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Wednesday, March 10, 2010    
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Blended Learning for Business English: U.S. English Services

Blended Learning Specialists for international communications and cross-cultural competence

 

We are  “first-generation”, certified, blended learning specialists and have been active in the field since 2001.  For us, blended learning is a conscious mix of learning elements that is seamlessly integrated towards a specific outcome – and that outcome, when real learning is concerned, involves real people - in a particular context -  who have specific, individual needs.

 

The know-how we have acquired, hands-on, in designing and implementing hybrid learning programs represents a great advantage to you and your Business English and intercultural competence programs. We know what works when, with whom, what does not, and why.

 

We have not only gained a wealth of experience in working with the Business English end-learners, but have also educated other blended learning trainers in the art.

 

Our perspective on Blended Learning is truly 360º and our enthusiasm for blended learning is contagious!

 

 

 

 
Blended Learning in Business

Blended learning is no cure-all

 

Blended Learning, or Hybrid Learning, cannot accomplish everything. Although incorporating different learning elements in any program will usually yield positive results, full-scale Blended Learning is a highly complex project and requires clear targets and a high degree of commitment. The shift in learning culture in organizations towards self-responsibility and learner independence has many implications. The results, however, can be extremely rewarding.

 

Hybrid Learning on many scales


Extensive contacts with a network of Blended Learning providers means, if the scale of your project demands, we can still deliver high quality services to fit your precise needs in conjunction with other experts and institutions in the field. We are in a position to connect you with the very best in Hybrid Learning if your intentions are too extensive for us to handle alone.

 

Our business is not simply making referrals; we are committed to making sure your program works. Despite the value U.S. English Services places on being independent, we believe in the pursuit of positive synergies with other major providers to yield optimum benefit for you and your program.
Effective Blended Learning

Hybrid Learning forms are nothing new

 

Effective teachers have always combined materials from a variety of sources in meaningful ways within a climate of socialized learning to achieve a maximum in real learning. 

 

What is new about Hybrid Learning

 

What is new is the ever-increasing variety of media available that can be integrated into the learning mix. Be it Second Life, podcasting, virtual classrooms or video blogs, the potentials of media melding are practically inexhaustible. The key to the blend, however, involves weaving media, content, temporal aspects and a sense of community into a comprehensive and flexible program that is rewarding and useful to every participant.

 

Effective corporate Blended Learning:

  • Fulfills the basic human desire to communicate
  • Is reality-based, customizable and job-specific
  • Caters to a wide variety of learner types
  • Offers content and media variety
  • Exploits the technical tools available meaningfully
  • Merges "real" and virtual elements seamlessly
  • Fosters positive social interaction

 
Genuine Blended Learning

Misnomers abound...

 

Some so-called corporate “Blended Learning” programs place a disproportionate emphasis on CBTs (computer-based training) or WBTs (web-based training) to accomplish target language acquisition. The mix, in many cases, is non-participatory and lacks personalized, customizable elements. Many programs have bypassed one of the very core reasons people learn foreign languages: to communicate…with other real people.

 

People are messy...

 

Interactivity and learner input are often severely limited due to the inherent standardized template these IT-based products impose. A stand-alone product that does not involve the messiness of real social and communicative interaction is not, in and of itself, Blended Learning.

 
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