Blended Learning: What Works

Blended Learning: What Works?

By Bersin & Associates
Abstract:
After nearly 2 years of research in blended learning, and detailed interviews with
more than 30 companies, we find that blended learning is replacing e-learning as
the next big thing. Our research finds that blended learning programs are perhaps
the highest impact, lowest cost way to drive major corporate initiatives. Companies
have discovered unique and powerful methodologies for selecting the right media
to solve a given business problem. The biggest challenges companies face include
technology and the change management and business processes required to roll out
major programs. Results: Blended Learning solves the problem of speed, scale, and
impact and leverages e-learning where its most appropriate, without forcing elearning into places it does not fit.

Blended Learning is the latest buzzword in corporate training. It sounds so simple

mixing e-learning with other types of training delivery. But now that internet-training is
so widespread, where does it fit? What are the best ways to blend delivery types? Will
the term blended learning replace e-learning?
In 2002 and 2003 we set out to understand these issues and conducted a very large
study of more than 30 corporate blended learning programs to understand what works.
Some interesting findings we uncovered:
1. Blended Learning IS the next big thing.
In the late 90s everyone jumped on the e-learning craze. In reality the promise was a
little immature. Internet-based training grew up in the IT world where people are used
to spending hours in front of their computers.
Now we know that different problems require different solutions (different mixes of
media and delivery) and we believe that the key is to apply the RIGHT MIX to a given
business problem. Hence blended learning is effectively replacing e-learning.
Unlike traditional education, corporate training exists primarily to improve business
performance. We are not in the business of making employees smarter, but rather in the
business of increasing revenue or reducing costs.
We deal primarily with adults people who want and need to learn just enough to
become more effective at their jobs. The science of how to teach adults through the
internet is still being developed. We know that people learn in different ways, and
different media applies to different people.

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Blended Learning: What Works

Blended Learning is really the natural evolution of e-learning into an integrated
program of multiple media types, applied toward a business problem in an optimum way,
to solve a business problem.
I believe that every successful e-learning program is or will become a blended learning
program.
2. Blended Learning optimizes your resources.
As we talked to companies embarking on blended learning, we found them asking the
same questions. What combination of tools and media will give me the biggest impact
for the lowest investment?
In some cases, like Ciscos reseller certification program which must reach nearly
900,000 people, the audience is so large and the problem so complex that a major webbased curriculum is needed. In others, like Siemens global change in accounting
practices, the audience was nearly 10,000 financial professionals and a simulation-based
solution was needed.
These projects cost $Millions to develop and are cost-justified based on the large
audience and huge business drivers required.
In other cases, however, when a company like Kinkos rolls out a new product to their
field sales offices, a conference call and series of job aids will do the trick.
>>> The key to blended learning is selecting the right combination of media that will
drive the highest business impact for the lowest possible cost.
So how do you decide the mix?
We found a variety of methodologies. One of the simplest approaches is to create
electronic content and surround it with human, interactive content. This approach of
surrounding e-learning with human enables you to create high interest, accountability,
and real assessment of the results of the e-learning program.

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May 2003

Blended Learning: What Works

This approach was used by many companies when rolling out ERP application training.
An initial conference call and series of meetings was used to explain the project and why
the new system is so important then the users took an online course then there was a
follow-up meeting and evaluation by the manager before the system was actually rolled
out.
3. Each media type has its own strengths and weaknesses.
To make blended learning more powerful, you can start looking at all the media as
options: classroom training, web-based training, webinars, CD-ROM courses, video,
EPSS systems, and simulations. Other media which is less exciting but just as important
includes books, job aids, conference calls, documents, and PowerPoint slides.
One lesson we learned is that the highest impact programs (such as the training program
provided for new sales reps at British Telecom) blend a more complex media with one or
more of the simpler media. A web-based course for introduction followed by a real
hands-on interactive class is an obvious mix.
Some of the questions you should ask when selecting media are shown below:

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May 2003

Blended Learning: What Works

In fact, from this research we developed a media selection guide which can help
companies identify which media to use for a given problem.

How to

Design
and
Architect
your

Blended
Learning
Program

Media
Selection
Guide

Media Type

Instructional
Value

Scalability

Time to
Develop

Cost to
Develop

Cost to
Deploy

Assessment
Capable

Trackable

Classroom
based training

High

Low

3-6 weeks

Medium

High

Medium

Low

WBT Courseware

High

High

4-20 weeks

High

Low

High

High

CD ROM
Courseware

High

High

6-20 weeks

High

Medium

High

Low

Conference
Calls

Low

Medium

0-2 weeks

Low

Low

No

No

Webinars

Medium

Medium

3-6 weeks

Low

Medium

Low

Low

Software /
Online Simulations

Very High

Medium

8-20 weeks

High

Medium

High

High

Lab-based
Simulations

Very High

Low

3-6 weeks

High

High

Medium

Medium

Job Aids

Low

High

0-3 weeks

Low

Low

None

None

Web Pages

Low

High

1-8 weeks

Low

Low

None

None

Web Sites

Low

High

1-8 weeks

Low

Low

None

None

Mentors

Medium

Low

2-3 weeks

High

High

Low

Low

ChatDiscussionCommunity
Services

Medium

Low Medium

4-6 weeks

Medium

Medium

None

Low

Video (VCR
or Online)

High

Medium

6-20 weeks

High

High

None

Low

EPSS

Medium

Medium

8-20 weeks

Medium

Medium

None

Medium

Blended Learning: What Works Checklist

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Bersin & Associates, 2003 www.bersin.com

May 2003

Blended Learning: What Works

4. Blended Learning forces you to think about the business problem.
One of the big things we found was that once you have to make media or blend
decisions, you are essentially doing portfolio management. Just like the problem of
balancing your 401K account, people need a methodology to help decide when to use a
webinar, when to use a conference call, and when to build a complex simulation or online
course. When you create a financial portfolio, you start with your goals factor in risk,
time, and budget. In blended learning, the factors are similar:
Specifically what is the business problem or goal? (Need to increase sales
revenue for a new product)
What is the learning problem which you believe is creating this business problem?
Can you be sure it is a learning problem or a problem of distributing new
information? (Need to train sales reps on value proposition and pricing of this
new product)
What are the characteristics of the audience? (How much time will they have to
use the content? What connectivity will they have? What kind of learning style
and education level do they need? What do they respond to? How motivated are
they?)
What are the characteristics of the content? (How long before it goes out of date?
Are we informing, developing skills, or creating competencies? We developed
a paradigm describing the 4 types of corporate training which helps with this
located at http://www.bersin.com/tips_techniques/Breeze2.htm , Where is this
content? What SMEs do we need to use? How much time will be able to get with
them?)
What kind of measurement do we need? And how much? What amount of
measurement does the business problem justify? (Measurement is expensive
what do we really need to measure in order to solve this business problem?
Completion? Scores? Certifications? Nothing at all?)

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Blended Learning: What Works

Each of these questions can be thorny. But you cannot hope to answer these questions
rationally without understanding what business cost, benefit, and processes you need to
be successful.
5. Technology is not as easy or ubiquitous as people think.
Here is an amazing fact. Nearly every company we talked to told us about many
technology hurdles they had to overcome. In the process diagram above, in step 3 we
identify how companies implement infrastructure. Infrastructure is very problematic in
most corporations.
Some of the places which can trip you up include:
Some learners do not have high bandwidth connectivity because they are in
foreign countries or remote locations therefore some content will not run.
PCs each have different browser versions and plugins, so content standards must
be set which specify browser version, plugins, bandwidth, memory, and cpu speed
needed.
LMS systems are expensive and complex to implement, and if you rely on LMSdriven features for your program you may find that some are missing (i.e.
Assessments for example)
When you deploy a large program you have to be ready for massive throughput in
a short period of time.

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May 2003

Blended Learning: What Works

Measurement is difficult if you havent thought about what metrics you want to
measure up front, because LMSs have fairly unsophisticated reporting systems.

6. Think Deployment Processes!

The single biggest issue we found which companies spent time and money on is the
marketing, launch, and deployment process. In order to be successful you must develop
an integrated go to market plan for your program. This must include:
Executive support so that line managers give workers time to take courses
A launch program (webinars, phone calls, email blasts) so that people understand
the importance and urgency of your program
Education to local coordinators so that line managers and line training people
can support your program. You cannot launch a company-wide e-learning
program alone, nor can you get it done from your corporate office.
Rapid feedback. You will find problems immediately. They must be addressed in
hours, not days. If someone cannot get content to work, they are likely to leave
and never come back.
Business process integration. You have to think about how this training integrates
with your companys existing business processes. For example, in one company
the sales people were not given time by their managers to take training because
they were too busy. How are you going to incent people to take time for training?
Do you need to integrate training into peoples performance plans? Are you going
to give out certificates? Bonuses?

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Blended Learning: What Works

Marketing. Too much is made of marketing e-learning. The real marketing is
all of these steps. Sending out emails alone will not do it. You have to make sure
that you have answered the question: why would a busy worker stop what
theyre doing to take this course or program? Whats in it for them? Once you
know that, how do you communicate that to them and their managers?

7. Blended learning does not have to cost Millions. You can build your own content.
Another interesting finding. Many companies outsource major e-learning projects and
sometimes spend millions of dollars. One of our research companies spent millions of
dollars creating a business simulation which trained financial professionals how to use
new accounting principles. In this particular case, the problem was global and the cost
of failure was very high so it was worth the cost. If you have a very large audience and
a very big problem, you can cost-justify a lot of money on content.
(The simple cost equation for blended learning is the tradeoff between development cost
and delivery cost. For web-based training, for example, high development costs can be
amortized by low delivery costs if the audience is large. For classroom training, lower
development costs and higher delivery costs are justified when the audience is small.)
However in most cases what we found was the opposite. Companies are now developing
web-based content for $100s per instructor hour (we used to charge $30-70,000 per
instructor hour in my prior life!). How do they do this? They often hire a vendor to
teach them how to build courseware then they get a small team together (3-4 people)
and build the content internally. This appears to be a major trend.

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Blended Learning: What Works

One company developed a major SAP upgrade program which was business critical
across more than 10,000 employees for a total development cost of $75,000. This is less
than $7.50 per employee for development cost the cost of lunch in most big cities.

8. Huge Impact is Possible

The most fascinating of all findings from our work was that Blended Learning in fact has
huge and measurable business impact. Most of the companies we studied told us that the
blended learning programs they built solved problems which were impossible to solve in
any other way.
The biggest business benefits of blended learning which we found are:

Scale: You can roll out a new initiative or program to global audiences and reach
more people than ever possible before. This is the promise of e-learning and it is
true.
Speed: If you need to train people within months, you can reach thousands of
people simultaneously. Although there is a fixed time to develop content, the
time to deploy is fast. If the business problem is NOW and the content will
become stale, blended learning is the answer.
Throughput: If your training problem is bottlenecked (one telecommunications
company had such a backlog of training that technicians were driving around in

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Blended Learning: What Works

trucks drinking coffee for weeks waiting for new-hire training slots), you can
eliminate that bottleneck and improve training throughput by orders of magnitude.
Complexity: many training challenges are just too complex for a single webbased course or PowerPoint based webinars. If the material is complex and your
business need demands that people internalize and change their behavior, using
multiple media will get much higher completion and results.
Cost: I believe that many companies have found that e-learning may not really
save as much money as they thought. By the time you buy and LMS, implement
the LMS, buy tools, buy a content catalog, and start building lots of web-based
courses you may find that the total cost has just shifted from instructors to
infrastructure and web development. By using the blended approach you can
avoid this explosion. One of our research companies starts with job aids first, and
then moves up the scale to more expensive media only if the problem demands it.
By thinking about every problem as a blending challenge, you can select the
lowest cost media which solves the problem.

Bottom line: Blended Learning is here to say. I believe it is the natural evolution of elearning understanding the business problem and selecting the right portfolio of
technologies and processes to drive impact. As companies focus on understanding the
processes of blending media, they will find that e-learning is more powerful than they
ever though.
Appendix: companies included in the study include:
Company

Business Challenge

Industry

Audience Size

LMS

Major Vendors

Mix

Siemens

Company Transformation

Manufacturing

10,000

No LMS

Accenture

Tellabs

ERP Application Rollout

Manufacturing

450

Docent

RWD

WBT, Conf Calls

Roche

ERP Application Rollout

Pharmaceuticals

1,800

I-Academy

RWD

WBT, ILT

WW Grainger

ERP Application Rollout

Distribution

5,000

Saba

RWD

WBT, Lab, Conf Calls

Ent Software Co.

Field Sales Training

Software

1,100

Saba

Saba

WBT, VC, ILT

British Telecom

Field Sales Training

Telecomm

260

Docent

Accenture

Royal Sun

Field Sales Training

Insurance

1,500

Saba

Saba

WBT, ILT

Kinkos

Field Sales Training

Retail

20,000

Saba

Saba

WBT

Cisco

Field Sales Training

Manufacturing

860,000

Intellinex

EMC

Field Sales Training

Manufacturing

Verizon

Field Service Training

Telecomm

NCR

Field Service Training - Certification Service

Chip Manufacturer

Manufacturing Training

Manufacturing

25,000 Home Grown

Bell Canada Enterprises

Reduce Cost of Training

Telecomm

42,000 Technomedia

NETg

Peoplesoft
Novell

Sales and Employee Training

Channel Sales Training

Software
Manufacturing

5,500 Home Grown

5,600
No LMS

NETg
Macromedia

1,000

Saba

100,000 Home Grown

370

Edcor

Simulations

WBT, ILT, Conf Calls

KnowledgeNet WBT, Labs, ILT, Assessment

KnowledgeNet WBT, Conf Calls
NETg

WBT, ILT, Hands On

NETg

WBT, Labs, Assessment

KnowledgeNet WBT, Lab

WBT, ILT
WBT, Discussion Groups
PowerPoint Based with Audio

About Bersin & Associates

Bersin & Associates is a leading provider of corporate and vendor consulting services in
e-learning technology and implementation. With more than 20 years of experience in e Bersin & Associates

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Blended Learning: What Works

learning, training, and enterprise technology, Bersin & Associates provides a wide range
of services including product development, product marketing, industry research,
corporate workshops, corporate implementation plans, and sales and marketing programs.
Some of Bersin & Associates innovations include a complete methodology for LMS
selection and application usage, an end-to-end architecture and solution for e-learning
analytics, and one of the industrys largest research studies on blended learning
implementations. Bersin & Associates can be reached at www.bersin.com or at (510)
654-8500.

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