How To Provide JIT Support Using Blended Learning Solutions
JIT aids are generally offered as micro-modules. They’re carefully curated, deeply specific, and often task-based. They’re also intended to be consumed in minutes, maybe even seconds, so that employees can apply them right away. They can be a good way to summarize a larger lesson or to break it down into its individual task components. How exactly can these micro-modules be generated in a blended learning setup? And is there a way to leverage blended learning solutions to improve performance and skill gaps on the spot?
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5 Top Ways To Use Blended Learning Software For JIT Support
1. Lesson Overviews
Say you’ve attended a weekend compliance training seminar as the ILT section of your blended training course. To meet your requirements, you have to take an externally set compliance exam. A JIT summary would be a good way to review the key takeaways. It can compress 14 hours of class time into an infographic or summary video, or derive 30-second step-by-step audio clips of the main task-based skills covered during your weekend workshop. Another concept is to generate a bullet-point summary of everything that was covered in the course. It can be especially helpful for instructor-led, face-to-face lessons. Why? Because although the whole thing was recorded, trainees may struggle. They don’t have the time or mindset to rewatch 48 hours of training when all they need is a five-minute primer. As the resident L&D lead, do that for them. Edit useful cutouts and label them with keywords and metadata so it’s easier for them to find.
2. Demonstrated Discussions
Social media groups are good settings for in-depth textual exchanges. These group conversations can go on for hours and are sometimes triggered by something as basic as a meme. Because the discussion is unstructured and open-ended, it can facilitate free-flowing knowledge exchange. Plus, the feature that allows you to copy-paste and reply to a specific comment helps you maintain the conversation thread—especially when it gets lost in a mass of tangents. For training purposes, you can narrow the discussion by centering it around a specific task. For example, “What’s the best way to structure a roll-call report?” After trainees are done chatting, follow up with a real-world demo. For example, taking roll call from the discussion and having everyone generate their own report using the techniques you’ve been discussing. Remember, the microelement is in subject matter, not discussion duration.
3. Follow-Ups To Videos
The internet has established we’ll do anything if it’s just framed right. For example, lots of us dismissed quizzes on “what your favorite color says about your personality.” Or, “pick a dessert and we’ll guess how old you are!” But then the quiz was reframed to ask, “Which character are you?” and the setting was converted to your favorite book or TV show. Even the most skeptical among us clicked through. Use this principle for blended learning LMS JIT libraries. Don’t stop at presenting the two-minute clip. At the end of the video, offer an internal link. It could lead to a voluntary self-assessment quiz based on what you just watched. The trainee can gauge knowledge transfer, by rewatching the video if they need to. And the L&D team gets real-time reviews on effectiveness, so they know which videos need tweaking. It can help them identify content areas that require deeper elaboration.
4. Employee-Contributed Resources
Another great way to get your employees involved and engage them in and out of the virtual classroom is to turn the tables. Give them the opportunity to develop their own JIT resources based on their area of expertise or even training topics they’re still a bit shaky on to improve their understanding. For example, invite staff members to develop a podcast or infographic that centers on personal performance or a skill gap. They can upload the resource to the library or present it during the next live event. This facilitates peer-based feedback and allows them to reinforce what they know since they have to teach it to others and summarize the key concepts.
5. Prioritize Mobile Accessibility
Almost everybody (in the corporate space) has a smartphone. And it’s a convenient way to access JIT resources. So, consider crafting your JIT library mobile-first. This will automatically condense your content because the medium is optimized for compression. You can invest in a native app or simply optimize web content for “small screen.” Popular mobile formats include self-evaluation quizzes, infographics, gifs, memes, and micro-video/micro-audio of 30 seconds or less. Ensure these libraries are accessible offline in case trainees are learning in transit. You should also invest in a blended learning LMS that allows different instances of the platform. For example, your customer service team has access to a different training path and JIT library than your sales staff. Everyone gets the personalized blended learning tools they need to get the job done.
Conclusion
Blended learning differs from eLearning because it has options for face-to-face instructor-led sessions. These can be in-person or via web conferencing. Either way, how can we use blended learning solutions to provide moment-of-need training (that generally happens online)? Create digital summaries for offline sessions. Moderate social media discussions based on very specific tasks, then follow up with real-world demos in context. Design cutout videos of 10 to 30 seconds. Follow them up with self-assessment quizzes to see if trainees understood the video content. Finally, base your JIT efforts on mobile and ensure they can access it without Wi-Fi.
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