Editor's Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily the American Correctional Association.

I am of the generation that had to learn about technology, unlike the young workforce of today that was born into it. I did not get a cell phone until my daughter turned 16 and started to drive. She needed it for safety and I went along for the technology ride. Twelve years later, I have not one, but two BlackBerries, a laptop and an e-reader, and I am still just in the infancy stage of technology.

As the training manager of one of the largest employers in the Commonwealth of Virginia, I cannot hide behind my generation, but rather have to remain proactive with technology. The gadgets seem to be the easy part of the technology game. We wonder, "Do we have the latest in digital projection, smart boards and tablets, etc.?" In my mind, while gadgets do make delivery of technology easier, it is not the burning issue that training professionals face.

A difficult component is the delivery of training. Are training needs best served by classroom interaction, e-learning or a blended approach? This question is at the forefront of every conversation that surrounds training, and the answers to this question are as varied as the people providing the answers. The supervisor who has to send his or her staff to training and must manage a vacant post during that time wants e-learning because he or she believes one can put employees in front of a computer more easily than placing them in a classroom for hours at a time.

Then there is our younger generation of employees who are seemingly lost without the gadgets that they use as their means of communication. For this population, e-learning would seem like the most effective means of training. However, the corrections environment is not just about theory. It is about building skill sets into a high level of competence and confidence - something that is not easily translated into e-learning.

Many employees actually welcome the change of pace of being away from their work to sit in a classroom with others who can relate to the same issues they face each day on the job. An indirect benefit for the employees is the ability to network and reconnect with others in the department. A direct benefit for the department is the employees' resulting strength and consistency through the combination of training and networking.


So where does the answer lie? The bottom line is that one size does not fit all, but if only one were to be chosen, the blended approach provides the training environment with the best of both worlds. Theory, policy and procedure can easily be taught through e-learning as a pre-work to the actual classroom setting. In the classroom, skill sets are then taught to improve the competency needed for a corrections professional to be successful in today's environment. This approach pulls everyone together to ensure consistency within the organization while allowing those who are technology savvy to acquire needed foundational information and stretch those, like me, who often miss the days of no cell phones, no computer at home and no electronic leashes.