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Hybrid Learning: Improving the Virtual Elements

Cindy Huggett joins us to discuss how trainers stuck with hybrid classrooms can optimize their virtual elements, and a roadmap for moving to blended learning. TranscriptTom Moriarty: 00:00:01 Welcome, you made it to the Secret Society of Tom Moriarty: 00:00:03 Success! In this not-so-secret podcast, we interview L&D Tom Moriarty: 00:00:07 changemakers about how they […]

Cindy Huggett joins us to discuss how trainers stuck with hybrid classrooms can optimize their virtual elements, and a roadmap for moving to blended learning.

Transcript
Tom Moriarty:

Welcome, you made it to the Secret Society of

Tom Moriarty:

Success! In this not-so-secret podcast, we interview L&D

Tom Moriarty:

changemakers about how they approach the evolving corporate

Tom Moriarty:

environment and cultivate their own careers. We hope that from

Tom Moriarty:

their stories, you find lessons and inspirations to make

Tom Moriarty:

yourself, your people and your organization's more successful.

Tom Moriarty:

In this first season, we're exploring topic of hybrid

learning:

what that means at different organizations, why it

learning:

is increasingly important, and how L&D leaders can invest in

learning:

the right resources to best leverage it. Today, we're

learning:

discussing what good hybrid learning looks like. Cindy

learning:

Huggett, author and virtual training expert is joining us to

learning:

discuss definitions what most organizations are doing today

learning:

and where L&D leaders need to invest in order to make sure

learning:

their hybrid programs actually achieve their learning and

learning:

business outcomes. Cindy, welcome.

Cindy Huggett:

Thank you so much for having me, Tom.

Tom Moriarty:

So Cindy, you know, before we jump into the

Tom Moriarty:

podcast itself, could you just share a little bit about your

Tom Moriarty:

background?

Cindy Huggett:

Sure. I think the thing your listeners will be

Cindy Huggett:

most interested in is that I've been doing hybrid and virtual

Cindy Huggett:

learning for the last 20 years. I was working inside an

Cindy Huggett:

organization in the early 2000s, told to cut my budget, stop

Cindy Huggett:

traveling but still provide training to my global audience.

Cindy Huggett:

So I started using a really early version of WebEx to

Cindy Huggett:

provide training. And I ended up going out on my own thinking I'd

Cindy Huggett:

do some HR and training consulting. And I kept getting

Cindy Huggett:

asked Cindy, how are you doing this virtual thing? And so I

Cindy Huggett:

started writing and speaking and teaching and consulting on how

Cindy Huggett:

to do virtual well. Needless to say, the last two years have

Cindy Huggett:

been very busy. And it's been a lot of fun to work with clients

Cindy Huggett:

around the globe and helping them do virtual training and

Cindy Huggett:

hybrid learning really well.

Tom Moriarty:

That's great. I'd like to start to just level set

Tom Moriarty:

this conversation with some definition. So let's start with

this fun buzzword:

hybrid learning. What does that mean to

this fun buzzword:

you, Cindy?

Cindy Huggett:

Well, for me, hybrid learning in a workplace

Cindy Huggett:

setting means a synchronous event, a live event, where some

Cindy Huggett:

of the participants are in person, and some of the

Cindy Huggett:

participants are remote. And I think it's important to start

Cindy Huggett:

the conversation here, Tom, because as I've been talking and

Cindy Huggett:

researching and writing about hybrid for the past several

Cindy Huggett:

years, in just the last few months, I've had a number of

Cindy Huggett:

people say things like, Well, what about the assignment? Or

Cindy Huggett:

what about the self led part? And it's led me to realize that,

Cindy Huggett:

especially in a university setting or a college setting,

Cindy Huggett:

that in that context, hybrid means a curriculum that has some

Cindy Huggett:

synchronous and some asynchronous. So when we say the

Cindy Huggett:

word hybrid, it's really important to find out what's

Cindy Huggett:

your definition of hybrid? Are you talking about a curriculum a

Cindy Huggett:

journey? Are you talking about a single event that happens to

Cindy Huggett:

have an audience in different locations? And so I refer to

Cindy Huggett:

hybrid, as that latter definition, the synchronous

Cindy Huggett:

event that has audiences, some in person, some remote, and

Cindy Huggett:

let's let's refer to hybrid that way.

Tom Moriarty:

That's great. Blended learning. What does that

Tom Moriarty:

mean to you?

Cindy Huggett:

Oh, there's definitely overlap, because

Cindy Huggett:

blended learning in a workplace setting is a journey. It's a

Cindy Huggett:

curriculum that happens to have some self led and some in person

Cindy Huggett:

or instructor led could be online, and more likely than

Cindy Huggett:

not, is online. But it's this intentionally designed

Cindy Huggett:

curriculum that has multiple modalities. So for example, if

Cindy Huggett:

I'm learning how to be a customer service agent, I might

Cindy Huggett:

do some self study on my own, I might go to some classes, I may

Cindy Huggett:

do some practice and some coaching. And it's the

Cindy Huggett:

combination of all of that, that creates the dedicated blended

Cindy Huggett:

learning curriculum. Now, like we were just talking about in a

Cindy Huggett:

university setting, they call that hybrid, but we in the

Cindy Huggett:

workplace or corporate learning setting are going to call that

Cindy Huggett:

blended.

Tom Moriarty:

And the last one I like to dive into is hybrid

Tom Moriarty:

classroom. What does that mean to you?

Cindy Huggett:

So it's an interesting term, hybrid

Cindy Huggett:

classroom. There are certain vendors out there and especially

Cindy Huggett:

recently who have become quite popular who offer technology

Cindy Huggett:

packages that are dedicated hybrid classrooms. It may be a

Cindy Huggett:

camera or a camera bar, or maybe an audio system, or a wall of

Cindy Huggett:

video screens where the hybrid classroom a dedicated room that

Cindy Huggett:

makes doing hybrid easy. One small example of that is zoom

Cindy Huggett:

rooms. When we think of the product zoom that we're even

Cindy Huggett:

using right now to record this conversation, we think of it as

Cindy Huggett:

a synchronous event, there's a product, Zoom rooms, most of the

Cindy Huggett:

major software vendors who create virtual or video

Cindy Huggett:

conferencing are coming out with this type of technology. So when

Cindy Huggett:

I think of a hybrid classroom, I think of a dedicated classroom

Cindy Huggett:

that makes doing hybrid learning or having hybrid meetings

Cindy Huggett:

easier.

Tom Moriarty:

If my notes are correct, for the purposes of our

Tom Moriarty:

conversation, hybrid learning is a live event, right, where you

Tom Moriarty:

have an audience that might be physically in front of you and

Tom Moriarty:

an audience also might be distributed. Whereas blended

Tom Moriarty:

learning, that's really about your curriculum. It's the

Tom Moriarty:

curriculum journey, which is different than an actual live

Tom Moriarty:

event. And then the classroom, as you put it, is really kind of

Tom Moriarty:

a product or a tool or a location that's designed to make

Tom Moriarty:

facilitating that hybrid learning as easy as possible.

Cindy Huggett:

Absolutely. And the one thing I would add for

Cindy Huggett:

the hybrid classroom, even though there are dedicated

Cindy Huggett:

vendors who are creating certain rooms that make it easy, you can

Cindy Huggett:

also do it on your own. If you have any conference room, right,

Cindy Huggett:

any conference room where you set up with a laptop, or an

Cindy Huggett:

audio connection, or a video connection, you can make that a

Cindy Huggett:

hybrid classroom, but it's a dedicated space.

Tom Moriarty:

I love that idea of a DIY hybrid classroom, I

Tom Moriarty:

think we'll get back to that later in our conversation. So as

Tom Moriarty:

you shared with the audience, this is your space. This is your

Tom Moriarty:

area of expertise. It's where you've been working and living,

Tom Moriarty:

even before March 2020. So let me ask you this. Based on your

Tom Moriarty:

research, you know, in the state of virtual training report that

Tom Moriarty:

you've shared, sounds like most organizations who say that

Tom Moriarty:

they're doing hybrid learning, are really delivering classroom

Tom Moriarty:

training to a blend of people remote, kind of that your

Tom Moriarty:

definition of hybrid learning, right? They're calling it

Tom Moriarty:

blended, some are calling it hybrid. I want to really, really

Tom Moriarty:

focus the entire discussion on how do you maximize the

Tom Moriarty:

delivery? In that setting? How do you make it as effective as

Tom Moriarty:

possible in terms of achieving that business outcome? So first,

Tom Moriarty:

maybe you've got an L&D professional who's trying to

Tom Moriarty:

balance that decision of, Hey, should I deliver this with a

Tom Moriarty:

hybrid learning event? Or should I deliver this with in person?

Tom Moriarty:

What are some of the benefits that they'll get from choosing

Cindy Huggett:

So I have a big smile on my face. Because back

Cindy Huggett:

the hybrid?

Cindy Huggett:

in 2016, one of my books, the Virtual Training Tools and

Cindy Huggett:

Templates book, I wrote about hybrid learning, and I actually

Cindy Huggett:

wrote, don't do it, I wrote, this is something that if you

Tom Moriarty:

That's great. It's a... It's not the entire I think

Tom Moriarty:

can avoid it, avoid it. And if though you have to do it, then

Tom Moriarty:

here's how you do it well. Here's here's what we can do.

Tom Moriarty:

And fast forward to 2022. Believe it or not, that is still

Tom Moriarty:

my recommendation that if you have an audience that is in

Tom Moriarty:

person together, co located, and you have an audience that's

Tom Moriarty:

remote, if you have the time, the resources, the energy, the

Tom Moriarty:

ability to have let's take a training class topic, any

Tom Moriarty:

training class topic, and to do an in person version of it, and

Tom Moriarty:

to do an online or virtual version of it, do that. Now the

Tom Moriarty:

reality is most organizations don't have those type of

Tom Moriarty:

resources. We're not able to say, "I want to offer the

Tom Moriarty:

management development program in person. And I want to offer

Tom Moriarty:

the management development program online." And so the

Tom Moriarty:

reality of how we're working today with work hasn't stopped,

Tom Moriarty:

but work location has changed. Some people are in an office,

Tom Moriarty:

some are remote, some are always from this point forward, going

Tom Moriarty:

to be remote or have the choice of whether or not they're

Tom Moriarty:

remote, you have a good strong internet connection and a

Tom Moriarty:

laptop, or access to the programs you need. You can work

Tom Moriarty:

from anywhere. So when we talk about maximizing what should we

Tom Moriarty:

do to embrace hybrid learning is let's recognize just like you

Tom Moriarty:

can work from anywhere you can learn from anywhere, and we're

Tom Moriarty:

going to get deeper into more of the how, but recognize that we

Tom Moriarty:

want to allow our remote audience those who are working

Tom Moriarty:

remotely by choice or for whatever reason that is that

Tom Moriarty:

they can participate in the learning program as well. We now

Tom Moriarty:

have the technology that allows that to happen. Facilitators who

Tom Moriarty:

can get the skills to do that well designed that can be

Tom Moriarty:

effective for those dual audiences so we can embrace it.

Tom Moriarty:

We just need to recognize that it is a dedicated effort on

Tom Moriarty:

behalf of many stakeholders to make it worthwhile

Tom Moriarty:

most people were expecting. But I love that I think that the,

Tom Moriarty:

you know, the reality is that, you know, as you said, faced

Tom Moriarty:

with other options, this wouldn't be your first choice.

Tom Moriarty:

But faced with the reality of many people's circumstances,

Tom Moriarty:

given the fact that much of the workforce or some parts of most

Tom Moriarty:

people's workforces will now be and likely remain remote for

Tom Moriarty:

some period of time. But you've got an audience, you've got to

Tom Moriarty:

be able to reach. Right. And I think that now, as you've you so

Tom Moriarty:

beautifully said, the benefits are a growing skill set and

Tom Moriarty:

toolset, to be able to do that and deliver it well, in a way

Tom Moriarty:

that's impactful, that creates an outcome. So let's get into

Tom Moriarty:

that. But I want to start, maybe not with what works. But what do

Tom Moriarty:

you see that doesn't work? I feel like sometimes that can be

Tom Moriarty:

a more actionable takeaway. So what are some of the big

Tom Moriarty:

mistakes you see, in hybrid learning delivery?

Cindy Huggett:

I see two big mistakes in hybrid learning

Cindy Huggett:

delivery. And the first one is facilitators who pay attention

Cindy Huggett:

to the audience right in front of them if they're in the room,

Cindy Huggett:

they're co located. And yes, they have the remote audience,

Cindy Huggett:

and they know that they're there. But whether consciously

Cindy Huggett:

or subconsciously, they don't put the emphasis on them. Which

Cindy Huggett:

really leads me to the second mistake. And when we think about

Cindy Huggett:

preparation for an event, many years ago, when we only did in

Cindy Huggett:

person events, your preparation was on your content, your

Cindy Huggett:

preparation was on what's the topic, whether my outcomes, what

Cindy Huggett:

are the activities? Are we really focused in on that. And

Cindy Huggett:

then when everyone went virtual, when when we started doing

Cindy Huggett:

virtual training, the preparation was on the

Cindy Huggett:

technology on what software will I use? Does everyone have a

Cindy Huggett:

webcam or headset? Right? both hardware and software, the

Cindy Huggett:

technology was the focus, content was still important, but

Cindy Huggett:

the focus became technology. Now that we're in a hybrid learning

Cindy Huggett:

environment, where we have audiences in different

Cindy Huggett:

locations, the focus of our preparation needs to be on the

Cindy Huggett:

participant experience. We with empathy, think through what's

Cindy Huggett:

the audience experience going to be like our in person audience,

Cindy Huggett:

are they going to have devices to connect in? What's that going

Cindy Huggett:

to be like in the room? Can we get them on camera? My remote

audience:

What's the experience going to be like for them? Are

audience:

we going to ask them to be on camera? Are we going to modify

audience:

activities to ensure that they feel included? And again, it's

audience:

not that the technology is not important? It's not that the

audience:

content is not important, but our shift in focus. So the

audience:

mistake that I see made is not shifting focus of where our

audience:

preparation needs to be, and especially as hybrid is new for

audience:

many organizations. We're getting used to it the

audience:

preparation that goes into it being successful. There needs to

audience:

be emphasis on that.

Tom Moriarty:

I think that that specific takeaway on shifting

Tom Moriarty:

the focus to the participant experience is a fantastic one.

Tom Moriarty:

Let me ask you one follow up question. The first mistake is

Tom Moriarty:

the facilitator, the facilitator, not giving the

Tom Moriarty:

right focus or engagement with the remote audience versus the

Tom Moriarty:

audience, right for what can facilitators do? What are some

Tom Moriarty:

tips or tricks you might have for them to try to ensure

Tom Moriarty:

they're better balancing addressing their complete

Tom Moriarty:

audience?

Cindy Huggett:

That's a great question. And there are a couple

Cindy Huggett:

of things that facilitators can do when they've got a hybrid

Cindy Huggett:

audience. Perhaps, first of all, we should just call out the

Cindy Huggett:

assumption that the facilitator is in the room that they're co

Cindy Huggett:

located because in some organizations, it may be the

Cindy Huggett:

facilitator who's remote. So if you have that scenario, you want

Cindy Huggett:

to designate an in room moderator or somebody who is co

Cindy Huggett:

located with your audience, and they can be your eyes and ears.

Cindy Huggett:

So let's assume that the facilitator is in the classroom

Cindy Huggett:

in with the co located participants. What are some

Cindy Huggett:

things that they can do number one, keep a remote first

Cindy Huggett:

mentality? By that, I mean, if there's a question that's asked

Cindy Huggett:

that they get the remote audience to respond first, or if

Cindy Huggett:

they're using the camera to present a short segment that

Cindy Huggett:

they're looking at the camera screen as opposed to looking at

Cindy Huggett:

the in person audience. It's not that you never look at the in

Cindy Huggett:

person audience but we pay attention to the camera lens and

Cindy Huggett:

we focus our eyes so that the remote audience feels like

Cindy Huggett:

they're part of the conversation. If in person

Cindy Huggett:

audience members starts speaking to one another, and they can't

Cindy Huggett:

be heard on the audio, the facilitator could either pause

Cindy Huggett:

that conversation to make sure there's a microphone or some

Cindy Huggett:

other, perhaps repetition of what's being said. So the remote

Cindy Huggett:

audience feels like they're there. And to, to follow on a

Cindy Huggett:

sports analogy, when you think about any type of big sporting

Cindy Huggett:

event that you're watching on television, that you're not

Cindy Huggett:

actually there, you listen to the announcers, who are talking

Cindy Huggett:

about it. And the goal of the announcer, is to help you feel

Cindy Huggett:

like you're there. They describe the crowd, they describe the

Cindy Huggett:

scene, they describe what's happening, they use colorful

Cindy Huggett:

language, to paint the picture of what's happening. And that's

Cindy Huggett:

the same idea of what an in person facilitator can do to

Cindy Huggett:

help the remote audience feel like they're there. For example,

Cindy Huggett:

if there's a long pause, the facilitator could say something

Cindy Huggett:

like, "Jane is getting ready to load some slides up," or "we're

Cindy Huggett:

waiting for Adam to come back into the room," just that idea

Cindy Huggett:

of helping the remote audience feel like they're there. Tom, I

Cindy Huggett:

could keep going. I actually teach a workshop in how to

Cindy Huggett:

facilitate hybrid events. And hopefully, that gives you an

Cindy Huggett:

idea of a few quick things that take a little extra intention, a

Cindy Huggett:

little extra effort, but go a long way to helping the remote

Cindy Huggett:

audience feel like they're part of the class feel like they're

Cindy Huggett:

part of the learning experience.

Tom Moriarty:

Cindy, that's great. I love the energy, and I

Tom Moriarty:

love some of the takeaways. Moving on. So we've talked about

Tom Moriarty:

some of the common mistakes, we've talked about some things

Tom Moriarty:

that you could do to address them. So let's say you've got an

Tom Moriarty:

L&D department there, they know they're going to be serving a

Tom Moriarty:

population that is a mix of in person and remote learners. Why

Tom Moriarty:

should they consider adding other content delivery methods

Tom Moriarty:

besides just the hybrid learning event into the mix to move

Tom Moriarty:

towards a more blended model? Why is that something that they

Tom Moriarty:

should consider given the context in our audience?

Cindy Huggett:

Tom, I think that's the golden question for

Cindy Huggett:

us to answer because our goal as learning departments is to help

Cindy Huggett:

our audience learn, right, that's an obvious statement. But

Cindy Huggett:

the reason we do any learning intervention in a training

Cindy Huggett:

program, any sort of formalized learning effort is to help our

Cindy Huggett:

audience to do something better to learn a new skill. And if we

Cindy Huggett:

want that to happen, then we need to be thinking about the

Cindy Huggett:

best way for them to learn. In my work in virtual training,

Cindy Huggett:

something I hear over and over and over again, and I've heard

Cindy Huggett:

it for years, is that "when my participants are multitasking,

Cindy Huggett:

they don't answer questions." They're not paying attention,

Cindy Huggett:

right? It sounds different in different contexts. But the

Cindy Huggett:

general idea is how do we engage our remote audiences. And

Cindy Huggett:

whether it's virtual, whether it's hybrid, we have when we

Cindy Huggett:

think about the workforce today, a very capable set of adults who

Cindy Huggett:

can do work and can can do work on their own right, the the

Cindy Huggett:

future of remote and hybrid work is really asynchronous, allowing

Cindy Huggett:

people to do things on their own. We've got overloaded

Cindy Huggett:

plates, we've got overloaded schedules, we have so much. And

Cindy Huggett:

part of the reason why people are multitasking or not engaging

Cindy Huggett:

is that we're bringing them together for a live event, when

Cindy Huggett:

what our goal is of trying to get them to learn what we're

Cindy Huggett:

trying to do they could do on their own. Like, for example,

Cindy Huggett:

are we bringing people together just to lecture ask them, why

Cindy Huggett:

not record that and let them watch it on their own time, and

Cindy Huggett:

then bring them together for q&a, bring them together for

Cindy Huggett:

some practice, or discussion or dialogue about that topic? Or

Cindy Huggett:

instead of bringing them together to do a demonstration,

Cindy Huggett:

could we create a job aid? Could we create an asynchronous

Cindy Huggett:

elearning? And I think, most learning departments, we need to

Cindy Huggett:

think about how much learning can we create, that our learners

Cindy Huggett:

can do on their own or in small cohorts, according to time that

Cindy Huggett:

works for them in their work schedule. And I'm not saying

Cindy Huggett:

make them do work on I don't know, after hours or the middle

Cindy Huggett:

of the night, but things if this is important for their job and

Cindy Huggett:

we're building an accountability, then we want to

Cindy Huggett:

honor and respect the fact that they're adult learners and that

Cindy Huggett:

they can take accountability for learning and so we're bringing

Cindy Huggett:

them together, for collaboration for communication, for

Cindy Huggett:

discussion, for practice, for feedback and we're making it

Cindy Huggett:

count. So to answer your original question, why should a

Cindy Huggett:

learning department be looking at creating other assets blended

Cindy Huggett:

learning, because blended learning is largely self led

Cindy Huggett:

asynchronous where we bring people together for the

Cindy Huggett:

collaboration in the conversation.

Tom Moriarty:

The interesting thing about that, that I was

Tom Moriarty:

writing down as you're sharing your thoughts is it's it

Tom Moriarty:

actually goes back to the biggest mistake that you

Tom Moriarty:

mentioned just a moment ago, right? You mentioned, the second

Tom Moriarty:

biggest mistake is not putting the participant experience

Tom Moriarty:

first, specifically in the hybrid learning environment, and

Tom Moriarty:

that in that event, where you've got a mix of remote and in

Tom Moriarty:

person learners, but it almost sounds like you're saying, if I

Tom Moriarty:

could make a leap here, the biggest mistake is not putting

Tom Moriarty:

the participant experience first, also, as it relates to

Tom Moriarty:

content design, because that's what I took from your, from your

Tom Moriarty:

answer there. It's really about understanding, hey, you've got

Tom Moriarty:

to a group of adults, you've got to deliver them content to

Tom Moriarty:

achieve an outcome that fits in their schedule at the time that

Tom Moriarty:

they need it. And maybe part of the way to think about that is

Tom Moriarty:

think about their experience with the content first. And is

Tom Moriarty:

this the right content experience, not just as direct

Tom Moriarty:

classroom experience?

Cindy Huggett:

Absolutely, absolutely.

Tom Moriarty:

So I want to go back, you know, you are the

Tom Moriarty:

expert. Of course, as they say, I want to go back to two teams

Tom Moriarty:

that are kind of doubling down on delivering training to a

Tom Moriarty:

hybrid group. So there, they know that they're going to

Tom Moriarty:

deliver hybrid learning, they're going to do it consistently,

Tom Moriarty:

they're going to invest in it, because they know they have this

Tom Moriarty:

distributed workforce, it's going to be a mix of in person,

Tom Moriarty:

and remote. So what I'd like to do is understand as that team

Tom Moriarty:

exists today, where do they invest the most? Right, so I'll

Tom Moriarty:

give you some categories, I'd like you to try to prioritize

Tom Moriarty:

these three categories, where are some terms of investment for

Tom Moriarty:

the L&D team. So one would be course development. The second

Tom Moriarty:

would be technology that are better helps facilitate the

Tom Moriarty:

delivery of a hybrid learning environment, or the third would

Tom Moriarty:

be facilitation skills for the people who are actually

Tom Moriarty:

facilitating. So if you had to prioritize, you know, an order

Tom Moriarty:

of importance, one, two, or three, because, you know, not

Tom Moriarty:

everybody can do all three, unfortunately, how would you

Tom Moriarty:

prioritize those? And then how would you maybe help the

Tom Moriarty:

audience think about how they should in the context of their

Tom Moriarty:

business?

Cindy Huggett:

It's so interesting that you asked this

Cindy Huggett:

question, because in my annual State of Virtual Training

Cindy Huggett:

report, one of the questions that I've asked over the last

Cindy Huggett:

few years is, "what do you wish your organization did

Cindy Huggett:

differently about virtual training?" Over and over and

Cindy Huggett:

over again, I hear, "I don't have enough resources." And I

Cindy Huggett:

hear that from designers, I hear that from facilitators, I hear

Cindy Huggett:

that in multiple contexts. But the idea of resources for a

Cindy Huggett:

designer that means I need time to develop training, develop

Cindy Huggett:

learning experiences that are significant and meaningful and

Cindy Huggett:

valuable. In other words, I can't just take a classroom

Cindy Huggett:

training program and a slide deck and slap it into an online

Cindy Huggett:

learning program and call it like, there's the... I need

Cindy Huggett:

resources, I need time for do that. So that's a very important

Cindy Huggett:

priority. The facilitators will say, "I need time to learn the

Cindy Huggett:

technology, you're going to put me in a room with these

Cindy Huggett:

technical components, I need to learn how they work, I need

Cindy Huggett:

practice, I need the time to upskill myself." And they're

Cindy Huggett:

also going to say we need to equip our participants, they

Cindy Huggett:

need webcams or they need quality headsets, or they need

Cindy Huggett:

better internet connectivity. Because the participant who

Cindy Huggett:

can't stay connected to a learning program is obviously

Cindy Huggett:

not learning. They're spending all their time and energy trying

Cindy Huggett:

to just reconnect to the program. So the answer is

Cindy Huggett:

resources. The resources that matter are going to depend on

Cindy Huggett:

your organizational structure. Do you have a team of

Cindy Huggett:

instructional designers or are you asking facilitators to do

Cindy Huggett:

the design? What kind of infrastructure do you have for

Cindy Huggett:

your participants? So when you think about the the

Cindy Huggett:

infrastructure of the resources, if I had to pick a priority, I

Cindy Huggett:

would invest in your facilitators, they're the ones

Cindy Huggett:

that can make it work in any learning environment, but they

Cindy Huggett:

need the skills to effectively engage remote audiences and in a

Cindy Huggett:

hybrid environment to effectively engage both

Cindy Huggett:

environments. We also want them to be so comfortable with the

Cindy Huggett:

technology platforms where you using. For example, if they're

Cindy Huggett:

using a collaboration whiteboard, we want them to be

Cindy Huggett:

very skilled and able to explain it to participants so that

Cindy Huggett:

participants can just use the whiteboard for the activity, and

Cindy Huggett:

not be bogged down in trying to learn how the whiteboard works,

Cindy Huggett:

right? It's not about the whiteboard, it's about the

Cindy Huggett:

learning that's behind it. So if I had to prioritize facilitator

Cindy Huggett:

upskilling facilitator technology, the next place I

Cindy Huggett:

would go is to look at are my participants equipped with what

Cindy Huggett:

they need? And do my designers have the skills and the time and

Cindy Huggett:

the resources to create good quality, interactive learning?

Tom Moriarty:

I like that's Cindy, I really appreciate that.

Tom Moriarty:

I think that that's a path that I think would make most people

Tom Moriarty:

successful. So I appreciate the the really clear framework and

Tom Moriarty:

focus there. I do want to get back to something that we talked

Tom Moriarty:

about way earlier that I loved as a term. I did want to make

Tom Moriarty:

sure we picked your brain on before we wrapped up this

Tom Moriarty:

conversation today. The DIY hybrid classroom. Let's let's

Tom Moriarty:

talk about that a little bit. How do we how do we get you on

Tom Moriarty:

HGTV doing DIY hybrid classrooms?

Cindy Huggett:

Great idea. How fun would that be? So when we

Cindy Huggett:

think about the equipment that you need, number one clear

Cindy Huggett:

audio, creating an audio connection where everybody can

Cindy Huggett:

be heard, and you've probably seen on TV, maybe work for an

Cindy Huggett:

organization that has a room where there's a microphone and

Cindy Huggett:

every seat. And that is a fantastic yet rare luxury to

Cindy Huggett:

have. But we do want to think about where's the microphone

Cindy Huggett:

placement? Where do we pick up the audio, number one. Number

Cindy Huggett:

two, video? Do we have a camera in the room that everybody who

Cindy Huggett:

is in person can be seen. And if not? Well, we have mobile

Cindy Huggett:

devices, we have tablets, we have laptops with built in

Cindy Huggett:

cameras, where are we going to position them? Now thinking

Cindy Huggett:

about room positioning, if you place the camera at the front of

Cindy Huggett:

the room, and you have a presenter or facilitator or

Cindy Huggett:

speaker who is standing at the front of the room, it's probably

Cindy Huggett:

going to pick up the back of their head. So thinking about

Cindy Huggett:

the positioning of the camera where that camera is going to

Cindy Huggett:

pick up anyone who is speaking or presenting. So perhaps you

Cindy Huggett:

put it in the back of the room, or there are cameras that will

Cindy Huggett:

swivel and turn based on where the audio is coming from.

Cindy Huggett:

There's some pretty cool technology out there that could

Cindy Huggett:

be employed or used. But can it take time to set up the audio

Cindy Huggett:

and the video correctly? Now, I believe it's important that

Cindy Huggett:

anyone who's in the room, a participant who's joining co

Cindy Huggett:

located together has the same device or the same access to the

Cindy Huggett:

technology that the remote learners do. So if I'm inviting

Cindy Huggett:

learners and participants in person, I'm going to ask them to

Cindy Huggett:

bring their laptop or bring their mobile device so that they

Cindy Huggett:

can respond to a poll question or type in chat or use the

Cindy Huggett:

electronic whiteboard. The catch is they can't connect to audio,

Cindy Huggett:

if they connect to the audio, we're gonna have echo problems

Cindy Huggett:

go lower. So little bit of a tech check, making sure that

Cindy Huggett:

it's just one audio connection in the room, and then everyone

Cindy Huggett:

else on equal playing field, but the same tools that everyone

Cindy Huggett:

who's connected into the hybrid learning will have.

Tom Moriarty:

So the DIY hybrid classroom sounds like making

Tom Moriarty:

sure you've got your clear audio, camera, both quality and

Tom Moriarty:

positioning. And then if you've got if you need to be

Tom Moriarty:

resourceful with that, you know, don't be afraid of the good old

Tom Moriarty:

cell phone, right. And then last, which I like as a

Tom Moriarty:

takeaway, because I don't think it's always emphasized enough,

Tom Moriarty:

I'm even thinking back to a hybrid learning session that I

Tom Moriarty:

did for one of my teams in December. And that's the

Tom Moriarty:

universal access to the technology. I think that's a

Tom Moriarty:

great one. I think that ultimately, going back to your

Tom Moriarty:

earlier takeaway, which is putting the experience of the

Tom Moriarty:

remote learner first, you can't really do that if you don't have

Tom Moriarty:

the full classroom engaged in the same places do the same

Tom Moriarty:

technology. So I love that tip. I think that's a really good

Tom Moriarty:

one. Cindy, before we wrap up, are there any closing thoughts

Tom Moriarty:

or ideas or takeaways that you'd like to leave the audience with?

Tom Moriarty:

You know, as it relates to the goal of delivering good hybrid

Tom Moriarty:

learning?

Cindy Huggett:

Tom, I can think of so many things I would love

Cindy Huggett:

to keep talking about. But I know we have limited amount of

Cindy Huggett:

time. And I think I would leave the listener with this. And that

Cindy Huggett:

is to remember it's about the learning and it's about the

Cindy Huggett:

learner. And if we remember that if we put ourselves in their

Cindy Huggett:

shoes and think through what do they need to learn and how can

Cindy Huggett:

we help enable that learning, then we're going to create

Cindy Huggett:

value. And that's our goal as facilitators, trainers,

Cindy Huggett:

presenters, designers, anybody in an l&d department, our goal

Cindy Huggett:

is to add value to our learners. And so let's make sure we're

Cindy Huggett:

doing that regardless of the environment that we're working

Cindy Huggett:

in

Tom Moriarty:

Create value for your learners. That's a perfect

Tom Moriarty:

closing statement. I love that. Cindy, if our audience wants to

Tom Moriarty:

learn more about you, where can they find you?

Cindy Huggett:

The best place is to go to my website, which is

Cindy Huggett:

Cindy huggett.com. I'm sure we'll put it in the show notes.

Cindy Huggett:

I have a resource library out there full of different

Cindy Huggett:

resources that are available, you can download, I facilitate

Cindy Huggett:

workshops, I write books, I have a new book coming out later in

Cindy Huggett:

2022, called the Facilitators Guide to Immersive, Blended and

Cindy Huggett:

Hybrid Learning. So you want to be on the lookout for that. And

Cindy Huggett:

I can't wait for everyone to see the resources that I've been

Cindy Huggett:

working on specifically related to that. You'll also find me on

Cindy Huggett:

Twitter and Linked In. Cindyhugg is my tagline. And you'll find

Cindy Huggett:

me out there in both places.

Tom Moriarty:

Cindy, thank you so much for your time, it's been

Tom Moriarty:

great. We'll definitely have links to all your social

Tom Moriarty:

avenues, as well as the website in the show notes. And thank you

Tom Moriarty:

so much for your time. I hope this has been very impactful. We

Tom Moriarty:

appreciate it. I hope you have an awesome rest of your day.

Tom Moriarty:

The Secret Society of Success is hosted by Mimeo, the better way

Tom Moriarty:

to print. Check out our sister podcast, Talk of the Trade, for

Tom Moriarty:

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