One thing is clear: pure e-learning will not be able to replace traditional training and education even in twenty years. We need human contact to accompany participants individually and personally. But wait – digital learning methods also have their advantages! Find out now how e-learning can help you in training or coaching.
E-Learning in Training and Coaching
About a quarter of all trainers and coaches have already hosted a webinar themselves. This was revealed by a survey of members conducted by the German Association for Coaching and Training e. V. (dvct) in 2017. For many, this experience does not seem to have been a reason to pursue the topic of e-learning further. We also believe: e-learning alone is not the solution. The emphasis here, however, is on “alone”!
Since 2006, the term e-learning has been a fixed part of the Duden. According to Wikipedia, the first learning machine was probably invented as early as 1588: in the form of the mechanical book wheel, where the user could view individual books without moving from their seat. We see that people have been trying to make learning easier through machines for hundreds of years.
Today, the term “e-learning” – the short form of the English electronic learning – refers to any form of learning in which electronic or digital media are used. Many active trainers and coaches criticize e-learning as a substitute for traditional face-to-face learning.
5 Reasons Against E-Learning
At events like the Petersberg Trainer Days or the BDVT Camp, we repeatedly hear concerns from trainers about pure e-learning. Even in future scenarios from professional magazines like Training aktuell, e-learning is only part of tomorrow's education.
The five most common reasons against pure e-learning are:
Lack of personal contact
Lack of addressing the individual needs of participants
Technical problems: e.g., dependence on internet functionality
Technical complexity: Required technical know-how (for both participants and trainers or coaches)
Lack of practical applicability of some content
These reasons prevent many trainers and coaches from offering their services entirely as e-learning. Rightly so! Because particularly the first two points are essential for the success of many learning units. We humans value personal relationships and trust a person much more if we have met them face to face. And without trust in the trainer or coach, achieving learning success is rather difficult.
Why You Shouldn’t Condemn E-Learning Anyway
But wait – don’t dismiss e-learning immediately despite all its disadvantages! Because digital learning methods also have their own advantages. Those who completely forgo e-learning are also missing out on the benefits of digital learning. This was also revealed by the aforementioned survey of dvct (2017):
87% of the surveyed trainers and coaches appreciate the flexibility of e-learning
49% each saw advantages in low costs and high self-determination of the user in e-learning.
The big question is consequently: How can you avoid the disadvantages of e-learning while still benefiting from the advantages?
The answer is: with blended learning. This learning concept combines e-learning components with traditional face-to-face learning: your participants are both flexible in location and time as well as highly self-determined regarding pace and level of difficulty. And for your clients, the costs remain constant overall compared to pure face-to-face training. This gives you the best selling points on your side!
5 Reasons for E-Learning in Connection with Face-to-Face Learning
Offering e-learning in conjunction with face-to-face courses is the solution of blended learning. And while for many trainers and coaches pure e-learning is only an interim solution, blended learning has consistently performed well in surveys for many years. For example, in the study of Trendmonitor 2018, 97% of the surveyed experts rated blended learning as a central form of learning for corporate education.
The following 5 reasons motivate trainers and coaches to offer e-learning in conjunction with face-to-face events – as blended learning:
1. High Learning Transfer: Long-term Integration of Content into Daily Life
Coaching and training usually have a specific goal: to educate the participants and make them more successful. In this context, the long-term integration of learning content into practical daily life is extremely important. What good is training or coaching if the participant can hardly recall any content after a few weeks?
2. Adaptation to Participants’ Digital Daily Life: No More Two Worlds
We are living more digitally in our private lives, making purely analog training and coaching seem increasingly alien to participants. Through e-learning components, participants experience a smooth and natural transition from the course to their daily life.
3. Flexibility: Participants’ Independence in Location and Time
One of the greatest advantages of e-learning is flexibility: whether from the train on your smartphone or between two meetings on your tablet – online courses should ideally be time- and location-independent.
4. High Self-Determination for the Participant: Level of Difficulty and Pace
With high flexibility comes increased self-determination for the participant. They can decide for themselves how quickly they progress in the course with the e-learning components of blended learning. This allows participants with different prior knowledge to be guided smoothly.
5. Lower or Constant Costs Compared to Pure Face-to-Face Courses
Last but not least: costs are always a factor when trainers and coaches want to assess new learning methods. E-learning plus face-to-face courses means optimal support for participants, making clients willing to pay higher prices. As a result, trainers and coaches can offset any additional costs incurred through a digital platform – and ultimately even achieve a higher profit.
Digital and Analog: Human Communication Needs Nuance
We are all changing, becoming more digital – both professionally and privately. That’s why for the dvct, e-learning is no mere hype:
“(…) despite all reservations, we need to engage more intensely with e-learning and e-coaching: to maintain the connection to the emotionally significant life and work world of our clients and seminar participants. Because they are already mostly caught up in digitalization processes, with a rising tendency.”
from a contribution by Sandra Mareike Lang and Franz Hütter of the dvct
Digitalization process, this term sounds very abstract. However, digitalization will never completely replace our analog world, even if that is often a theme in science fiction. Why? Because we need the nuances of the analog.
The well-known ZDF scientist Harald Lesch explains the terms “digital” and “analog” in a humorous way in a video:
“Analog is the gradual transition from one state to another and digital is the abrupt transition.”
It is exactly this gradual transition – the existing nuances in the face-to-face course that is an essential factor in establishing a personal bond between the participant and trainer or coach.
Start Now with Blended Learning
Is your summer vacation coming up soon? Are you headed to nature or more for sightseeing and city trips? If you thought “Why not both” – I feel the same way. Why limit yourself to one type of experience when you can connect two worlds.
Yes, e-learning alone is not the solution. But e-learning in conjunction with face-to-face courses compensates for all possible disadvantages. There’s just one obstacle left: the first step.
Start now with the combination of e-learning and face-to-face learning! Design a simple blended learning plan at the beginning. For this, we have created a guide, with which you can sketch out an initial concept in 45 minutes. It’s best to schedule a date for this in your calendar!
