The Best Blended Learning Solutions in 2023 Tested

Blended learning solutions are the best choice for organizations and learners, as it offers flexibility, fewer time sessions, cost-effectiveness, and more.

Traditional learning makes learning boring and learners lose their interest in the training fast, and the engagement will be less, that’s not something you want for your organization. The goal of training is to deliver new information and knowledge to enhance employers’ performance, and if they cannot get that from the training then there is no point in it at all.  

During the Covid-19 schools, all the universities, meetings, work, and training turned to online learning after that people have seen that online training is more effective than traditional training in many ways. For example, it is cost-effective (you won’t pay any money for transportation), and it gives the learner flexibility to learn anywhere and any way he/she likes.

When conducting a training you seek to keep your employees interested and engaged with the instructor, instead of struggling to understand and focus. Using blended learning solutions and strategies can help you overcome this dilemma.

What are the Best blended learning solutions? Why are they so important for the organization and learners?  And how to make it more effective? Let’s find out.

 

What Are Blended Learning Solutions?

Before we discuss the benefits and importance of a blended learning solution let’s first understand its meaning. A blended learning solution is a way of learning that mix e-learning techniques with traditional learning techniques to get the best of both. In it, you have a teacher or trainer explaining the lesson with the help of a variety of e-learning tools.                

Blended learning is designed to give the best virtual learning experience instead of traditional learning where learners are bored and cannot wait until the lesson is over. The LMS technology helps in improving the quality of learning and saving everyone’s time.

Let’s sum it up, blended learning offers you the best of both worlds, it combines e-Learning techniques and traditional classroom techniques to give the best learning experience. In which the training is led by an instructor using e-learning tools to make the training easy to understand and engaging. So, it offers a hybrid solution to meet the needs.

 

 

Why is it important to Adopt Blended Learning?

People now turn to e-learning for its flexibility and cost-effectiveness, therefore instead of signing up for instructor-Led Training (ILT), they turn to e-learning. Blended learning is the student success solution, and the key to engaging learners through the use of e-learning tools.

The importance of blended learning solutions for organizations.

• Cost-effective and reduction.
• Shorter training sessions and more effective.
• Easily to reach more learners in less time.
• You can easily update the learning materials in no time.

The importance of blended learning solutions for learners.

We all learn at different paces, mixing online learning and instructor-led training makes it better for all and gives the best learning experience and environment.

Virtual learning solutions offer a variety of options to meet the learner’s needs and preferences.        

Easy access to learning materials and resources at any time, which makes it easy for learners to revise the lesson whenever they need it.

 

Benefits Of Blended Learning Solutions.

There are many benefits to using blended learning programs, here are some of them:

Benefits For Learners.

• Blended learning solution is learner-centric, which means that it focuses on the learners’ needs, and provide them with the tool they need to make learning easier for them, hence they can learn according to their learning pace.
• Learners have access to the learning materials and resources so that they can revise what they want whenever they need.
• Research shows that learners show higher retention levels with blended learning solutions as compared to a fully facilitated session.

Blended learning is designed to make learning easier and engage the learners and offer them the opportunity to interact with the instructor and their peers.

 

Benefits For the Organizations.

• Cost-effective and reduction.
• Shorter training sessions and more effective.
• Easily to reach more learners in less time.
• You can easily update the learning materials in no time.
• Organizations have the ability to tap into online learning strategies like mobile learning, gamification, video-based learning, micro-learning, and more strategies to make learning engaging and give the best learning experience to the learners.
• The ability to use online assessment to see the learners’ progress and enhance the training based on their needs.  

 

 

Why organizations should use blended learning?

Here are some reasons why it’s important for the organization’s success:

1. Learner-centric.

Blended virtual learning focuses on the learners’ needs and it aligns with what they want. Learners seek to save their time on something important instead of wasting their time on transportation. Also, blended learning takes less time than instructor-led training and is more effective, and it provides them with the flexibility they need. Learners can easily access the learning resources at any time and from anywhere.          

 

2. Accessible at any time.

The training or lectures are recorded and all the learning materials and resources are there for learners whenever they need it. Therefore, if someone wants to rewatch the lesson he can easily do so at any time, as the lectures are available 24/7.

 

3. Flexibility.

The ability to learn at any time and anywhere gives the learners the flexibility they need to learn at their own pace.

 

4. Ongoing learning.

Learners can connect with their peers and instructor even after the session is over. They can interact with each other through discussions, help each other, exchange ideas, and collaborate. Therefore, blended learning gives them the opportunity to continue learning and engage with other learners to help each other or communicate with the instructor when needed.

 

5. Cost effective.

Unlike traditional learning, blended learning costs less and is more effective which means that it takes a lower budget to deliver the same knowledge.

 

6. Less seat time.

Instructor-led training can take from 2 to 3 hours which may become boring to many learners and cost more, in contrast, blended solutions make the session duration less and more effective.  

 

7. Reach a wider audience.

It helps the organization to scale the training to reach their employees wherever they are, hence there are no geographical barriers anymore.

 

8. Consistent message.

Blended learning ensures the delivery of a consistent message, unlike traditional learning training that varies every time.

 

9. Easily updated and reused.

You can easily update the lessons or learning materials in no time and reuse them without paying an additional cost.

 

 

Best blended learning solutions 

Here are some of the best-blended learning solutions that you could use:

1. Manaarah LMS.

Manaarah blended program is designed to suit your organization’s needs and requirements. It is a premier learning management system to suit your needs.  It empowers your school or organization to provide online classes or training and an overall engaging educational experience. Provide engaging and easy-to-access classes for your learners.

Manaarah LMS offers a variety of learning styles, such as tutoring, group classes, on-demand courses, and in-person learning. With a wide range of features, such as Course Builder & Pre-Made Courses, Practice Center, Activity Center, Report Cards and Transcripts, Certificates, Course Management, Student Management, and More, your school or organization will be able to provide the best education with ease.

Manaarah blended learning solution makes it easy for you to manage all of your users in one place. Record all of their information, take notes, upload user-specific documents for reference, and more. Your learners get their own personal account, can customize their settings and can access all of their courses easily in one place. 

 

2. 360Learning

With 360learning you can easily manage and create your training with the help of one platform. Thanks to the help of this solution, learners can easily interact, communicate, connect, and share the learning materials wherever they are. With 360Learning you can create your training in a few minutes.

 

3. Basecamp

 Basecamp is great for transforming traditional learning into remote learning, you can easily communicate and conduct meetings and training through this personalized learning solution. But it might be a bit difficult for learners to use.

 

4. Myicourse.

Myicourse blended learning solution is designed to ensure continuous learning. The tool is great for social learning and it is free, however, the ads can be a bit frustrating, otherwise, it’s a good tool to use.

 

5. ATutor

ATutor blended learning solution focuses on giving the best learning experience for the blind and visually impaired. It allows you to create the course directly using the platform and you can upload and use external files; however, some may find the interface a bit difficult to use.

 

6. El Design.

This tool focuses on keeping learning continuous, relevant, engaging, and impacting.

 

7. Adobe Learning Manager.

Adobe Learning Manager is a platform that tailors your learning journeys to drive curiosity and motivate achievement. Deliver content natively to create a seamless and unified learning experience for everyone. Also, can create personalized learning experiences based on user profiles and learning styles with continuously updated courses powered by AI.

 

8. TalentLMS.

With a highly intuitive interface, TalentLMS creates a distraction-free environment and makes learning easy. Your learners can navigate through the platform easily, and access information in no time. You can also reuse your presentations and videos or choose from a wide range of online material.

 

9. Stream LXP from Learning Pool.

Stream LXP Stream LXP uses AI to enhance all aspects of the learning experience and drive improved performance.

 

10. iSpring Learn.

It is a cloud-based LMS for online corporate training that allows you to launch eLearning quickly. The LMS has an intuitive interface that makes it easy to use for both learners and training managers.

 

11. Rockstar Learning Platform

This blended learning solution assists all-sized businesses with learning management needs and inspires a culture of peer-based learning. It offers branded dashboards and customizable learning paths to deliver personalized employee and customer training.

 

12. Absorb LMS.

A flexible learning platform that makes it easy to build and manage training programs for internal and external stakeholders. Absorb LMS is designed for all types of organizations and learners. The software focuses on aligning learning needs with business demands, regardless of who you’re training or why.

 

13. Meridian LMS™

Meridian Knowledge Solutions offers enterprise learning management system software to commercial, federal, state, and local governments tailored to meet your unique corporate training needs.

 

 

How to design a successful blended learning solution?

To successfully design a blended learning solution, you should be aware of how to transform from instructor-led training into blended learning. There are some challenges while doing so that you should be aware of and handle them perfectly. Some of the challenges you may face include the following:

Not knowing how and where to begin.

Not having the required resources to transform from instructor-led training into blended learning.

The trainers don’t understand the importance of transforming ILT to online or blended learning, therefore you should make them understand why it’s important for the organization and ensure their support.

Not knowing the right approach to use and the right degree of blend to suit your needs.

 

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you:

1- Identify why you need to adopt a blended learning solution.

Identifying your reasons is an important step, here are some questions to ask yourself:

• What are the challenges you face or the factors that make you want to transform into blended learning?
• Will it help you overcome the challenges?
• What do you expect from it?

 

2. Validate its Effectiveness.

Validating The Effectiveness Of blended learning to identify the degree of blending that you need and its impact. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Will it give a better learning experience to the learners?
• Will the learners be okay with adopting the new approach?

 

3. Identify the Required Support.

Ensuring the support of the learners and instructor of the blended learning is the main key to its success, also you should evaluate your options for delivering the training, will it be VILT or LMS online training?

What is VILT training?

VILT online training refers to live online lectures, remote training, and webinars, those are just a few names of the many names it has. In simple words, VILT is training that is provided remotely through platforms like Zoom. It has some similarities to traditional training, like an instructor providing the training and the materials that are given to the students. The only difference is that in this case it is delivered via video platforms.

What is an LMS?

An LMS or a learning management system is an online software that provides the organization or business with a set of features to help them measure the progress of the employees and provide them the ability to apply the teaching activities effectively.

LMS learning is useful for training and online courses. LMS is an online software that helps instructors to create, deliver, track, and build outcome results. It works in both, face-to-face learning and distance learning too.

LMS provides companies with strong administrative tools to help them manage training and learning programs, track and monitor learners’ performance, and select and assign content.

the learning management system is used to deliver formal training and courses like onboarding new employees. The system focuses on tracking and compliance, it allows instructors to track and monitor the learners’ performance and progress. For example, LMS can be used to conduct training to teach employees how new software is used, or how a machine works.

The only thing that can’t be tracked by an LMS system is the outside discussions and activities that aren’t held on the platform. It focuses on tracking employee performance and creating learning content.

Not just organizations.

LMS is not just for organizations, it’s also for schools. It provides the school and teachers with a set of features to help them measure the students’ progress and provide them the ability to apply the teaching activities effectively.

LMS helps schools in planning, implementing, and monitoring the learning progress of the students. It’s not just an online lecture rather the students can interact with the teacher. Also, teachers can apply the educational activities required to help students learn easily. LMS provides you with a wide range of educational tools and resources you need to make an interactive course, build activities, and share the learning materials.

Instructors can build Virtual lessons easily and they won’t have any problem adjusting the learning materials. They could choose one of the LMS lessons plans templates to help them create the lecture. Plus, LMS makes it easier for both teachers and students to communicate and have an interactive lecture. Or even build a group project and let the students work together.

Manaarah LMSs is a premier learning management system to suit your needs.  It empowers your school or organization to provide online classes or training and an overall engaging educational experience. You can provide engaging and easy-to-access classes for your learners through Manaarah LMS. We also offer a variety of learning styles to choose from.

4. Choose the blended learning solution.

There are many tools to choose from and your goal here is to see which one matches your training requirements and your learners’ needs.

 

5. Review the Existing Content

Reviewing The Existing Content is vital to ensure whether it is suitable to be adapted to blended learning or not. Additionally, you need to map the exercises and the activities to transform them into an online format. Some blended learning solutions offer tools to make this process easy for you. Furthermore, adopt an assessment strategy that makes it easy to track and monitor the learner’s progress.

Some of the activities that you could add to your training to make it more engaging include:

Brainstorm.

You can use the whiteboards to write all the ideas and ongoing discussions to brainstorm new ideas. Write all the ideas you get from the learners and then you can start ranking them based on the topic that is more important or that serves the goal of the blended learning training.

 

Breakout rooms.

Divide the learners into groups, give each group an activity to do, then make them discuss it in the breakout rooms to share their ideas and opinions and come up with a solution.

 

Competition.

To encourage the learners to interact with the training you can ask a question for example and give them time to think about it and the one who comes up with the solution gets let’s say 10 points. This will encourage them to interact more.

You can also make some games and divide the class into groups, assign a leader for each one then you could ask a question and let each team think about the answer and raise their hand to answer. If they answer it correctly move to the other question but if they don’t let another team answer it, and so on.

Use visuals.

The human brain processes images and visuals much faster than texts, you can use that as a way to interact with the learners. For example, you could start with an image that reflects the lesson and ask them, “From the Image, what do you think we will learn today?”.

 

Host Q&A sessions.

To make the learners engage with you take advantage of the many tools the platform provides you with. For example, you can use polls, breakout rooms, or create online forums. Give the learners a task and let each group work on it then present it in front of the rest of the class.

 

Feedback.

After you end each session ask the learners about their opinion, did they understand the lesson, do they have any ideas to enhance the lecture, do they think that the session is missing something, does anyone have a question about the lesson, and so on.

 

 

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