Laura Layton-James – LJ Learning

Browse Author by Laura Layton-James

The virtual trainer’s inner superheroes

Two cartoon people, one woman, one man dressed in every day clothes positioned in a power stance. Their shadows appear larger behind them as super heroes wearing capes indicating they have inner superhero powers. — Your inner superhero

“A superhero is a person who does heroic deeds and has the ability to do them in a way that a normal person couldn’t. So in order to be a superhero, you need a power that is more exceptional than any power a normal human being could possess, and you need to use that power to accomplish good deeds.”
Stan Lee

Over the last few weeks, hubby and I have been on a Marvel-fest on Netflix watching the films in chronological time order not their release dates. I’m a little bit of a superhero fan with the 1960s Batman (Adam West) series being my all-time favourite.

Whilst my mind is in the Marvel Universe I began to think about the varied roles we have as a trainer (I know – a little sad aren’t I?) and how their qualities are as important online as they are in the physical classroom. To help us do battle in the virtual learning world they will need to don their capes and suits, master their super powers and ‘spidey-senses’ to become our inner super-heroes.

12 inner superheroes you might recognise?

The Administrator
The Architect
The Assessor
The Author
The Coach
The Creative
The Counsellor
The Facilitator
The Host
The Expert
The Presenter
The Psychologist

Some of what they do

The Administrator – record keeping, reporting, note taking, corresponding, organising

The Architect – analysing and planning a multi-modal learning strategies

The Assessor – setting criteria for competencies, monitoring progress and judging individuals’ achievements against criteria

The Author – creating the content that’s easy to understand

The Coach – supporting individuals’ growth through observation, questions, self-reflection, feedback, development plans

The Creative – generating ideas for activities and visuals

The Counsellor – providing emotional support and a safe space to share and learn

The Expert – providing the subject matter expertise

The Facilitator – prompting and guiding discussions, encouraging participation and sharing of ideas

The Host – welcoming people, making sure they are comfortable, have what they need when needed

The Presenter – presenting content clearly with style and confidence

The Psychologist – understanding the person to help influence actions and behaviour to achieve goals

We shape-shift between our inner superheroes seamlessly to provide our charges with a smooth, engaging and effective learning experience. But, as in the movies, even superheroes need outside support: think of Alfred to Batman, Lois Lane to Superman, and Pepper Potts to Iron Man. These are the people who might take on logistics, organisational and admins jobs so we don’t have to do it all by ourselves. So some of the roles above are shared with other people whilst we would carry out elements of them ourselves.

Getting used to a different world

Just like Princess Diana of Themyscira (aka Wonder Woman in case you hadn’t guessed) dressed as Diana Prince entered WWII London for the first time, your inner superheroes may find the experience quite strange and perhaps a little uncomfortable while you learn to adapt and interact. It will take a little time to adjust.

Getting a little help from your friends

You’ll find more inner superheroes waiting for you in the online world. Some may become sidekicks- those superheroes who work along side you on a task so you can concentrate on all the other things that you need to do. Sometimes, they too will join you as an inner superhero for you to shape shift between.

5 more superheroes to help you in the virtual world

The Learning Technologist
The Community Manager
The Producer
The YouTuber
The Radio Star

Some of what they do

The Learning Technologist – researching and analysing learning technologies, deciding appropriate tools to use, create digital learning activities, supporting others to use them

The Community Manager – maintaining engagement and overseeing content in asynchronous environment

The Producer – making sure the sessions run smoothly, providing technical support and guidance

The YouTuber – staging the scene, appearing natural, comfortable and confident on camera,

The Radio Star – engaging the audience with clear, natural and friendly tone even when there is no camera

So next time you’ve finished the day exhausted from online training, remind yourself just how many jobs you actually do. I’ll be exploring some of these in more detail in the future.

Who can you add to the list and what super powers would you like to help you in your virtual training?

I always wanted roller blades

A little girl dressed in warm clothes and woolly hat and wearing roller blade boots on. She is sitting on stone steps. — Image by Alexander Belyaev from Pixabay

When I was a kid, I loved my roller skates. They weren’t as fancy as kids might have today. Mine were two metal plates joined together with a butterfly nut so you could lengthen them and adjustable red leather sandal style straps; all designed so they grew with you.

A very old pair of metal roller skates with leather ankle strap. — Image by olgamir_2004 from Pixabay

I whizzed up and down the cul-de-sack having a whale of a time. That is until the council decided to resurface the road with stone chips and tarmac instead of just that lovely smooth tarmac, (invented by Edgar Purnell Hooley in 1902 in the UK). It seriously impeded my enjoyment. So much so, my roller skates were relegated to some dark corner of the garage.

When roller blades (or inline skates) appeared in the late 1980s, I have secretly hankered after a pair ever since but never owned any… until a few weeks ago.

These are no ordinary roller blades and they are a lot safer to use (good as I’m rather accident prone). They are roller blades for my office chair. (please note, this link is to show an example, it is not an affiliate link and are not the exact make I have)

What? For a chair?

Yep, these are totally amazing. They’ve made a huge difference to my comfort when I’m working in my garden summer house office. It’s much easier to move around- so smooth. They are designed so they won’t mark wooden floors, are quieter so perfect if you are working from home. In fact, they are perfect anywhere you spend the majority of your day in an office chair.

Roller blades for an office chair

To change the wheels, you simply pull off the old wheels and push in the new. Easy-peasy.

This got me thinking about how there is always room for improvement and that we can borrow from the most unexpected of places. If there are barriers to success and enjoyment, what can we do to remove them or at least minimise them? Good user experience is important. We don’t usually notice good user experience (that’s the whole point; it becomes invisible), but poor user experience just gets in the way, disrupts our concentration and impedes performance.

What’s made your working / learning spaces more comfortable, easier, and a pleasure to be in?

Picture this

“Picture this – a day in December
Picture this – freezing cold weather
You got clouds on your lids and you’d be on the skids
If it weren’t for your job at the garage
If you could only oh-oh
Picture this – a sky full of thunder
Picture this – my telephone number
One and one is what I’m telling you, oh yeah”
Blondie – lyrics by Chris Stein, Debbie Harry and Jimmy Destri

Could you picture it? What did you picture? What did you hear? What did you feel?

To help people ‘get’ something we might say ‘picture it in your mind’s eye’. We might refer to someone as having an ‘active imagination’.

When I was thinking about how to start this post, the phrase ‘picture this’ came to me and instantly I could hear Blondie singing them and I could ‘see’ her music video playing in my head – weird right? Well, I don’t think it’s weird because I’ve always done it. I have a sort of multi-sensory experience… silently to others but the music is playing to me.

Usually, at the top of my posts I add an image that has some relevance with my topic. This time I purposefully didn’t. Why? Let’s find out.

Where am I going with this?

Last week, I read a post that Susi Miller shared on LinkedIn (I’m sorry I don’t have the original post as LinkedIn app refreshed before I could read it and I couldn’t find it again – frustrating). It was in The New York Times I think and was about something called aphantasia.

What is Aphantasia?

Aphantasia is a condition where some people are not able to visualise mental images. I found this extremely difficult to imagine how people can’t imagine. I had to research this a little more.

Professor Adam Zeman of the University of Exeter Medical School first came up with the term in 2015 after writing about a strange case where a man in his 60s was no longer able to imagine in his ‘mind’s eye’ following cardiac surgery. This began Professor Zeman’s research into the condition.

But the condition isn’t just a result of such trauma. Some are born with it. Here’s Tom Ebeyer’s personal story about his aphantasia. If you open the video in YouTube, it’s interesting reading people’s comments.

Tony Ebeyer telling his own story about living with aphantasia

Here’s the written post if you don’t want to watch the video.

Although the condition can be distressing for some, it does not have any link with the quality of what people produce. There are some surprising professions where you may find people working to a high level of creativity. Both Ed Catmull, Co-Founder of Pixar and Glen Keane who created The Little Mermaid, Ariel, both have the condition as highlighted in this BBC article: Aphantasia: Ex-Pixar chief Ed Catmull says ‘my mind’s eye is blind’.

Check out the aphantasia website to learn more about this, whether you have wondered why you don’t ‘see’ what other’s see in your head or to widen your awareness.

Using visualisation for performance improvement

We’ve often used visualisation as a technique to help people improve performance. It has now become a bigger part of both aspiring and top shooters in archery.

It has certainly been part of my husband’s preparation and practise that helped get him his national an international titles in field archery some years ago. After some years recovering from shoulder surgery, he is now getting back into it and he explained to me how he uses visualisation to see himself ‘in the field’.

Almost like an out of body experience, he sees and experiences himself go round the targets from first to last; he gets to the shooting peg and goes through his shot routine, sees himself shoot and watches the arrow hit the spot. When he’s out in the field, and about to take his shot at full-draw, in his mind’s eye, he visualises his release and the arrow snaking to the 10.

What should we do?

Bringing it back to the training room – virtual or otherwise, this brings me to consider our responsibilities as learning professionals. Analogies and stories are so useful for helping learning come to life, more memorable and for context. How does this work for those experiencing aphantasia?

I’ve been guilty of asking my groups to imagine a scene without giving it a second thought. It’s a challenge indeed. I can’t imagine what it’s like for people who can’t imagine… and how do I handle this as a facilitator? I have no answer at the moment apart from to learn more and be more mindful.

If you have any top tips to share, whether you live with aphantasia or work with people who do, I’d love to hear them. In the meantime, I’ll continue with my research.

[EDIT: Susi very kindly send me the original link after I wrote this post- Many People Have a Vivid ‘Mind’s Eye,’ While Others Have None at All’]

Oh … by the way … I thought you might like to watch and hear Blondie’s ‘Picture This’

Blondie – Picture This video

5-steps for online activities that work

a network of illustrated people indicating how people collaborate remotely — Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

Have you hesitated to set collaborative tasks outside the live online sessions because you’re not confident people will participate? Have you done so but had mixed results?

An online learning programme is most effective when you blend live (synchronous) and self-paced (asynchronous) activities. This doesn’t mean that quality discussion and collaboration is confined to the live online sessions.

In this post I share my 5 step strategy for creating and facilitating asynchronous activities.

There are many benefits for including self-paced activities: getting everyone together at one time may be difficult; you may have global teams or shift workers who would benefit from collaborating with others normally outside of their time zone; it gives time to reflect and apply etc. These are only some of the many reasons we should be building these into our learning programmes.

Don’t be mistaken that all your learners will be motivated enough to make the effort when left to their own devices. Let’s be honest… would you? I know there were times when I haven’t. Procrastination is human nature. We all need some accountability, encouragement and guidance at some point. Your learners are no different.

I’ve done a few MOOCs (massive open online course) in my time … well, when I’ve said I’ve done a few MOOCS, I’ve started many but completed very few. Why? Although they were all very well structured, had great content and peer discussion forums, the lack of tutor involvement and feedback on discussions was seriously lacking. Of course, this was not surprising when the MOOCs are free. Real human support is a premium service – it’s expensive and time consuming to provide.

If you want your learners to invest their time and effort to participate together in self-paced learning activities, you must invest your time too.

My 5-step strategy

This can be a challenge for those new to facilitating self-paced online learning so here are 5 of my strategies I’ve used successfully when planning and running self-paced online learning experiences.

Set expectations
Give direction
Observe activity
Encourage and coach
Wrap it up

1. Set expectations

Tell your learners, as early as possible, what their course activities will be each week, what activities will be collaborative and how much time they will be expected to put in. Repeat it several times in the early stages e.g., in the general course information, in the learner study guide, in any welcome message and again in the first live online session if this kick-starts the course.

This may seem too repetitive but, believe me, from my past experience, learners miss this important information and have not diarised anything other than dates and times of live sessions. Of course, they don’t do this deliberately – like us all, they are busy with their day-to-day work; very likely, their manager or administrator booked them onto the course. Once you have their contact details, get that information out to them as soon as possible and make it succinct and clear.

2. Give direction

Hook the learner in with an engaging, brief and meaningful title. Help motivate them so they are keen to participate. Think short catchy headlines. Being mandatory is not enough – motivation comes from an emotional connection.

Follow up with the goal and a brief explanation of the how the activity will work and what the learners should do.

Trigger discussion and collaboration e.g., pose a problem, give links for research, give an example, ask a question etc

Let them know what minimum and/or maximum output you expect e.g., how many slides/pages/words, peer feedback posts etc

Be specific in how your learners should respond, using what tools and how long they should spend. Set a realistic deadline. Remember that the benefit of self-paced learning is that they can be flexible with their time. Allow people enough time to read peer work, research and respond as they work around their day-to-day work and home life.

Make it easy for your learners to carry out their tasks; their effort should go into learning. Make sure they have all the tools (and guidance on using them), templates and links. I recommend you also include links to where they are to submit their work even though it may already be obvious.

Explain what they can expect from you and how you will support them. They’ll appreciate knowing when to expect responses to activities, assignments and messages. They will be equally appreciate knowing you will be there for them when they they need help.

This brings me to the final 3 strategies – what you will do as the facilitator.

3. Observe activity

Just as you would in the physical classroom, you need to monitor progress whilst allowing your learners space to collaborate. Contrary what you might think, you can use your observation skills – you’ll just use them differently. Observing asynchronous tasks online is less obtrusive than in the classroom when your physical presence can interrupt discussions.

You can ‘lurk’ unseen while they talk in text chat, message board and forums etc. This would not come as a surprise because you’ve explained that you will be checking in regularly and will be around to support.

This doesn’t mean you need to be constantly online. Set aside moderation time regularly and make notes that you might need to summarise at the end of the activity. You’ll need to manage your time well and it can be useful to block times in when you plan to do this. Write down any interesting points and ideas they share; you’ll need these later. If you are using an LMS/VLE, tracking software can only record marks and completion otherwise, keep your own records.

Keep an eye on individual activity or lack of it. People don’t always ask for help. Use your expert judgement for when you may need to move the the next step on an individual basis. If you don’t observe, you won’t be aware.

4. Encourage and coach

Whilst it’s important to keep your distance, learners will benefit from your encouragement every now and then. You could join in the conversation occasionally, which is especially useful if the ideas dry up or to bring the conversation back on track.

Give feedback on progress so far and give time checks and reminders if progress has slowed down. “I’m loving the ideas so far…” or “ we have 2 days before we bring this to a close so you might want to choose a volunteer to post your findings” are a couple of examples of what you might say.

The personal touch is important; a phone or Zoom call can help when giving feedback to individuals who need extra support.

5. Wrap it up

If you’ve ever participated in online discussions, whether on course forums, in live text, on Twitter chats or in WhatsApp, you’ll know how difficult it is for individuals to keep up with all the conversations. This is especially true when the chat is very active. Learners don’t have the time to trawl through the conversations to pick out key learning points; they may miss them.

Review the discussion by summarising key points, pulling together common themes. Looking at discussions holistically can often highlight connections not seen by the individuals contributing. You might feel it appropriate to highlight specific contributions and list any resources people have shared etc.

To round off the activity, signpost them to their next step. It’s useful to provide a link to anything you would like them to complete next and to any resources. If the next activity is a live online session, then a link to this would be useful if it’s already been scheduled, otherwise, link to the details.

That’s a lot of work!

Yep, indeed it is. But so is facilitating learning live online and in the classroom. Isn’t that our job as learning facilitators? The powers that be in senior management may think that your job is done once your learners have left the live online environment. You become invisible, you can’t easily record ‘training’ hours, scheduling live training around it is a nightmare for administrators but that’s a subject for another day.

I hope my strategies for running successful asynchronous online activities have given you some ideas.

If you’ve been running self-paced learning experiences already, why not share some of your tips and strategies. If you would like to chat through some ideas, drop me a line on email, Twitter or LinkedIn.

7 pre-performance rituals for a live online session

A very tidy computer work desk with two monitors and two closed laptops, notebook, phone, mouse, keyboard and small camera ready for the working day. — Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

Olympic champion, Katarina Johnson-Thompson counts to 12 before doing the high jump and sets all her kit out the night before in the order she will wear them.

Tennis superstar Rafael Nadal has many rituals during a match: how he places is bottles, using a towel after each shot and his pre-shot touching ritual.

In our archery competition days, both my hubby and I had our own shot routine. I’m not superstitious in the least but a set routine helped me focus and get into the zone.

Pre-performance preparation

Why do people have rituals before a performance? Some think it is superstition; that if they don’t carry out these rituals something will go wrong. For others it’s more about creating a routine to give a sense of calm and focus before a performance – I’m the latter.

You’ll not be surprised to know that any member of the performing arts will have their routines to prepare them ace their performance. They focus on preparing the voice, the body and the mind to help ace their performance and quieten those butterflies in the stomach.

The live online facilitator (equally applicable to the in-person trainer) is no different. We ‘perform’. We have to ‘show up’ bright and breezy, leaving any stresses and baggage at the virtual door.

My 7 pre-session rituals

I like to make sure I do part of my routine the night before my session especially if I have an early session to run. I’m not a morning person so as much preparation I can do ahead of time the better. But even if I have set everything up read the night before, I will still run through final checks in the hour before my session starts.

Set up my workstation
Check what’s behind me
Check my tech
Check my training materials and tasks
Warm up and energise
Log-in and prepare the virtual room
Chill time

So let’s see what helps me at each stage.

1. Set up my workstation

This is something I try to do the night before and double check some things again before each session.

Second laptop to log in as guest
Connect working laptop to external monitor(s), keyboard and mouse (makes life easier)
Connect a second large external monitor if possible (my mission control)
Make sure my bluetooth headsets are on charge and have a spare to hand
Pens and notepad
Lighting position (you don’t need professional ones but make sure you are well lit)
External webcam (inbuilt webcams aren’t always great quality; if you are an iPhone users, check out the Camo app)
Session script (I like to print a copy as well as have a digital copy on a second screen)
Glass of water and full water bottle
Tissues (you never know when you are caught out by a sneeze)

2. Check what’s behind me

For a balanced professional and approachable environment, I am aware of what your participants will see behind me when on camera.

Declutter
Check what’s in shot
Reposition objects e.g. plants, books

3. Check my tech

At least hour before my first session of the day is due to start, I run my tech checks. This is where the tech gremlins can invade. Even if you do all the right checks, technology often has a mind of its own but there are things you can do to minimise tech disruption.

Check all is connected properly
Reboot my laptop/PC and the second laptop to join as a guest
Run speed test
Headset is charged and ready
Webcam working (privacy shutter open if using my inbuilt one)
Turn off notifications
Turn phone to silent (or off)
Close all applications you won’t be using (the may cause problems with your network)

4. Check training material and tasks

I will make sure my training materials such as session notes, slides, exercises are all correct at least the night before my session. Sometimes, there may be a tweak you need to add on the day.

I try not to look at my general emails before a session. I can easily get caught up in something that distracts me. I create a rule on my email client to group course participants into a specific folder, this help keep my focus when doing pre-session email checks.

Update slides with participant names, dates of next session etc
Copy files I will use to a folder on desktop for easy use (it makes my life so much easier)
Check my email for any apologies or questions from participants
Set up and minimise third part apps e.g. Jamboard, Menitimeter, etc for activities

5. Warm up and energise

I take inspiration from stage performance warm-ups for my routine here. These are especially helpful for my early sessions. Sometimes, the first time I might speak in the morning is when I say hello online. Stretches do me good between sessions and in breaks in sessions too. Often a little karaoke to something upbeat combines my vocal warm up with my exercise – I just can’t stand still when a good tune is playing.

Get in a few stretches
Do a little deep breathing
Vocal exercises to warm up the voice and loosen the muscles

6. Log in and prepare the virtual room

This is my routine 30 to 40 minutes before I open the welcome session 15 minutes before the session start time. However, unless you have prevented participants from joining until a specific time, be prepared that some may want to join very early. I’ve had people join 30 minutes early while I’m still in the middle of my set up routine. That can throw a curve ball so it’s useful to have a digital or printed checklist you can tick off. Although these are not rituals as such, I do like to do them in a set order. Not out of superstition but I am less likely to forget a step. I also like to refer to a printed checklist I can tick off just in case I get interrupted.

Log into session
Check my webcam feed – final check of how the background looks
Reposition lighting to check no reflection in my glasses
Check my audio is working
Check/amend settings for the session (even if the system remembers the settings, I like to be doubly sure)
Set up breakout rooms (if using)
Set up / cue up polls (if using)
Check files and applications prepared earlier share ok
Upload Welcome session slides if separate from session slides
Upload main session slides and test
Cue up recording window for a quick click when ready to record
Arrange windows/pods as preferred across my multi screen set up
Send session invite reminder to participants

6. Chill time

If you have planned things well and you don’t get any really early joiners, you, as I, should enjoy a little mellow time. A little breathing space to get into the zone. This is the time I go and make myself a cup of tea and take back to my desk. A hot honey and lemon keeps my throat going if I have several sessions during the day too. I also avoid eating anything this soon before the session. I’ve made that mistake before and end up coughing.

I grab a hot drink but not anything to eat
Smile – it boosts my mood and gets me into a positive mindset
Adjust posture and get comfortable
Focus on your participants – it’s not about you
Change my choice of music to a sedate instrumental or quiet classical
Now I’m ready for when my co-host arrives (if I have one for the session) and to welcome early bird participants.

Share your rituals

Everyone has their own rituals and routine. What do you recognise you do from my list? What might you try? What tips can you share that have helped you get ready for your sessions.

Seize the day

Don’t take one step forward and two steps back

Rewind to 2002: I was still on dial-up on an old 486 PC, ‘talking’ with my boyfriend (now husband) on MS Messenger. Just imagine if this pandemic happened then … on dial-up! It doesn’t bear thinking about. There was little choice available as an alternative to classroom apart from traditional distance learning with real books, video cassettes and coursework sent through the post. We are living in a digitally enabled world where digital technology gives us greater opportunities than we could have dreamed of less than 20 years ago.

I’ve learned from experts thousands of miles away without leaving my couch and check the ‘magic box’ (my iPhone), whenever I need a definition, translate into English or to convert metres to feet to make sure I’m far enough away from people (yep, I still haven’t got the hang of metric).

We’ve only really had access to decent quality broadband in recent years albeit patchy in rural areas. With more consistent quality broadband during lockdown we have been able to stream films and binge-watch boxed sets; keep in touch with friends and family on Zoom, WhatsApp, FaceTime; kept active with Joe Wicks via his YouTube channel (well, erm, not everyone regardless of good intentions).

Thrust into remote working we communicated and learned through WebEx, Teams, Slack groups, and online course platforms like Udemy and LinkedInLearning. Organisations speedily fast-forwarded their digital transformation programmes and upgraded their IT infrastructure, adapted business models quickly for remote digital working.

In the 5 years up to end of March 2020, we saw a significant increase in internet use from 86.2% to 92.1% (Office for National Statistics) with a considerable drop in those who rarely/never used the internet – from 13.5% to 7.9%

As yet, there are no statistics for 2020/2021 but there’ll be no prizes for guessing there will be a much bigger increase.

The next phase of different

There is no denying that 2020 drastically changed the learning and development landscape. We proved we are resilient, inventive, proactive and determined to continue to thrive against adversity in more ways than one. Now, with COVID vaccines, home testing kits, and socially distanced adapted inside spaces, we are readying ourselves for the next phase of different.

At last we have a tantalising peek at being able to meet in-person in larger, more socially distanced groups – and indoors!. But beware, this isn’t an excuse to go back to doing what we’ve always done, to throw away all that we’ve learned and return blindly to the classroom without careful consideration.

After just over a year since the first COVID lockdown, there already appears to be some cautious moves back to the more socially distanced classroom. Is this move the right move? Maybe, maybe not. Before returning to the classroom, we should ask ourselves if we are doing this for the right reasons? Should we be doing it as much?Should we be doing it at all?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-classroom. On the contrary, I cut my training teeth in the classroom and spent the best part of my L&D career helping fellow L&D professionals hone their classroom facilitation skills as well as helping them transition to live online and blended.

Great classroom experiences are where learners are actively involved are both enjoyable and rewarding. We love the energy, the sense of community, the ad-hoc conversations, the meeting of minds, the speed of exploring new ideas, sharing experiences and, yes, just being in the presence of others.

When we do return to the classroom we need to make sure it is for all the right reasons especially as many activities can be successfully run online. Not only that, but digital tools give us added advantages over classroom that increase learning efficacy and which we’ll explore more in later posts.

Make smart choices not Frankenblends

Don’t make rash decisions about delivery channels and tools too soon. All too often we consciously or unconsciously plan for a classroom or virtual classroom or elearning self-study course at the outset. Sometimes, the decision has been made for us. Have you every been told that it MUST be in the classroom, and under no circumstances must anything go online? or vice versa? I certainly have in the past! We then have to make the learning activities fit that environment rather than concentrate on what is most appropriate for the learning need and the learners.

If we are not careful, blended solutions can become nothing more than Frankenstein’s monster blends (Frankenblends): digital content bolted on for learners to read, or an elearning module to complete with little or no support before they attend several days in a classroom. At best, there may be tenuous linking between each element, at worst, these feel disparate and disconnected. For seamless blended solutions that are not only more efficient but improves effectiveness we should make sure we really understand the situation we are catering for and it’s all too easy to fall back into a classroom by default habit.

Play the Devil’s advocate

No matter how we might feel about it, the future is one of ‘digital by default’. This doesn’t mean we choose digital instead of classroom, it means we should consider digital technologies for learning before we consider classroom and base our choices on what is appropriate – not on our personal likes and dislikes.

Over many years I worked with people in many different organisations to help them plan effective and efficient blended solutions. I always suggested that they imagine classroom is no longer an option on the table (no I didn’t have any premonitions of the pandemic). This helped them rid the shackles of habit and think differently.

Every time they suggested that classroom (which is the most expensive of resources) was the only way, I played the Devil’s Advocate, wanting a robust rationale behind their decisions. Very often, I was able to explain how a digital alternative would be as effective (if we don’t know what’s possible or have the skills, we will choose only what we know). When they eventually set out a their final arguments for classroom, when all avenues had been explored and rationally dismissed, I knew they had chosen classroom for the right reasons and making the best use of them.

Carpe Diem

So let us seize the day. Don’t go back to the classroom just because we can. Let’s seize the opportunity continue to take our learning solutions to the next level, to make smart choices to choose what needs to happen before you decide how you will deliver it. To remind ourselves what good learning involves:

Contextual

Accessible

Retrieval and spaced practice

Personalise and presence

Effortful

Digestible chunks

Interactive

Effective feedback

Memorable

How will you seize the day? What differences will you make to your future learning solutions to help you move forward? What challenges might lie ahead that threaten making smarter choices?

If you would like an informal chat to talk through any ideas you have or would like to pick my brains, please drop me a message.