Hybrid Training: How Can It Work for You?
By Alex Heiphetz

Pronounce words "DVD set for training" and people around you hear "distance education." Or used to hear, to be precise, and, in many cases, turn you off because distance training used to be thought of as something second-rate. Something people do when they cannot afford the real thing.

Judging by comments we hear from our customers and the picture we see in the field, the situation is turning. Stricter financial considerations collide with wider corporate need for training. Wider acceptance of distance and hybrid/ blended training is becoming increasingly popular in our world. The vast majority of training today happens in a traditional way—in the classroom.

However, our forward-looking indicator—interest as expressed by our clients' pilot projects—certainly indicates that many of them are seriously considering adding distance and hybrid courses to their offerings. Before you opt for these hybrid programs, consider the opportunities and challenges that come with the package.

Hybrid's benefits

Enumeration of the benefits of distance/hybrid training often starts with financials: with all expenses (training, employee's salary, travel, etc.) counted, distance training averages five to 10 times and hybrid training two to five times less expensive than classroom training. In our experience, however training costs are not the only factor compelling the change from classroom to remote training.

Surprisingly as it may sound, remote training presents new opportunities not available during in-class session. Unlike traditional classroom setting where students spend most of the time listening to the instructor, well-rounded distance or hybrid course includes much more than videotaped lecture. DVD technology allows you to supplement video lectures with outside demonstrations and video fragments, PDF and Microsoft Office documents, links to relevant Web sites, slide shows, interactive manuals, quizzes, links to online forms and an option to e-mail the instructor with questions.

Students' ability to set their own pace of study, return to any part that was not clear, check the progress with quizzes before moving forward, and learn from a vast variety of resources greatly enhances learning experience and command of materials.

Given good preparedness, lack of the face-to-face contact is well compensated by electronic communications: message boards, chat, instant messaging and e-mail. In hybrid course setting, trainees come to the class having learned the basic material. Thus, class time can be used to explore more complex facets of the topic at hand, answer individual questions, review a bigger picture, and apply this new knowledge to solving specific problems trainees pose.

Oftentimes educators start with a certain apprehension toward distance learning. Taken without precaution, distance training does have potential to cannibalize existing business. Careful planning, however, leads to an opposite situation. Playing out the benefits of the new model, you can actually expand your reach and course enrollment. You can continue teaching base courses in a classroom setting and use distance or hybrid learning framework for a periodical refresher. In addition, you are expanding your reach by enrolling trainers who otherwise would not seriously consider attending the class due to time and travel constrains.

Change of paradigm is often accompanied by change in the market players. Today we clearly see this in academia where new universities emerge that specialize exclusively in distance learning. University of Phoenix, unheard of just a few years ago, today successfully competes with centuries-old institutions. Similar developments should not be surprising in training market as well. Existing players have the benefit of knowing the market and brand recognition in the market. Failure to convert this potential to a predominant market position would mean waste of significant resources you’ve already invested in your business.

Meeting the challenge

Opportunities and advantages do not come without significant challenges that instructors, trainees and support staff must address. The challenges start with necessity to re-design courses to fit new method of delivery, as well as adult learning patterns. Before you start a distance or hybrid program, instructors must be re-trained to understand the significant differences in verbal and especially non-verbal feedback they will encounter in new framework.

At the moment there are few, if any, course materials designed specifically with hybrid or distance learning models in mind. Chances are you will need to design educational materials on your own, or at least significantly alter existing courseware to fit the mode of delivery. On the other side, technology allows you to easily incorporate existing units, such as existing video, Web sites, or papers into your course. (Of course, trainers need to be mindful of copyright issues and might be better off just using links to existing material). Depending on your experience and willingness to experiment with technology, you may select to create all the courseware, including video and Web parts, yourself or you might contract a specialized company to do the technical part.

Be prepared to modify courseware often. Just as you add or remove something from a traditional classroom course, hybrid or distance learning course will require modifications. Correspondingly, the company producing your manuals, DVDs or other materials must be able to produce them on-demand, modified according to your requirements to each class.

Technical problems present a two-prong issue: problems faced by you and problems encountered by the students. In our culture, instructors are socialized to have answers to all students' questions. Students are socialized to turn to the instructor for answers to all course-related problems. In distance and hybrid learning, unless instructors are very "technologically advanced," this setup may lead to the disastrous results, and it should be corrected from the beginning.

Both students and instructors must be re-educated to understand that only subject-related questions should be addressed to the instructor. All other questions should be directed to technical support or administrative support staff. If this rule is not instilled from the outset, you run a serious risk of instructors spending most of their time trying to fix somebody's computer or DVD player and not being able to do so.

Your courseware provider, if you contract one, should be able to offer students technical support via electronic means and over the phone at reasonable times. Having bulletin board communication and an FAQ section on your course Web site will help communicate general issues to the class as a whole and save a lot of time, effort and frustration for all.

At the time when many companies research opportunities offered by distance and hybrid training, you owe it to yourself to explore the prospects this format might bring to your business. However, you need to be prepared to meet the challenges of the new setup in order to reap the (yes, and they are plentiful) benefits of transition to distance or hybrid training.


Reprinted from Training Magazine’s Web Site, Manage Smarter

Alex Heiphetz received Ph.D. in geophysics from the University of Pittsburgh. After working for a consulting firm he started an independent company in 1997. Delta L Printing specializes in business services to training companies and educational institutions: training management software, publishing, audio and video production. Dr. Heiphetz can be reached via e-mail at alex.heiphetz@deltalprinting.com or through the company Web site, www.deltalprinting.com, or at (814) 234-0900. Web site visitors can use Delta L's training management software at no charge.