34 The Handbook of Blended Learning

What Is the Role of Community in Designing Blended Learning Experiences

One of the most exciting opportunities afforded by blended learning experiences is the opportunity to create learning communities. All of us have participated in traditional learning programs, but how often do we interact with other students after the program is complete? Often we cannot even recall the names of people sitting adjacent to us.

One of the benefits of a blended learning curriculum that includes asynchro­nous collaboration between participants is that they tend to form more long-lasting relationships and rely on each other after the formal experience is over. E-mail, in­stant messaging, and community discussion boards facilitate the participants' seeing each other as resources, especially since communication is only a click away. Earlier, I spoke of learning communities as a potential trendy fad. With the right design, blended learning can turn the jargon of learning communities into a reality.

How Do We Know if the Blend Works?

The last, and ever continuous, step in the ISD model is evaluation, and a critical component of evaluation is piloting. For most of us, creating truly blended expe­riences that are not grounded in the traditional classroom is new. Because of this, a pilot test or sample becomes even more crucial to success.

In such a pilot, you should implement your program including all participant materials, leader materials, and technologies. Use a representative audience as well as facilitators trained in the use of the various delivery technologies. Keep your de­sign team close at hand so it can evaluate the design. Pay special attention to in­structions. This is where many blended programs fall apart. Can participants follow the instructions easily with minimal to no questions? If not, serious consequences will surely ensue. Participants will either stop moving forward with the program or will struggle to try to complete the experience and find it less than satisfying.

Assessment and continuous improvement should continue even once the pro­gram is out of the pilot phase. When problems are identified, they should be fixed and communicated immediately.

Facilitating Blended Learning Experiences

Concurrent with the design process, the training team should be consider­ing another critical success factor: how to facilitate the blended learning experience.

Why Blended Learning Hasn't (Yet) Fulfilled Its Promises

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Do not make the assumption that traditional facilitators for a particular sub­ject are the best choices for managing the blended version of the same content. Effective classroom facilitators rely heavily on the ability to manage the room by interpreting eye contact and body language. They may also have a physically an­imated personality that is visually engaging to their audiences. These individu­als have invested quite a bit of their professional credibility in their physical presence.

Online instruction takes the physical language of the classroom away and replaces it with many nonverbal and nonphysical cues that may (in the case of a synchronous classroom) or may not (during self-directed activities) be available in real time. Add to this the need to manage the technical aspects and associated problems that accompany blended learning experiences, and we have truly created a new job description, not simply added to the existing definition of trainer.

Remember that the entire blended learning experience, including the self-directed components, is instructor led. There is a different level of commitment for the blended learning facilitators, who are forced to pay attention to the par­ticipants' welfare before, during, and after all live events. Well-designed partici­pant materials certainly help to manage the process, but the program is not over once the participants leave the building.

A blended solution can contain many components. Asynchronous compo­nents may include technologies ranging from self-directed tutorials to facili­tated discussion boards. Synchronous technologies range from traditional classrooms to virtual online classrooms. We need to be careful not to overem­phasize the live (synchronous) and undervalue the asynchronous components of the blend. All aspects, including assessment, required communication, partici­pation, and exercise completion, need to be considered as important as attend­ing any live (live meaning face-to-face or synchronous online) events. We need to remember to reinforce the blend, so that participants understand the importance as well. Otherwise participants will wait for the live events to obtain the "important stuff," and the blend will not be successful. The technology, not the implementation, will be seen as ineffective, and future blended learning projects will not be as warmly embraced.

How Do We Get It All Done?

During synchronous interactions, many trainers opt not to take advantage of all of the tools available to increase interaction. They can't see themselves being able to multitask to the extent required, so they limit participant use of chat, white­board tools, and other interactive features of the synchronous classroom. The

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The Handbook of Blended Learning

trainer's role in the synchronous classroom is then reduced to pushing content and lecturing instead of facilitating interactions and knowledge sharing.

The self-directed components of the blend pose different problems. It is dif­ficult to keep up with all discussion board postings, required e-mails, off-line tech­nical and instructional support, and the amount of communication needed to keep the participants on track. The solution to this dilemma lies in the idea of team teaching. An assistant trainer (I call this person a producer) can help transform blended programs into trouble-free, interesting, interactive events that keep learn­ers involved and the trainer on track. In short, the trainer can stay focused on con­tent while the producer takes care of everything else. This person does not need to be an expensive resource. I have used training assistants and interns to great re­sult, and at the same time created a job path for these individuals in the training department.

How Do We Teach Our Team?

Because many of the technologies included in a blend are so new and the ways these technologies can be arranged are so varied, a serious concern is the lack of facilitator experience in managing the blend. Without experience as a participant and formal training, facilitators have little choice but to approach the initiative in the same ways as they would a traditional learning experience. They then are left to learn from their mistakes. This can be frustrating for the facilitator and can have a negative impact on results.

To prepare to manage a blended program, new facilitators should:

• Participate in as many blended learning experiences as possible. Enroll in programs that allow them to participate as a learner and experience the same types of problems. This will help them to understand participant questions and frus­trations and deal with them appropriately.

• Learn how to use all of the technologies ("point-and-click" training) that may be included in the blend. The desired level of mastery is the ability of the facilitator to answer participants' technical questions without being able to see their screens. ("Look for the letter A in your whiteboard toolbar, which is located in the upper left corner of the screen. The letter A is located directly under the Help pull-down menu . . . ")

• Learn how to facilitate the individual technologies. There are nuances that need to be learned and practiced in order to achieve mastery. Facilitat­ing each type of technology is different, and those differences need to be appreciated.

Why Blended Learning Hasn't (Yet) Fulfilled Its Promises 37

• Practice managing the blend. After facilitators have mastered the technol­ogy, they should review the participant guides and leader materials and make sure they understand the exercises and can articulate the connections between the dif­ferent components. When recorded synchronous sessions are available, they should be viewed. The designer should be available to answer questions and the producer available to help prepare.

Train the Trainer Using Blended Learning

I recently created a curriculum for a client that exposes the training team to all of the preparation components mentioned above. Most sessions listed in Table 3.1 are delivered using a synchronous classroom. Sessions 3 and 4 are delivered in a traditional format. All programs are followed by independent work in discussion areas and distributed group work in which small groups create and deliver a blended solution. Virtual office hours are formally scheduled to support the ini­tiative, and all live events are recorded for those who must miss a class. A seventy-five-page participant guide, two textbooks, and a list of online readings support the content. By participating in this program, learners are exposed to (and immersed in) a true blended learning curriculum. The "collaboratory" (session 4) exposes participants to developing these nontraditional programs and provides resources for achieving mastery.

You will notice that modules on designing blended learning are included. It is always a good idea to train the design and facilitation teams together so these individuals mutually understand the strategy for the design and the unique ex­perience of the blended learning facilitator.

Supporting Blended Learning Experiences

Having a robust design and a well-prepared facilitation team are truly critical to the success of the program. In addition, the organization needs to be ready to sup­port all aspects of the blend. Often, implementing blended learning is considered a technology initiative. An organization would be much better served looking at it as a change initiative. Let's face it: someone will be able to make the technology work (if not, it will be replaced). Let information technology worry about tech­nology issues.

We are asking people to teach and learn in very different ways, without prop­erly preparing the organization for this change. The most challenging part of changing the learning culture is impressing on participants that prework and in-tersession work is not optional. We seem to have become a culture that believes that if a particular concept is important, the facilitator will discuss it during the