Another event highlight took place last weekend in Bonn: At the Petersberg Trainer Days (#PTT2018), Hans-Martin and Michael from blink.it met many successful trainers. Some already knew exactly what they were looking for, but many were completely open to new training methods. We observe: For most, Blended Learning is the concept of the future.

Inspiration at the Petersberg Trainer Days

A highlight at the Petersberg Trainer Days was the open evening on Friday for Hans and Michael, despite Michael's illness, during which they exchanged experiences of the day with trainers and other exhibitors. The exciting aspect of such trainer events: inspiring each other and gaining new ideas through personal exchange. And for us at blink.it, it was especially wonderful to meet our shining existing customers again!

From left to right: Michael Witzke, Hans-Martin Sprungk, Nele Kreyßig, Stefan Lapenat, and Mario Sander

The training concept must suit you

How does your software work? – We often hear this question in a similar form at trainer events like the Petersberg Trainer Days. But fundamentally, it’s about ensuring that your needs as a trainer are at the center, not the software. In many cases, the trainer's need overlaps with the software's function, which we at blink.it work on every day.

Just like at the Trainer Congress 2018 in Berlin, there were some trainers at the Petersberg Trainer Days who wanted to get targeted information and others who simply wanted to broaden their horizons. We know: First, it's about you as a trainer discovering and examining the Blended Learning concept for your training. Only then do you decide how you want to implement this concept.

In the workshop “Blended Learning: The training concept of the future?” Hans and Michael showed possibilities for trainers to effectively expand their existing events with online support.

What is always important to us: You can fundamentally use the blink.it platform for both pure online courses (E-Learning) and for the combination of online + presence (Blended Learning). Therefore, I will give you a brief overview of both methods.

blink.it for E-Learning

E-Learning is a training method that takes place 100% online. The blink.it software is technically well-suited for this, and especially for short introductory courses or hard skill training, E-Learning is certainly a solution that works.

Those starting with E-Learning are often still new to the training business: You have an idea or knowledge that you want to provide digitally. However, many trainers begin their career in adult education with in-person events and are generally skeptical about E-Learning: After all, they are already successful with their training concept and do not want to lose the personal connection with their customers and participants.

blink.it for Blended Learning

That's where Blended Learning comes into play: In the long run, the combination of face-to-face training sessions and online-supported self-learning phases is the future model of the adult education industry, and we are convinced of that. Especially in soft skill training, a transfer phase after the in-person training is valuable to practice practitioner knowledge over a longer period – digitally accompanied by you as an expert.

The blink.it software is optimized for this purpose: Your participant receives short learning impulses that you can plan completely in advance as a trainer. In the event of changes to your in-person event, you can still quickly and short-term make adjustments, such as inserting a selfie video with your information.

As a participant, you are comfortably directed from learning impulse to learning impulse and can decide for yourself when and how you allocate your time for it. Because the impulses should be as short as possible according to the blink.it philosophy (Microlearning), the participant also has a low barrier to engaging with the training content even outside the in-person event.

Overview: E-Learning vs. Blended Learning

In the following overview, you will get a rough impression of whether E-Learning or Blended Learning is generally suitable for your training idea.

Of course, every training is individually different. Therefore, just test Blended Learning yourself and take a look at our sample course! In it, you experience Blended Learning with blink.it from the participant's perspective and gain a realistic first impression.