B L E N D E D L E A R N I N G : R E T H I N K G R E E N F O R G R E AT E R I M PA C T

B LEND ED L EARNING:
RETHINK IN G GREEN

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 B LENDED LEARNING:
R ETH IN KING GREEN

R E T H I N K I N G “ G O G R E E N ” , T H E T R A I N I N G WAY

It seems like everyone is interested in ―going green‖ these days. Leaving a smaller
carbon footprint is a hot (and important) topic of discussion around the world. However,
at Michaels & Associates, we like to take a slightly offbeat, unconventional look at
current trends and consider how they can help our own little world—the world of
instructional design. So let’s rethink ―go green‖, the training way!

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 B LEND ED L EARNING:
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The Three R’s

What’s the first thing you think of when you hear ―go green‖? Of course! It’s Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. The 3 R’s
icon represents the need for ―waste minimization.‖ The goal of the 3 R’s is to extract the maximum practical benefits
from products and to generate the minimum amount of waste. You probably know how to reduce your personal
carbon footprint, but by applying the concept of the 3 R’s to your training projects, you’ll see how to reduce your
training footprint as well.

Let’s think about the 3 R’s as they impact training:

Reduce
In a few easy steps, you can reduce your workload for your next training project by taking what you have, organizing the content and
paring things down to just the key elements. Reducing your material helps you extract the maximum practical benefit from the available
information.

Reuse
It’s simple to identify the training content ―keepers‖ to reuse in your next training development cycle – determine which portions are
current, repurpose existing development templates and take advantage of tried-and-true techniques. Reusing your material and
processes is another great way to extract the maximum practical benefit from the available information. It reduces costs, and that has to
improve your standing in the corporate budget process.

Recycle
Post-training, use the lessons learned process to figure out what worked. Then recycle the winning ideas and techniques to incorporate
in your next training project. Recycling your best practices helps you generate the minimum amount of waste in your training.
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How Green is Your Training, Really?

Before you begin the greening process on your training, get a feel for where you’re at right now. How much effort do
you currently invest in applying the 3 R’s to your existing content, ideas and techniques prior to starting a new project?
If you’re already on track, chances are your training development projects are similarly streamlined and ultra-
effective—ecologically effective, so to speak. If your training is unkempt and could use a little greening up, consider
these ideas and what you can do right now to go green!

1. Reduce Your Information Overload

In the world of training—and the world in general, too—information overload tends to stress people
out. When you go green by weeding out excess content, you’re simultaneously creating
environmentally friendly training! The most effective way to reduce content is to pare down the pile
of extraneous facts to the ―golden nuggets‖ of essential information.

How can you implement this strategy most effectively? First, perform an in-depth needs analysis to assess what is
relevant and current. Next, roll up your sleeves and get to work tossing out anything that seems outdated and
unnecessary based on the analysis. Some other tips for your cleaning up your training include:

Reduce content by ―chunking‖ information into digestible bits that learners can easily take in. You can do this by
concentrating on small chunks of information that contain only the pertinent data.

Reduce the amount of onscreen and printed text, and look for pictures that paint a thousand words. This easy step
aids visual learners as well as kinesthetic and intellectual learners; these learners both tend to be more engaged in
graphics, illustrations or charts.

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REDUCE: In a Nutshell Reduce boredom by decreasing audio or lecture and increasing interactivity.
This makes your training more engaging and draws learners into the learning process.
These content reduction
techniques seem simplistic,
but they work. Try them in
your next training session,
and you may see that you Reduce restrictions on how the training is approached. Allowing more user-generated content (such as blogs, wikis
really can have too much of a and forums) and self-exploration (such as online scavenger hunts and case studies to solve) is one way to achieve
good thing! Some courses are this goal. Assist participants to develop peer or mentor
packed with more content relationships on the pathway toward more informal
than they really need, and learning, too.
learners may be
overwhelmed with too much
knowledge. Weed out the
excess content and text to
make your training short,
sweet and interactive and
you’ll create a charged
learning environment with
genuinely engaged learners.
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2. Reuse Your Information “Gems”

Once you’ve reduced the quantity of information, think about how you can reuse the good stuff. When you go green with your training, you’ll probably
be able to reuse a sizable portion of your existing materials. Skim off the ―best of the best‖ from prior projects and consider different presentation
approaches. What you don’t want is a small project that ―grows‖ on you—increasing your training footprint.

Some workable reuse techniques involve performing a detailed task analysis to keep training goals on track and tapping into the skills of your
coworkers. By enlisting the help of a coworker to perform quick ―sizing‖ checkups along the way, you’ll ensure your material isn’t growing out of
proportion. Here are some other tips and tricks:

Reuse shared objects from a content management system. Even if your system is informal,
you can probably find some content to draw from.

Reuse user-generated content. This information may be locked in someone’s

head—but it’s very important to pick these experts’ brains and pull out the good
stuff.

After sifting through what you find, identify what’s pertinent and distribute it through
mentorships and forums.

To beef up the instructional side even further, add links in the training that point back to new
content found on internal forums, wikis, blogs, discussion boards and other company forums for
information exchange.

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RETHINK IN G GREEN
REUSE: In a Nutshell
Creating new training does
not imply that everything
needs to be done from
scratch. You may have
terrific, high-quality content
right under your nose!
Sometimes, you can actually
eliminate the need to
recreate or redesign your
training by repurposing
content wisely. Identify
what’s appropriate for your
needs and then reuse as much
as possible. Include shared
content, user-generated
content, templates and your
SMEs as part of your effort to
go green.
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Reuse the available templates. Not sure whether templates exist? Ask around. Some of your industrious employees
and coworkers may have already created something that suits your needs.
Reuse any formal reporting generated by previous
training through the ―lessons learned‖ process to
help refine the next training project. You may
find that an entire topic can be restructured as a
job aid or self-paced activity.
Reuse facilitators and SMEs as high-performance experts that can boost participant
learning experiences by delivering advanced training topics. If you’re developing
facilitator-led training for these types of topics, you may be able
to skip the basics by teaching them online or via job aids,
freeing up valuable class time to focus on the advanced
subjects.
Reuse icons and other graphics from similar training projects
for your new project. There’s no use reinventing (or redrawing,
in this case) the wheel if you have perfectly good graphics to
choose from. To make this reuse possible, consider building an
online graphic library with thumbnails of the graphics.
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3. Recycle Your Ideas and Techniques

When your project is complete, it’s time for the acid test: Did the training pass its intended purpose? Evaluating
training is a great way to find out what worked—and what didn’t. Recycle the ideas and techniques that worked well
in your next green training project! Here are some other techniques for recycling your training:

Recycle by repackaging. It’s fun and easy to put together a cleverly wrapped gift for a friend
using recycled paper and packaging, but did you know it’s just as easy to repackage your
training? Consider taking the original content and recreating it with new formats or new training
techniques to generate enthusiasm and spark new ideas. For example, in just a few hours, you
can take a PowerPoint presentation from a facilitator-led course and turn it into e-learning using
a product such as Captivate or Articulate. Training delivery methods are evolving, so don’t be
scared to try something new as part of your repackaging effort. There’s always a new media
around the corner that may catch and hold your learners’ interest.

Recycle the role of the learner by allowing them to become more actively involved in the training
experience. For example, survey learners for overall training goals and ask what they really want out of the
training. Engage learners in the process of generating assessment techniques, and have them participate
in peer reviews as well. Then, when training is over, allow the learners to evaluate the course and provide
feedback on how it can be improved for other learners.

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Recycle ILT as a recorded webinar or podcast. This recycling technique works particularly
RECYCLE: In a Nutshell
well for auditory learners. It also results in portable content—you can extract some of the ―gold
Recycling is one of the fastest nuggets‖ from the recording and post them on company forums.
and easiest ways to green
your training, and it doesn’t
have to be time-consuming or Recycle your static corporate websites or Learning Management System (LMS)

costly, either. Repackaging is to become more community-based.

one method to consider, but

As examples:
look at recycling learner
 Use document sharing and community building tools to strengthen and
roles as well. Make sure that reinforce training.
you use company websites,
 Create website portals for informal learning that can be incorporated
wikis, blogs and other forums in training exercises.
for information exchange to
 Use forums, wikis, blogs or FAQs where learners can turn for help.
augment and reinforce your
training.

Recycle employee ideas and interests. Your company’s next innovative idea for training
development and delivery may be sitting in the cubicle next door! Along the same lines, solutions
to your next training challenge could come from a hobby or interest outside of work. Relating
tasks to your learners’ fields of interest results in learners who readily ―tune in‖ to your training.

Recycle knowledge by asking learners to contribute to class blogs, discussion boards or other
communication forums. Learners in the future can benefit from this knowledge and continue
building up the ―knowledge bank‖ once it’s established.
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Remember the Three R's

By going green, you’ll have more effective training—and more satisfied learners. Just remember to reduce, reuse and recycle when you want to create
ecologically effective training! If you would like to know more, contact us. We’re here to help!
Michaels & Associates – We’ll make your competition green with envy.

marketing@michaelsandassoc.com michaelsandassoc.com toll-free: 877-614-8440

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