The Benefits of Blended Learning and How to add it to employee onboarding

Blended learning is without a doubt, one of the biggest learning and development trends of 2017 – and its popularity is only going to continue to grow. For those who are unsure, blended learning is a training strategy and learning program that combines both classroom (face to face) and online learning solutions.

But is this learning strategy effective?

Below are a few reasons why blended learning works:

• Blended learning is engaging and therefore more appealing to learners.
• It offers more ways to deliver training, and has the ability to measure a learner’s performance and analyse the impact of the training program.
• It offers flexibility. You can change your course, add to it, and adapt it to suit your learners needs.
• It can be strategically aligned to suit your learner’s specific needs and offers a personalised learning approach.
• It is an uncomplicated way to merge newer training practices such as gamification and mobile learning without having to develop a large project dedicated to those training approaches.

One of the most popular blended learning solutions combines digital, independent approaches as well as shorter face to face training sessions. This kind of learning strategy is beneficial and effective for the following reasons:

• It saves time for both trainers and learners.
• Delivers a more focused, manageable, and cost-effective training program while increasing the engagement of the learners.
• Makes use of evidence-based approaches to learning to deliver more effective training.
• Offers a better way to measure and track learner progress.

Employee onboarding and blended learning

With blended learning, you can incorporate game based learning, mobile learning, simulations, and other innovative training methods alongside traditional training methods. Below are 2 blended learning approaches that could work for you and your team.

Introduce new employees to your company culture through blended learning

Rather than placing your new hires in front of a boring slideshow and giving them a bland lecture about your company and its history, why not give them a “discovery game?”

Make this work by bringing a few experienced team members to the new hire orientation and ask your new hires (individually or in teams) to interview these staff members about the company and its history. This is an excellent way to introduce new hires to experienced professionals within the business, while giving them insight into your corporate culture.

To blend in more elements of gaming, you can provide small prizes for fun, out of the box interview questions that are in line with your company personality. For example, if your company supports a certain charity, and if a new hire asks about this charity – reward them, and acknowledge their interest in this part of your corporate culture.

When you add gamification to your onboarding learning, you engage with your new hires, and help them identify your company values early, leading to better employee retention.

Adding in, in this case “blending” in fun games within your onboarding learning can assist you in building up new team members confidence, making them a part of your company culture immediately, instead of waiting until training is over. Millennial hires are always looking for ways to feel like they belong in their workplace, and blended learning will help them feel a part of something.

Introduce your organisational structure and team members through blended learning

Most onboarding programs have an orientation process that introduces the organisational structure of the company. This is traditionally done with a slideshow or short video, and can be exceptionally boring for your new hires. You want to get your employees excited about their team members and a generic slideshow just won’t make it happen!

This is a terrific opportunity to add blended learning to your training, and a great way to do this is through mobile learning. By using a mobile quiz application, you can deliver short training (microlearning) on your company’s structure, key team members, roles, and responsibilities. Your mobile learning application can be designed as “microlearning” – making the process take no longer than 10 minutes to complete.

Follow up on this by using a quick, person to person activity to assess the effectiveness of the training. Have the new hires speak with some of the established team members and ask them any questions that may have.

When you provide information on your organisation via a mobile learning system, blend it with a group activity to assess and expand the learning process. Through this kind of learning strategy, you already begin to create a sense of comradery and teamwork for your new hires.

Synrgise Blended Learning

Synrgise is a blended learning management and delivery platform. It allows for the management and deployment of all classroom, eLearning, and distance training.

As mentioned, blended learning is a formal education program in which a student learns, at least in part, through delivery of educational content and instruction via digital and online media with some element of student control over time, place, path or pace. While still attending a “brick and mortar” school structure, face to face classroom methods are combined with computer mediated activities.

Where a “brick and mortar” facility is not available, Synrgise makes use of Social Learning and interactive live online training methods to ensure a face to face type training environment – all delivered online.

Contact Synrgise for all your LMS requirements.