Appropriate media

Deciding on the correct learning medium or blend of media comes from considering:

Content, what the learning is all about
Practical factors, such as the number of learners, geographical dispersal and timescales

Content comprises both:

knowledge, information about a subject
instructions on how to apply the knowledge, which manifests itself as skill

Distinguishing between knowledge and skill content

When analysing what learning is required focus on the tasks that the learners are expected to do and how the content relates to this performance. Adopting a performance-related approach means that knowledge is put into a working context and we can avoid objectives using vague terms such as "understand" and instead have objectives based around observable performances.

So a rigorous use of objectives and an appreciation of the hierarchy of learning tasks as offered by Bloom is a good starting point in deciding on the perfect blend.

Bloom’s Taxonomy moves from low level knowledge learning activities such as list, state and recite through to high level application of knowledge learning activities such as judge, select and decide. The higher the level, the more skill is required.

A thorough task analysis and associated list of objectives is an essential starting point for working out a blend.

Practical considerations

You must also consider practical issues such as numbers of people, timescales and budgets.

Different learning strategies all have their particular strengths and weaknesses

Strengths and weaknesses of different learning strategies
Strengths and weaknesses of distance learning methods

This flowchart provides a simple guide that may be use as a starting point in deciding on a blend.

You should also remember the possibilities for informal learning: in other words, providing other ways in which people can learn other than through formal learning.

Technology offers a wide range of possibilities:

Breaking content down

Learning strategies