Training and courses that are accompanied by an online course in addition to the traditional seminar event usually achieve more sustainable learning effects. To ensure that participants work as effectively as possible with the learning platform, you as a trainer can take some support measures. Blink.it employee Niklas Appelmann found out in his scientific thesis which factors you should influence in which way.
Your goal: Maximum learning success with Blended Learning
Are you considering using online courses in your training? Or have you already started? Then you have probably already encountered the various advantages that you gain by using online courses:
You gain a unique selling proposition
You gain a new source of income
You gain new customer groups
You gain measurability
You gain reusability
You gain flexibility
You gain media diversity
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Most of these advantages can already be gained with pure e-learning, but it is only through the combination with live events such as seminars or workshops that you benefit from the advantages of both worlds: personal and intensive support in presence training and high (temporal and spatial) flexibility through online courses.
This connection of traditional face-to-face learning forms with content from online courses is called Blended Learning. The learning success in Blended Learning is proven to be higher than in courses that consist only of pure e-learning or pure presence training.
Your challenge: Online courses with high participation
What is holding you back from deciding to start with online courses? Perhaps you are wondering whether your participants will make use of the additional online offering. After all, you do not want to invest in a platform if it ultimately is not used actively.
In presence training, you can immediately see who is actively participating in the course and who does not show up or sits there disinterested. In the online course, this is – at least with the blink.it software – also apparent, but with low participation you cannot easily encourage your participants to be active as in a live event.
Independent work with a learning platform is initially a change for your participants, especially if they have only been used to traditional forms of learning such as day seminars or workshops. Therefore, they need good support during the online phase – for example, in the form of clear calls to action.
But you can do even more to keep your participants engaged in the online course. Recently, we published an article here in the blog where we gave you seven simple tips on how to keep participants active in your online course.
Now, blink.it employee Niklas Appelmann has researched in his thesis at the Technical University of Darmstadt how trainers can act to motivate their course participants for the highest possible participation online. The good news: You have a large part of your participants' learning success in online courses in your hands!
Study result: How trainers can specifically increase the learning success of participants in Blended Learning
One result of the thesis¹ was the confirmation of the assumption of “Instructional Scaffolding” that certain measures taken by trainers have significant effects on the behavior of participants.
Instructional Scaffolding is the support of the learning process by providing guidance or other aids for initial orientation. Especially in the area of e-learning, this is a pedagogical measure because here the trainer can have less direct influence on the participant than in traditional presence events.
How can the trainer influence the behavior of his participants in the online course? For this research question, Niklas analyzed anonymized data from a period of two years and examined the correlation between trainer and participant behavior in detail.
Data for the study: period of 2 years
Goal of the study: How do trainer and participant behavior correlate?
Title of the study: “Automatic analysis and classification of trainer and participant behavior in a blended learning environment as a basis for interventions”
The online courses examined by Niklas had to meet certain criteria to ensure that only actively used courses (from both the trainer and participant sides) were evaluated. In his sample, he used 85 courses that were utilized by an average of 78 participants, with most courses having between 10 and 50 participants (see graphic).
Graphic from the thesis of Niklas Appelmann: The courses examined in his study usually had between 10 and 50 participants.
Based on the data from these 78 courses, Niklas found a connection between trainer and participant behavior. “Trainer behavior” here refers, for example, to the type of content (quiz, video, text, etc.) or the time intervals between the upload of new content. “Participant behavior” refers mainly to the completion or drop-out rate of the entire course or the processing of individual content.
However, Niklas's analysis not only revealed the simple fact that trainers influence participant behavior, but also concrete answers on how they can statistically achieve a higher level of participation. The following overview shows the most relevant statistical results from Niklas' thesis:
| What you want to achieve with participants in Blended Learning | What you can do as a trainer to achieve this || ------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- || Participants should view/process many contents daily | Release content at short intervals Use plenty of quiz content Leave many comments Leave little time between the publication of individual contents || Participants should view/process as much content as possible overall | Use plenty of quiz content Use few pure image content || As many participants as possible should complete the course | Use plenty of audio content Use many quiz contents Invite new participants daily Release content at short intervals |
Two measures show a particularly positive effect on participants:
Use many quiz elements in your online course
Set up your course to release content at short intervals!
Measure No. 1: Use many quiz elements in your online course!
Quiz elements increase the activity of participants in the online course, according to the statistical results mentioned above: Analyzed courses that used many quiz questions had more active participants who viewed at least 50% or even 100% of a course.
If you choose blink.it as your learning platform, you can choose between typical quiz contents with open-ended questions, scale questions, or multiple- or single-choice questions. Tests or surveys are also easily possible. With such interactive elements, the training remains varied and interesting for your participants.
Measure No. 2: Set your course to release content at short intervals!
A second result we want to give you from Niklas' thesis as a tip for your online training: Release content at the shortest possible time intervals. Courses where a relatively long time passed (several weeks) between the publication of individual contents showed low participant activity.
With blink.it, you can conveniently set the time interval in advance and opt for intervals of 3-7 days. With this full automation, you do not have to constantly log in and manually release content - the software takes care of that for you.
In all results, you should keep in mind that these are statistical analyses that may be biased and do not claim to be universally valid. Our advice for you: Look at the various correlations and test for yourself in your online course which types of content and intervals yield the highest participant activity and thus learning effect. With the use of quiz questions, you should be on a good path!
Do you have any questions about the study? Leave us a message!
Tip: If you are still considering whether to use online courses for your training, we recommend you take a look at our sample course. There you can test what Blended Learning feels like from the participant's perspective. Click through the individual contents and let the overall impression take effect on you. Enjoy!
¹ Title of the thesis: "Automatic analysis and classification of trainer and participant behavior in a blended learning environment as a basis for interventions." Niklas Appelmann, TU Darmstadt, 2018.
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