Blended Learning Vs. ILT: Should You Transition From Traditional In-Person Training to a Blended Approach?

Blended learning vs. ILT (instructor-led training) — it might be challenging to determine the best course of action while deciding the better option between the two: your current ILT program or a mixed or online format. In this article, we will explore its answer. We will also examine transitioning from the traditional ILT approach to a blended/hybrid paradigm. Let us get started!

A Gradual Shift From Traditional ILT to Blended Learning

The past ten years have seen changes in many areas, such as how we acquire knowledge and how corporate learning is delivered to professionals. The traditional lecture-based framework of formal corporate instruction is being replaced by an increasingly blended approach that combines conventional learning models with cutting-edge technology to produce an educational environment which is more interactive and efficient. In fact, more than 59% of educators report active participation in blended learning environments.

Let us first examine the many learning strategies, including face-to-face training, eLearning, and blended learning, to assist you in better comprehending what we’re dealing with.

The Main Forms of Instruction in Corporate Training

ILT

ILT is the traditional method of instruction from the days of yore. It occurs in a regular classroom, frequently with just one speaker lecturing while learners take notes. Individuals can form a personal attachment to the content they are learning through face-to-face instruction.

Workers interact with a live human being (the trainer). As the topic is being delivered, they are free to pose any queries. In your program, users can communicate with their peers and form networks. Additionally, these programs usually only last a single session.

Online Learning

At the beginning of the millennium, online learning made a significant entrance. It changed how businesses provided training by facilitating the ability to give courses anytime to everyone. People can enroll in classes from just about anywhere, at their own pace, for a lower price. The curricula are recurrent, indicating that once an employee has access, they can go over the content repeatedly.

Even better, certain e-learning materials appear to accommodate different styles of learning better. Authored articles or collaborative internet activities provide diversification from more conventional auditory-based classroom instruction. The venue’s space no longer constrains learners, the presenters’ schedules, or the registrants’ travel costs.

Blended Learning

Blended learning became popular once internet learning evolved into a preferred training model among firms. Online and in-person instruction are combined to create blended learning. It brings in the finest of both environments.

It combines conventional in-person teaching techniques, such as in-class attendance, with online materials, such as videos, electronic brochures, and even projects submitted online after a session.

What Is Causing the Shift From ILT to Online and Blended Learning?

Two factors primarily drive this. Breakthroughs in tech come first. A desire for more robust learning management systems (LMSs) resulted from the growth of online education. The sector is expected to be valued at $325 billion by 2025, and it has contributed to the era when anybody can access classes.

Employees globally can now enroll in the same course simultaneously thanks to technology. Employees no longer need to go in order to learn with a particular instructor or complete a necessary course. These days, individuals can obtain all of it online using personal laptops, smartphones, and other portable devices.

Additionally, organizational knowledge of human learning has improved dramatically. L&D leaders are beginning to recognize ILT is not always the best learning method. Each professional possesses a distinct learning style, and they benefit more from personalized eLearning — as opposed to sitting through lectures while taking notes erratically on a sheet of paper.

Hence, companies have started modifying rather than attempting to make people learn unsatisfactorily. This results from knowing that instruction and programs are designed to teach employees effectively. Both money and time are lost if lessons aren’t taught in a manner that encourages learning outcomes, and that’s why this transition is unfolding.

How Does This Change Affect Your Employees?

The primary benefit of using a blended learning method for your programs is that you can deliver them more successfully. This occurs as a result of the atmosphere you establish that employs a wide range of instructional strategies — which cater to a range of diverse learning styles.

Employees aren’t only attending your classes to write things down; they have the opportunity to engage in a practice known as flipped classrooms. Research and intelligence gathering are done beforehand. Instructors are better suited to engaging in conversations on the subjects and offering a setting where a greater comprehension of the coursework is feasible.

The application of technology also aids in keeping learners interested. As the field of digital learning expands, users have access to more and more hip and practical technologies, such as augmented and virtual reality.

These promote engagement, keep learners interested in the subject matter, and enable the development of gamified learning experiences — which further boosts engagement alongside knowledge retention. This results in individuals who recall more facts and gain more from the session, which can result in contented employees and increased productivity.

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Now that you see why there has been a gradual shift from ILT to online and then blended approaches, let us explore how blended learning surpasses instructor-led training.

Blended Learning Vs. ILT: How Does a Blended Approach Surpass Traditional In-person Instructional Strategies?

In addition to allowing you to conduct more effective programs, blended learning will enable you to offer sessions that are significantly inexpensive to administer and demand fewer hours and effort from the instructors.

You can design an experiential learning ecosystem that will wow your users and places you a step above the competition with a particular initial expenditure. You may conduct really successful and reasonably priced sessions when you pair this with the types of advantages a learning management system can offer.

From a two-day, in-person lecture (for which it may cost you $2,000) to a fully interactive, three-week event that examines the content in a more valuable and meaningful way (and which costs only, say 1,000), courses have undergone significant change. Additionally, blended learning offers the opportunity for more relevant online and in-person exchanges between learners and trainers, which improves the educational experience for your employees.

Perhaps most importantly, blended learning gives you an advantage over your rivals. This strategy is very new. Thus not many businesses have embraced it. It allows you to provide courses that combine the latest innovation with the most effective and lucrative teaching methods.

Not every company should use blended learning, though. You should opt for this hybrid training strategy depending on your requirements — the number of employees, demographics, locations, cultural diversity, learning styles, and your L&D budget. Certain companies can find it too expensive to transition to e-learning or not want to give up the human touch.

But if you remain with an ILT-only approach, you must forgo learning technologies’ advantages. Consequently, let’s go through a few justifications for why your organization needs to think about blended learning technology rather than conventional in-person sessions.

Increases Accessibility to Training

Conventional face-to-face training courses necessitate extensive advanced preparation. Everyone needs to be in the exact location at the same time, with the same level of instruction. For instance, newly recruited employees congregate in the conference room to peruse printed manuals and attend to a presentation by the trainer.

Employees can access training resources whenever and wherever they’re needed thanks to blended learning technologies — while yet being able to add foundational ILT lessons to their L&D as a backup.

Due to the existence of audio commentaries and other technologically aided tools that promote an inclusive learning environment, such mobility also applies to employees with special needs.

Boosts Personalization

You can stock your repository of blended learning resources with everything from webinars to short videos as support materials. You can customize every learning algorithm component and focus on specific areas for progress because each is designed to meet various deficits, objectives, and interests.

Workers can also assess their strengths and limitations using integrated learning resources. They can then follow their individualized training plan to boost efficiency. A collaborative learning LMS’s analytics are also available to your L&D staff, which they may use to improve content personalization even more. For instance, low engagement levels for a novel simulation may signify that it lacks authenticity or does not address the required talent shortages.

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Cuts Down Training Costs

It is not necessary to hold ILT sessions to address every compliance concern or area of training. By using blended learning techniques, you can solve these training problems. Branched scenarios or taped webinars are two examples. Costs associated with conventional training, such as venue rental and travel expenses, are eliminated.

Additionally, there is less time spent sitting down, which results in less money for learning and far more time working. For example, staff members are no longer required to travel out of the city for a weekly workshop. To bolster their knowledge, they can go to live events and use online training materials as a follow-up.

Rapidly Adjusts to Newly Introduced Laws And Rules

Compliance rules and organizational policies frequently change as time passes. And to minimize the repercussions, like workplace accidents and fines, your firm has to be capable of keeping up with these changes as rapidly as other competing corporations. With educational technologies, blended learning enables you to address problems quickly.

For instance, you could utilize a framework to roll out updated safety policies for your implementation team swiftly. With conventional training, your workers must wait to attend the next planned class or be summoned to an urgent meeting. It might get too late in this instance. You may affordably give your workforce adaptive and flexible training materials using blended learning technologies.

How Can You Transition From ILT to a Blended Learning Framework?

Even while blended training has many benefits over ILT instruction, how you create the correct mix will profoundly influence how effective it is. The top two determining criteria are as follows:

• The type of information and if it can be given in a blended learning environment or entirely digitally.
• When a trainer intervention is necessary to fulfill the educational requirement.

Our strategy at PlayAblo concentrates on determining which crucial elements of an assisted experience must be kept and which elements will have a significant impact when they are delivered online. As a result, the training would correspond to the following:

• A balanced mixture of in-person, digital, and ILT instruction.
• Quick and concentrated face-to-face ILT instruction followed by substantial digital training.
• a sizeable portion of ILT learning and face-to-face instruction, and a small portion of eLearning.

Summary

The widespread belief that small firms can’t afford educational technologies is what prevents many of them from moving forward. It takes too much time to deploy blended learning systems, or there are no funds in the budget for it.

Nevertheless, if a company knows how to mitigate the risks and discover the correct tools, it may use blended training to its advantage. Our blog on how to start with blended learning provides a behind-the-scenes look at each step so your company may join the blended learning trend and provide its workers with the best benefits from both L&D words.

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