Will Corporate Learning ever return to the classroom?

The question on the lips of many Learning nd Development Specialists is will we ever return to the classroom setting now that we have proven how effective and engaging a virtual classroom can be. Having been delivering online training as a core offering for many years I want to broaden the discussion beyond this and consider the needs of the 'modern learner' and how both of these interventions have a place in the context of a learner journey.

It is important to consider the wider strategic purpose, what are the organisational goals? how do the behaviours of the learners need to change to meet the commercial objectives? All too often this part of the process is missed with organisations and consultants skipping far too quickly to the solution, all be that classroom or virtual, formal leanring.

A purely instructor led solution can at best only meet up to Level 2 of the Kirk Patrick Training Evaluation Model, addressing skills and knowledge. If we want to impact on results then we need a far more integrated approach, 90% of professional learning is informal and experiential, with that in mind we need to broaden our approach to look at a range of different interventions.

The modern learner has a short attention span, they are visual, like to access things on the move and collaborate and share with colleagues, I invite you to think about how we can incorporate this into our solutions.

A learner journey that is going to impact results requires informal as well as formal opportunities to learn, embed and apply. There needs to be provision for insights to be gathered, best practice to be shared, ad-hoc coaching and peer collaboration. All of this will lead to a much more 'adult centred' approach with employees feeling empowered to 'pull' on what they need rather than being 'sheep dipped' or pushed into a one size fits all approach.

Whether the formal learning is classroom or virtual is just a small detail in the context of designing a fully integrated Learner Journey that truly delivers organisational results.

Lucy is a commercially focused Learning and Development Specialist and an experienced and credentialed coach. She blends her wealth of global, corporate leadership experience with her years of learning and development expertise to design and deliver unique solutions that impact on organisational goals. If you would like to explore your learning and development needs relative to your strategic goals then please get in touch perfectly blended