Josh Bersin is the founder of Bersin by Deloitte and has over 25 years of experience in e-learning. He frequently writes about trends in human resources and business training. In his 2004 publication The Blended Learning Book, he outlined techniques for combining traditional training with online learning. Blended learning combines face-to-face instruction with online exercises and allows students flexibility in pace and location. There are four models of blended learning that vary in how online and in-person activities are structured, such as the Flex Model which emphasizes online customization or the Enriched Virtual model which has required periodic in-person sessions.

2.  Principal and founder of talent management and
enterprise learning firm Bersin by Deloitte, Josh Bersin
previously accrued more than 25 years of experience
developing and marketing e-learning technologies
at companies like Arista Knowledge Systems and
DigitalThink. Josh Bersin frequently contributes his
insights on the latest trends in human resource
administration and business training to prominent
media outlets, such as Bloomberg, The Wall Street
Journal, National Public Radio, and BBC Radio, and
in 2004, he detailed effective techniques for
combining conventional personnel training methods
with online technologies in his publication, The
Blended Learning Book.

3.  Blended learning is a hybrid approach to
administering an education program that
utilizes both face-to-face instruction and
learning exercises conducted over the Internet.
The online component of the program allows
students the choice over not only where and
when they engage the material, but often the
pace and order of progression through the
subject matter. The key to blended learning’s
effectiveness is that the various online and real-world
components of the course are linked
together in an integrative experience that can
accommodate students’ varied learning styles.

4.  Depending on which of the four established models
of blended learning governs a particular program,
the course parameters can vary significantly. The Flex
Model, for example, emphasizes an online platform
through which students customize their progression
through both the online and in-person activities that
constitute the course. In this model, the course
instructor or other advisers are available at a physical
location to provide students with guidance on an as-needed
basis, rather than in regularly scheduled
classes. Supplementary face-to-face learning may
involve group projects, one-on-one tutoring, or small-group
instruction.

5.  The Enriched Virtual model, by contrast,
establishes required, regularly scheduled in-person
sessions between student and
teacher, though these are usually less
frequent than every weekday. Completion
of coursework and additional online
instruction with the teacher takes place
online. As in the Flex Model, the online
component forms the foundation of the
program, but the compulsory on-site
learning in the Enriched Virtual model
features traditional face-to-face instruction
as more than an optional supplement.