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This blog post tackles the five biggest challenges we face when designing blended learning. Often we find ourselves creating a "class and a half" and piling too much content into a blended campaign. This blog post offers strategies to avoid that, and really gets you thinking about the best way to serve your learners. I like the mention of "layers" here. Is blended learning like a layer cake, or an onion? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
This is a MUST read! Jane Hart writes the forward of this report, and states that, "Learning professionals today are hungry for change but many are overwhelmed. This report helps break down the vision for truly integrating learning and work into practical steps.�" I would love to hear your take on this report, so when you're done reviewing it, share your insight with me in the Learning Conversations forum and share your insight.
Building off the "class and a half" concept of overstuffed blended learning, this blog post tackles the concept of the "classroom sandwich" and how that differs from a successful blended learning campaign. Stephanie Morgan does a fantastic job of explaining these three common reasons why blended learning doesn't always work. Take the time to explore the Towards Maturity benchmarking report she references from the link on this post, or from the resource shared here.
This article offers excellent guidance on designing blended learning, and reminds us to include organizational culture as a design factor. These concepts here will get you thinking more strategically.
Another education inspired resource, this infographic showcases ideas on how to re-conceptualize the learning space including physical classroom setups, blended learning strategies, and curriculum design insights.
This whitepaper, from the Skillsoft Learning Program Design series, looks at how learning is becoming continuous (we love any reference to perpetual learning), explores limiting factors, and secrets to making a blend �work�.
Connie Malamed does a fantastic job of translating effective practices from industry and academic research into this quick and valuable read. In Connie's words, "A blended approach needs a new perspective. If you re-work an existing course you are already constrained by the previous approach." Well said!
This report offers so much guidance on blended learning from simple definitions to fully explored, in-depth case studies that include challenges, approaches, and benefits of each solution. This report is 27 pages filled with useful information that you can implement immediately, including language that you can use to make a case for a strategic approach to the design of blended learning.
This article from my friend and colleague, Christopher Pappas highlights the key points you will want to focus on in your instructional design approach. I encourage you to create an infographic to reinforce these concepts. As you design blended learning, see if you can keep tip #10 as a priority and make it easy for all parties involved, including yourself!
This article from Growth Engineering can help you in any learning design situation. This article resonates with me because of the focus on perpetual learning, and the charge to learn from our mistakes. We need to remember that as designers, we are learners too. Always keep learning.
This blog post from the Unicorn Chronicles reframes the way we think about instructional design. This post offers a variety of questions we can ask, along with recommended solutions. Key takeaway: There's no need for every solution to be the same.
Although this site is geared towards educators, there are a wide variety of valuable resources to explore including accessible research. Academia has been doing blended learning successfully for years, and this site is certainly worth exploring for guidance and inspiration.
This handbook is a great resource for planning the design of blended learning campaigns. The five step exercise included in the handbook illustrates a simple approach, and provides guidance on how to translate your design strategy into a way of selling blended solutions to stakeholders. In their words, “Print it out, scribble in it and use it to help make blended learning successful in your organization.”
If you have 50 minutes to spare, this video interview with Clive Shepherd is fascinating. He talks about the benefits of blended learning, design approaches, challenges and solutions, and making the business case for blended solutions. Consider listening to the audio in the background while you work or work out!
This book describes each step in defining, budgeting, building, managing, and measuring blended learning programs. The book has an accompanying website, that will help you stay current on the emerging trends and future directions of blended learning.
