Refactoring Learning to Match Virtual Training

The future of corporate training, whether entirely online or in hybrid settings, will require you to adjust the way you approach your teaching methods and interact with your learners. Virtual training comes with a number of factors that are there to facilitate successful learning, but can actually be seen as a barrier at first. These include the distance and lack of direct personal interaction, as well as the demands and vagaries of technology. Here are some of the main challenges you may face in online training, and some actions you will need to take to overcome them and refactor your teaching.

Overcoming potential barriers in online learning.

  1. Engagement can lag more easily in online sessions than it might during an in-person class. You will need to increase engagement with more interactive activities.
  2. Interactivity can be a challenge during an online training session, making it even more difficult to improve engagement. Try using a mix of different engagement tools – chat, polls, breakout rooms. 
  3. The remoteness of online learning makes it very easy for an instructor to get involved with delivering the course content, without being able to “feel out” the responses and level of engagement from the audience. Make a point of checking in with your learners often throughout the training. Ask more questions to see if your teaching is being heard and understood. Platforms such as Webex come with attention gauges that enable you to check levels of individual and group attention at any time.
  4. Zoom fatigue is a real problem, along with problems of attention and engagement. One way to circumvent these is to break your training and interactions into smaller pieces. Take more breaks than you normally would, and break the classes up into mini-sessions
  5. Online training comes with a range of technical challenges, which can interrupt the flow and cause additional stress for both instructors and learners. Hand the technical aspects of your classes over to virtual producers, so you can focus on your students and the learning materials. Virtual producers improve the learning experience and allow facilitators to concentrate on knowledge transfer. They can also help both facilitators and students with troubleshooting when any technical difficulties arise.

Learngistics assists companies with their online and in-person training programs. Contact us for more information on virtual training and how we can help you make it more successful.