Nicole has graduated from college with a first in Business Studies. Now all she needs for Christmas is a job.
Looks like it’s going to be a good year for Nicole. She’s got the job and she’s coming to England for her initial training.
Nicole arrives in Brighton and soon discovers she’s not the only one starting a new job.
Nicole and James compare notes on their initial training. But work is not the only thing on their minds.
Drama as Nicole returns to France. But will she ever see James again?
Edith Piaf (1915–1963) was a singer of chanson and ballads, and one of France’s greatest international stars. Her music was often autobiographical, telling of love, loss and sorrow. Perhaps Piaf’s most famous song was Non, je ne regrette rien.
So what does Edith Piaf have to do with blended learning? Well, to be honest very little. It is just that her name is the perfect way to remember the four phases in an effective blended solution: Preparation, Input, Application and Follow-up. No regrets learning.
If you’ve watched all the episodes in the story of Nicole and James, you’ll have recognised all four of these phases in Nicole’s induction programme – everything she needed to ensure her successful transition into the management trainee scheme at Lebeau.
Preparation: The purpose of the preparation phase is to align the learner with the intervention, so both are prepared to ‘receive’ each other. In Nicole’s case, this phase included a diagnostic questionnaire, an initial chat to discuss her needs, and access before she joined to all sorts of videos and other materials. She also had the chance to meet her fellow trainees online.
Input: The input phase acts as a catalyst for action. It’s usually the most formal part of the blend – the bit we commonly call a ‘course’ – although it could be as informal as a series of action learning meetings. For Nicole, the Input phase took place face-to-face at head office, with group discussions, Q&As and interactive scenarios.
Application: In the application phase, the learner applies what they have learned to real-life (or, where that’s not possible, to highly authentic tasks). For Nicole, this phase included a few days shadowing the manager at the Gatwick Airport branch, followed up by a trainee stint at Lebeau’s flagship store in Paris.
Follow-up: The follow-up phase is actually the longest, with the aim of embedding the learning into everyday behaviour. Throughout this phase, the learner is able to ‘pull’ from available resources, including coaches, experts, colleagues and content. As we’ve seen already, for Nicole this included mentoring, access to all sorts of digital resources, as well as continued networking with her fellow trainees.
PIAF is more than blended learning. It transcends the normal boundaries of formal and informal learning, ensuring that each intervention delivers in terms of performance where it matters – on the job.
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Clive’s new book More Than Blended Learning launched on January 15.
www.morethanblended.com