Let’s face it - not everyone enjoys learning a new skill by staring at a large screen.
Unfortunately, this rigid learning structure is one most of us are accustomed to. Many workers spend substantial time glued to classroom seats (reminiscent of school days) or watching dreary safety presentations.
The craving for a more dynamic, flexible way of learning is understandable.
Discover the benefits of using LMS for safety training »
Safety training must resonate with learners, as it could quite literally be a case of life or death. Blended training may be the answer EHS professionals are looking for.
This article will cover:
- What blended learning is
- The benefits of blended learning
- Why you should use LMS for safety training
- How to implement blended learning into your Learning Management System (LMS)
What is Blended Learning?
Blended learning is what the name suggests: a mixture of traditional and modern learning formats. The outcome? A more unique, customizable, and effective corporate training.
Sometimes referred to as hybrid learning, blended learning combines classroom instruction, apps, webinars, and e-learning for a well-rounded, progressive learning structure.
As opposed to company trainings conducted by in-person sessions or over a webinar, blended learning encompasses various training resources.
As a result, blended learning shows more efficiency and effectiveness than any other learning format.
Read on to find out why.
Blended Learning Empowers Staff and Improves Your Entire Organization
The benefits of blended learning apply to both the organization and the users.
For workers, blended learning provides a flexible and personalized training package, making it easier to process company information.
For organizations – both small and large – effective working and learning ripples out to all departments.
In other words, blended learning surpasses improving an individual’s training. In turn, it affects the entire organization.
Deploying a blended learning method enables:
- increased staff engagement in trainings,
- increased collaboration between employees,
- effective delivery of vital business information and training content,
- reach enhancement,
- savings on training costs,
- ROI improvement, and
- flexible learning.
Why You Should Use LMS for Safety Training
We recently published an article fully exploring the benefits of using LMS software for your safety training program. Here’s a quick summary (or click here for the full article):
LMS is a top desirable for EHS leaders in 2019, and it’s clear why. For starters, LMS makes it easy to track training stats – a crucial leading indicator.
Moreover, research from Software Advice shows that a massive 50% of workers forget what they have learned within an hour. In a day, it’s 70%. In a year, it’s 90%.
However, blended learning and LMS may remedy this. Interactive learning increases engagement and knowledge retention. Also, you can refresh learners’ memories with quizzes!
To clarify, LMS software hosts a range of learning content, including video, interactive courses, and documents. Furthermore, you can build your own courses, or pick from the huge selection of pre-made training packages by content vendors.
Training packages arrive in various embedding strategies, such as ‘Tin Can’ and Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM).
As SCORM's name suggests, it creates shareable content. Plus, it is considered 'best of breed'. As SCORM content uses existing specifications, it is reusable in different systems without modification.
On the other hand, ‘Tin Can’ is a boosted SCORM. It tracks behaviours occurring outside the LMS software.
To clarify, both strategies are ideal for large organizations implementing staff training. For example, the US Department of Defense specifies all LMS software content must be in SCORM or ‘Tin Can’ formats.
Implementation of Blended Learning into Your LMS
Now we’ve covered the benefits of blended learning, let’s discuss how you implement it into your organization via your LMS.
Put simply, LMS houses a company’s corporate training. For instance, in a recent Capterra survey, 87% of respondents reported regular use of a web-based LMS.
An overwhelming majority cited its effectiveness in employee collaboration and in reducing overall training costs. Therefore, the importance of an agile, flexible and responsive LMS cannot be overstated.
Utilizing a web-based LMS not only improves overall communication, cooperation and knowledge acquisition; it also makes the approach to blended learning effortless and effective.
Moreover, LMS synergizes a company’s various training formats by combining registration details for online courses and classroom courses, providing a clear overview of the data and information in a well-defined dashboard.
Additionally, LMS platforms make it increasingly easy to manage registrations for your multiple training formats. For example, LMS365 lets users scan a QR code to register for an in-person event, online course, or even be added to a waiting list if a particular course is full.
The QR feature is completed with the LMS365 mobile app. Furthermore, the app sends push notifications. In summary, your learners can stay up-to-date on the latest courses, access their transcripts, or check out their leaderboard position - whenever, wherever!
It’s quick, easy and all in one place.
Ready to Mix-up Your Company EHS Training Structure?
If you think blended learning is bound to benefit you employees and business, here’s how to put it into action.
First, clear up your company learning objectives and outcomes. As Franklin Covey taught us, “beginning with the end in mind” is critical when making an effective and substantial change.
Make a concise and specific overview of the necessary learning outcomes required of staff. What learning outcomes are most important for your staff members to reach?
Once the objectives are determined and the employees are briefed, the next step is to integrate a blended learning approach with an LMS software.
For example, LMS365 handles both online and offline trainings in the one platform.
Start by moving a chunk of the company’s training content online to optimize time, build a virtual library and keep track of users’ learning progress.
If you’re ready to transform your company training and provide your employees with compelling and engaging learning experiences, then incorporating a blended learning structure could be the key.
Pro-Sapien has partnered with EFI’s LMS365 to deliver a brand new Learning Management module. Pro-Sapien and LMS365 are both based on Office 365 – so it simply made sense for us to team up!
Murray Ferguson, Commercial Director at Pro-Sapien, commented:
“Training is a cornerstone of EHS and we are delighted to now offer clients an excellent management solution. We partnered with LMS365 to give companies an award-winning training system whilst maintaining Pro-Sapien's seamless Office 365 integration.”
Don’t stay stuck delivering your critical company training information in bland or uninspiring ways. With a solid blended learning format and an agile LMS, your trainings and employee advantages are limitless. Click here to find out more about the Pro-Sapien and LMS365 learning module.
Keep reading: Why You Should Use LMS Software for EHS Training
