Blended Learning

If you have ever attended college you will understand the meaning of a good instructor led discussion. You will know this because you would have had many professors that implemented a process called blended Learning in their teaching.

You would have also been through a few monotone-speaking-professors, who decided to only use Power Point and assign readings for all your assignments. These types of classes are often brutal to endure, and you even start to notice the slightest bit of temperature change. It always seems like the classes are too hot, and you need a cold strong drink to be able to survive the lecture. The clock literally seems like it moves slower and you start to think that your professor is speaking a foreign language. No blended learning technique used in these types of professors teaching.

You might be asking yourself the meaning of the term blended Learning. Blended Learning is the process by which curriculum is taught using two or more training methods. Blended Learning combines instructor led discussion and real world instruction to insure that the audience is having fun while learning. This procedure personalizes the message to the audience in a way that is best for them. Blended Learning makes teaching more efficient.

I know I have ranted a bit about instructor led discussions. They are necessary, but a good instructor will know their audience’s retention time frame. When that level is reached, it is time to use another teaching method to unsure their audience gets the information that they paid for. I will discuss three other ways you can train along with good instructor led discussions.

On the Job-training- Getting your audiences hands dirty in a real world scenario is a great approach. This is where the curriculum will begin to make sense to them, and it will also prompt other important questions regarding the curriculum being taught.

Role playing- Spreading your class into groups and having each group teach a point in the lesson will allow a break in the lecture, and it will also prompt your students to learn everything they can about their point. They will want to do a good job in front of their peers, and you will be able to give the proper feedback.

Games- Games can a very effective way to teach. They give your class a break from the lecture, but also games open up another opportunity to teach the lectures principles while having fun.

Unfortunately there is not a special formula for implementing blended learning. Like mentioned before, you need to know your audience so you can plan effectively. Use blended Learning! It will make you a better instructor, and also allow you student s to have fun while learning.

In addition to instructor lead learning approaches many institutions and organizations are implementing a variety of eLearning Solutions that help individuals learn at a pace and a way that is most effective for them.