Want to Accelerate Your Leadership Development? 4 Reasons to Try Blended Learning

The modern workforce is often occupied with work schedules that do not leave enough time to train. Between deadlines and meetings, most don’t have enough time working to make time for classroom instruction. However, if they do not devote enough time to enhancing their abilities and abilities, they’ll never become the competent leaders you require to ensure your business’s continued expansion. Technology has helped take education to the next stage with blended learning courses that blend in-person training with online courses that are led by instructors and self-paced techniques like online learning.

While many companies may be aware of mixed learning but not everyone might be aware of how it could help their business.

If your business is thinking about blended learning but hasn’t taken the leap yet, Here are four good reasons to consider it.

It’s Flexible and Scalable

Blended learning allows busy people who have little time to divide their classes into smaller chunks of time rather than sitting in a class for hours. Although there might be some training in person, however, there are other tutorials that can be accessed on the go accessible online. Leaders can squeeze into lunch breaks, watch on their commutes or even complete between meetings. The ability to break online instructor-led sessions into sessions lasting between 60 and 90 minutes is ideal for the majority of participants giving them the chance to improve their skills while not getting up from their desks. The knowledge that they’re not tied to a traditional classroom environment will help them finish their training faster.

Self-motivated learners can benefit from many self-directed videos and webinars that are available for free or at no cost through sites like Harvard Business Review, HRDQ-U, OpenSesame, and ATD.

Participants are able to access many of these apps anywhere they go in the world, whether it’s using a tablet in the airport or using their phone during meetings.

The versatility of blended learning makes it simple to scale as your business grows. Traditional classroom-based learning might work well with an audience of 16-20 that are all in the same place; however, it’s much harder to duplicate across different regions or even internationally.

It’s Affordable

Every business wants to cut costs and remain on budget. In reality, some companies might opt for blended learning with this aim in the back of their minds. Blended learning is a great option to lower or eliminate the cost of travel for employees and other training-related expenses like food and lodging. Also, it significantly decreases costs for instructors and of renting a facility. Furthermore, employees will be less productive and lose time in the course of their work when they are able to attend classes for just an hour or two at a time instead of having to travel for a long time and taking part in the on-site classes.

It Combines the Best of Traditional and e-Learning Approaches.

People are naturally social. Humans are capable of learning from recordings and manuals; however, humans also gain a considerable quantity from each other. This type of interaction helps students explore new perspectives and help to retain and apply the knowledge they’ve learned. This is one of the primary advantages of learning in the classroom.

Self-directed or instructor-led learning, however, comes with numerous positives on its own. Apart from its affordability and flexibility, it also reduces the amount of competition associated with class-based learning and assists students to remain focused on their own achievements instead of their classmates.

Blended learning allows students to take advantage of the advantages from both online and traditional learning settings. Online forums, interactive chat sessions, break-out rooms with electronic technology, and other functions enable employers to reproduce many of the aspects and benefits of in-person online classroom learning.

Your Competitors Are Likely Already Using It

Today 77% of U.S. companies offer online corporate training in order to enhance professional development, says Christopher Pappas, founder of The eLearning Industry’s Network. The market for corporate online training is predicted to expand by 13% each year until 2017. Around 30 percent of corporate training was conducted through blended learning this year, as per 2014’s Training Industry Report. A number of the fastest-growing countries globally are adopting the concept of blend learning method as the best method and which includes India and China being the leaders.

With the help of technology, businesses can give their employees greater flexibility in training. Managers can maintain their credentials faster, and businesses can keep their expenses down.

Are you ready to take on blended learning? OnPoint provides a variety of affordable online learning courses that you can easily integrate into your existing program for developing leadership. Find out more about our courses that focus on virtual leadership and working across boundaries within your organization.