical individual exercises, you provide your participants with the foundation to secure their individual transfer.

Collaborative exercises in the online phase are also possible and should not be missing in good Blended Learning. Below, I will introduce you to three methods that focus on agile and collaborative learning:

Method: The virtual discussion

This is why the method works: Many people are already familiar with virtual discussions from their private lives – from social networks or comment fields under online articles. In your training, the digital exchange likely works similarly: Different perspectives enrich each other.

Tip for implementation: Provide a stimulus for the discussion in your in-person training or also in online support, for example, in the form of a short video. Provocative theses or questions regarding content that likely have different opinions work well. Then prompt your participants to actively participate in the discussion, for example, in the comment field of your online platform.

Method: Mutual 1-on-1 coaching among participants

This is why the method works: Have your participants work in pairs and create a commitment to each other. This motivates your participants and supports their individual strengths.

Tip for implementation: Ideally, organize the learning partnerships during the in-person phase when your participants are warmed up and have already gotten to know each other personally. Then let them continue to work together online and support them with guiding questions like “What commitment do you make until the next meeting?”.

Method: Have participants create exercises themselves

This is why the method works: Agile working means breaking rigid structures and being open to new perspectives. An agile method for your Blended Learning is a role reversal: Have your participants think of what exercises would be meaningful in the topic. This shift in perspective allows for new ideas and fosters the feeling of individual participants of being an active and important part of the training.

Tip for implementation: Here, you could start in the online phase and ask your participants to come up with exercises for the upcoming week. Then let them exchange ideas during in-person training and immediately implement the best exercises.

blink.it Expert Tip: The three example exercises mentioned are methods from our rocket pack, the card game for Blended Learning. If you want more inspiration and background information on methods in Blended Learning, the rocket pack provides you with exactly the right support and starting help for digital learning.