Instructional Design

We set ourselves apart by providing activities and links that allow you to "drill down" into content, emphasizing rich media, interaction, and practice. Accommodating different learning styles, making the courses accessible to learners with special needs, and providing a variety of opportunities to accurately assess progress sets our courses apart from the norm.

Blended Learning Design: 5 Key Ingredients

We believe that the best-designed learning experiences draw on a blend of learning theories and philosophies. By applying learning theories of Keller, Gagné, Bloom, Merrill, Clark and Gery, we have identified five key ingredients for a blended learning model:

1. Scheduled Events: Synchronous, instructor-led learning events in which all learners participate at the same time, such as in a “virtual classroom.”
2. Online Content: Asynchronous learning experiences that learners complete individually, at their own speed and on their own time, such as simulations, tutorials, and exercises.
3. Collaboration: Environments in which learners communicate with others, for example, threaded discussions and online chat.
4. Assessment: A measure of learners’ knowledge. Pre-assessments can come before scheduled events or online content, to determine prior knowledge, and post-assessments can occur following scheduled or online learning events, to measure learning transfer.
5. Reference Materials: On-the-job reference materials that enhance learning retention and transfer, including PDA downloads and PDFs.

BLENDED LEARNING THEORY

For more information read the whitepaper: "Blended Learning Design: Five Key Ingredients" by Jared Carman.

A Business Solution

While we take great care to create instructionally sound learning products and experiences, we are business people first. We will always offer you a range of options. Instead of advocating one instructional approach, we will give you a range of choices that fit your budget, audience, and business.