Partners for Youth deploys blended learning through SkillsTown

Blended learning is a commonly used term within organizations. This way of learning combines the more classical forms of education, for example physical training or lectures, with more modern ways of learning, such as e-learning and webinars, among others. Blended learning is therefore a good solution for training within an organization.

One of the organizations applying this strategy through SkillsTown's academy is Partners voor Jeugd. We spoke with Petra Stienstra, learning and training consultant at Partners voor Jeugd, about their training policy.

The optimal equipment

As an organization, you want the best working conditions for your employees. This is also an important part of the policy at Partners for Youth. Using the SkillsTown academy, they strive to provide employees with the best possible knowledge. Petra says, "We always try to give our employees as many resources as possible to equip themselves for their work. They work in a difficult context and we as an organization feel it is important to provide them with all the knowledge and skills needed for this," Petra emphasizes.

"For example, an e-learning can be used to prepare for a training course. With it, you can make part of the information transfer of a day's program smaller."

Besides making the right knowledge available, Partners for Youth uses SkillsTown 's learning solutions to guide employees through innovations and changes. For example, when implementing a certain method or behavior. "We use traditional training combined with e-learning and webinars. In our opinion, these two forms of learning can be linked very well. For example, an e-learning can be used to prepare for a training course. With this you can make part of the information transfer of a day program smaller," explains Petra.

An appropriate strategy

Sometimes blended learning is seen as an indispensable element within an organization's policy. But according to Petra, that should not be the reason to make it part of your strategy: "On the contrary, it is important to realize what you want to achieve and then choose the solution accordingly. I think you have to look carefully at what you want people to learn. In that consideration, blended learning can be a solution, but I am not necessarily of the opinion that you should apply blended learning to everyone and everywhere. Do mainly what is efficient and effective for the question you have in mind," Petra said.

"Above all, do what is efficient and effective for the question you have in mind."

Blended learning comes in different forms and applications. One of the topics for which blended learning was used at Partners for Youth was dealing with aggression. The goal was to promote the safety of employees in their daily work and reduce the number of incidents that employees experience. For this, a lot of agreements and protocols had to be communicated.

Petra says: "In my opinion, training courses are not suitable for communicating this kind of tough subject matter. Especially for this course, blended learning was a good solution. We were able to build a very nice e-learning about this subject that employees followed before coming to the training. That way they could already take the theory into their work and had the opportunity to prepare for the training session."

Overlap is important

In a blended learning course, different forms of education are used. Each form often addresses a different topic or theme. According to Petra, it is important to have some overlap: "For example, it is important to refer back in your day program to the e-learning that was followed beforehand. By doing so, you show that you appreciate the commitment of participants and course participants are rewarded for their involvement." When creating that overlap, you must then be careful not to duplicate certain content. This can actually cause course participants to lose interest. Petra emphasizes, "The connection between different learning materials listens closely. There should not be too much overlap, but certainly not too little either."

Make sure your ICT is in order

Finally, Petra has another good tip regarding ICT: "Make sure your ICT is in order. In a course such as blended learning, ICT plays an important role. For example, when employees can take a course from home. This requires a digital environment that they can log into. Make sure these things work properly, otherwise it can cause frustration."