Data revealed: Are you getting the best Hybrid IT courses?

In today’s fast-paced professional landscape, the demand for flexible training solutions has never been greater. For IT professionals across Canada looking to upskill or certify, the hybrid course model has emerged as a popular, yet complex, option. This guide unpacks the hybrid format to help you determine if it aligns with your learning style and career goals.

Deconstructing the Hybrid Classroom Model

While many are familiar with purely virtual training or traditional in-person classes, the hybrid approach is different. It creates a single, unified learning event with two distinct audiences: a group of learners physically present in the classroom and another group attending remotely from their home or office.

The core of this model relies on technology. An instructor leads the session, using video conferencing software like Microsoft Teams or Zoom to broadcast the class to remote participants. This means the instructor is tasked with engaging both the people in the room and those on the screen at the same time. In some configurations, the instructor might also be remote, connecting with all students virtually.

On the surface, this provides a practical alternative for those unable to travel to a training centre, ensuring they don’t have to postpone their professional development. But does this convenient solution offer an equally effective experience for everyone involved?

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The facts

One important fact to keep in mind regarding hybrid classes:

A hybrid class is an onsite class where some learners join the class remotely. The class was originally developed for onsite learners and NOT virtual learners.

First and foremost, the practicalities impact the experience:

There is no way that a virtual learner can participate in class the same way that an onsite learner can: A virtual learner asking a question to the instructor in class, will either do so by raising their hand in the online tool, or by talking out loud in the speakers of the classroom.

3 reasons for failed Hybrid Classes

A mixed bag

The Best Practice models for delivering an onsite class and a virtual class are simply too different to merge them.

Practicalities

There is no way that a virtual learner can participate in class the same way that an onsite learner can.

Focus

The instructor will be focused away from microphones on occasion to help the others with labs or questions.

What does the data say?

As you can imagine, neither option is conducive for a natural and organic conversation with the instructor and classmates.

Those same virtual learners will also be struggling to follow the conversation in the classroom, even with state of the art technology, while the instructor will also be focused away from microphones on occasion to help the others with labs or questions.

Needless to say, many of these virtual learners are likely to decide that the struggle to get their question answered is not worth the effort.

To conclude: The Best Practice models for delivering an onsite class and a virtual class are simply too different to merge them without compromising on quality. These problems all make the hybrid classroom a sensible alternative to not learning at all, but it is not a good solution.

This fact was proven by a recent study by learning solutions provider Readynez.

Data revealed

Based on more than 600 surveys among hybrid learners in 2021, the data is clear:

On a scale from 1-10, the virtual learners in an onsite class, rate their classes at a 15% lower score than their onsite classmates!

This proves that the problems we´ve highlighted previously make the hybrid classroom a sensible alternative to not learning at all, but it is not a good solution.

The training providers need some recognition of these problems, and the self-awareness should result in some candid expectation setting conversation with potential learners. Or it could mean a departure from hybrid and a return to 100% onsite or 100% virtual learning.

Time will tell, but in the meantime; make your training choice with these facts and the data in mind. Ask the question when you book a course – Is this a hybrid or a true virtual class? You don´t want to be a minority virtual learner at a classroom course!