"Blended Learning": Digitization revolutionizes training

Stefan Michel, EMBA Program Director, Professor of Marketing and Service Management, IMD Lausanne.I meet Stefan Michel at the IMD CMO Roundtable, with around 40 exponents from a wide range of industries. In his welcome address, Dominique Turpin, President of IMD, refers to a marketing conference in Japan from which he has just returned. He mentions the following key statements:- In the last ten years, the proportion of products sold online at Nestlé in Japan has risen from 10 percent to 30 percent- The digital transformation is leading to the "Internet of everything" - everything is being networked- The energy market will change fundamentally - "think local - act global"- "The CMO is dead" - agility is reaching marketing! The last statement in particular was not exactly a harmonious introduction to the CMO Roundtable - but at least a wake-up call that cannot be ignored.Three levels of digitizationFirst, I ask Stefan Michel what digitalization means for the renowned business school IMD. "I want to make a universal and central statement in response to this question," Michel replies. In the marketing professor's opinion, there are three levels to digitalization:a. The digitalization of communication (with the same business model and unchanged processes)b. The digitalization of processes while the business model remains unchangedc. The digitalization of business modelsThis division is important to Professor Michel because otherwise things that are on fundamentally different levels would be mixed up. At the same time, he adds that these three levels cannot always be clearly delineated and that there are mutual influences.IMD is currently "on the move with approach b.", which is illustrated with specific examples in the following explanations.IMD and social mediaBut let's start with the digitalization of communication at IMD. This can be illustrated by the use of social media. Michel is convinced that social media will develop gradually at IMD, not least because a renowned institution like IMD has the relevant content. This means that platforms such as Xing, Linkedin, Facebook and YouTube can be used effectively. Yammer is to be increasingly used in the context of MBA programmes and a dedicated portal will help IMD alumni to maintain the community. And what is IMD actually doing in the area of digitalization of processes? Shortly after launching the iPad over four years ago, IMD decided to transfer an existing course to the iPad platform. At the beginning, the course participants were not bombarded with paper, but equipped with an iPad. This allowed each participant to put together their own program with "pick&choose", access the relevant learning material and set up a contact network for chatting. At the end of the course, the relevant material is still available for download, which seems quite normal today - but when it was launched, it was a bold and revolutionary step for a traditional institution like the IMD. For the participants and for IMD, this digitization step was associated with concrete benefits:- Individualization of the course offering- Stronger networking of participants- Less paper waste- Central platform for the provision of content for various training purposesDidactic added value thanks to "blended learning"With the second example, Michel illustrates the "blended learning" approach - or in other words: online - offsite, offline - onsite.the "Pricing Excellence in tough B to B Markets" course runs according to the following pattern. Participants start with reading assignments and video sequences in the spirit of e-learning - they then write and publish essays that can be viewed by the other participants. Comments on the work are posted in the forum set up and there is a mutual online challenge. In the previous conventional format, this course lasted four days at IMD in Lausanne. In the digitalized format, the online training runs for eight weeks with participants scattered around the world - the course concludes on a single day in Lausanne.blended learning has added didactic value for the participants and a positive economic effect for the paying companies, as only a fraction of the time is spent away from the workplace.Pedagogical models for the leaders of tomorrowThe third level, the digitalization of business models, is being closely monitored by Michel. He himself recently completed a course at the world's largest online university, the University of Phoenix, and took part in MOOCs ("massive open online courses") in order to strategically anticipate the transformation of the educational landscape.At the end of our conversation, Stefan Michel emphasizes that digitalization at IMD is not just about making better use of content ("leveraging"), but also about developing new pedagogical models for the next generation of managers. And back to the CMO Roundtable in Lausanne: According to IMD President Turpin, the "Digital CMO" is certainly better equipped for the future.As part of the digital series in Marketing&Kommunikation by Christoph Oggenfuss (markITing ag), the first season was entitled "Digital - not trivial". The articles are available here.