Blended Learning: Flexibility & Collaboration for Entrepreneurs

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• September 20, 2023

Blended Learning: Flexibility & Collaboration for Entrepreneurs

Have you ever wished you could participate in a training course in your pajamas while still connecting in person with your team? How about providing professional development on flexible schedules that accommodate working parents? You can do this with blended learning! 

Blended learning combines online and in-person instruction, leveraging digital tools and traditional classroom methods to create a comprehensive learning experience. The blend of online and face-to-face interactions caters to diverse learning needs. By combining online and in-classroom instruction, blended learning allows you to optimize training for yourself and your employees. Let’s explore the strategic benefits of blended learning.

Benefits of Blended Learning

Provide Flexibility for Employees

Many of your employees are likely juggling children and family and other responsibilities outside of work. Blended learning allows workers to learn on flexible schedules through online components while still getting in-person collaboration. This caters to employees with changing availability.

Example: Having employees complete compliance training online while attending monthly in-person seminars allows employees to learn on flexible schedules.

Encourage Peer Learning and Teamwork  

In-person components of blended learning, like group projects, discussions, and workshops, facilitate employee relationship-building. Doing activities together helps teams bond, promoting better collaboration, networking, and support among your staff.

Example: A media production company has employees collaborate online to write scripts and then meet in person to shoot videos, facilitating relationship building. In-person activities help teams bond, promoting better collaboration, networking, and support.

Accommodate Different Learning Styles

People have diverse preferences for processing information, whether visual, kinesthetic, auditory, etc. Blended learning incorporates multimedia resources, interactive activities, discussions, and more to address different learning needs and improve retention.

Example: An online course provides visual presentations and readings, while in-person classes include discussions, hands-on activities, and roleplaying to address diverse learning preferences and improve retention.

Bridge Virtual and In-Person Work

With the rise of remote and hybrid work models, blended learning mirrors this environment. Employees can practice collaborating virtually on online assignments as well as face-to-face on group projects, which is excellent practice for remote and hybrid work models.

Example: A software company implements blended engineering training where employees complete coding modules online and attend in-person workshops to practice collaborative debugging.

Build Digital Skills with New Tech

The online portions of blended learning are great opportunities to advance your team’s digital literacy. Through online blended modules, entrepreneurs can upskill employees on new software, platforms, and tech to improve digital literacy across the company. 

Example: Employees take social media and design thinking courses online and then meet in design studios to strategize actual campaigns, building their tech skills.

Make Learning Affordable and Accessible

Well-designed blended learning optimizes costs by delivering some content virtually. This makes continuous learning more budget-friendly, allowing you to provide professional development opportunities to more employees. 

Example: Delivering leadership training online reduces costs, allowing a retail business to provide development opportunities to all store managers, not just a select few.

Wrap-Up

The current reality is that many work settings are hybrid or remote. Blended learning prepares your company for success in these environments. With the right strategy, you can optimize training to engage your team no matter where or how they work. The benefits of blended learning are clear—combining online convenience and in-person collaboration allows for a personalized and flexible learning experience. Employees can learn at their own pace online yet still gain peer networking and hands-on practice. Though it requires strong motivation to complete the online portion, blended learning’s advantages make it a worthwhile investment. 

Look for opportunities in your existing training programs to incorporate online elements and in-person activities. Work with managers to implement blended learning company-wide. Experiment with flipped classroom and hybrid models that bridge virtual and face-to-face interactions. Lean into blended learning to propel your organization forward with motivated, united, and highly skilled teams ready to thrive!