The Office for National Statistics has just published data stating 26% of UK workers are blending working from home and commuting in. Hybrid working has also shifted how we learn, accelerating the digital transformation of L&D, pushing organisations to adopt more online and tech-driven learning solutions.

But while hybrid has enabled real flexibility in workplace learning, it still presents L&D teams with an either/or choice: should we deliver this digitally or face-to-face? Blended learning is different because combines the best of digital and face-to-face or social interactions into a single, seamless learning experience. It brings a world of possibilities to L&D, enabling us to engage learners in a way that better suits them, allows better engagement or it more befitting of the content.

Imagine what this looks like in real terms: blended learning might use digital tools in a face-to-face setting, for example, digital game-based learning completed as a team, or digital exercises interspersed with in-group discussion or evaluation. Or it might engage teams digitally and asynchronously; maybe a hackathon, or a shared workbook or tools such as Padlet, Slido or Mural. It could also mean the use of digital tools in virtual engagements, such as voting tools or breakouts. Because it blends all kinds of approaches and tools, there are almost endless possibilities.

Harvard Business Review reported that employees who use social learning to learn from peers are 75% more likely to apply their new knowledge in their work.

Our approach at Desq is defined by human-centred learning design. Blended give us the ideal chance to design coherent learning experiences that answer real human needs with the best mix of digital tools and human interaction.

Recently, we’ve used blended principles to create digital game-based learning with a competitive element for Goodyear. And we’ve designed a blended onboarding programme for Travel Counsellors, combining over 100 digital modules with face-to-face and virtual ‘moments that matter’. They’ve worked because they consider human behaviours like competition, or collaboration, and build them into the learning experience.

If you're thinking about a blended approach to your L&D, we’d suggest three key principles to take into your blended design:

Make the blended learner experience seamless and coherent

Online and offline methods should be chosen with good reason, with different learning methods suiting different content and objectives. There’s some great work by Dr Philippa Hardman on choosing the right solutions for your learning purpose here. If those elements feel disconnected, we lose much of the benefit of a blended delivery. Choose your methods with sound rationale and this will help – what medium would work best to enable what matters most?

A good flow of activities helps the blend, too, bringing continuity to the experience. By mapping the learning journey we can begin to shape an experience which flows; each activity reinforcing and building on the last. For example we might digitally ‘wrap’ a face-to-face or blended programme: digital pre-learning can lay knowledge foundations and a digital post-learning summary or reflection could reinforce learning.

Blended learning is inherently adaptable – invite feedback and let it evolve

If you’ve chosen a blended approach to a learning design, you’ve chosen a solution that is eminently flexible. It can evolve over time, scale up, expand in scope, adding new content or means of delivery. Build in ways and means to check and measure how it’s going and how to improve, so collect feedback to inspire improvements. A dynamic programme, responsive to learner needs and feedback, will become more and more effective.

We are social creatures, we learn socially

Use the power of in-person elements to really expand and embed learning, especially tacit knowledge. These are the less tangible learnings that might come from hearing an anecdote or reflecting on and sharing your own experience with others. Harvard Business Review reported that employees who learn from peers are 75% more likely to apply their new knowledge in their work.

The ways and means of bringing social and interactive in-person learning into L&D are vast. In-person could include buddy and mentor schemes, shadowing, hands-on practice and workshops. Digitally, you could build social methods like learning circles or communities of practice or collaborative platforms like Slack or Miro. Social learning doesn’t have to mean getting people in the same physical space – think digitally about enabling connection and collaboration and social learning becomes sustainable and accessible for all.

How will you make the best of blended?

Desq is a team of human-centred, science-led, creatively driven learning design experts, developing onboarding, training, development and learning strategies for leading brands and businesses around the world. To see how we’ve helped clients to rethink learning, to sign up for our newsletter or to discuss a project and find out how we can help you, go to www.desq.co.uk