Training Uninterrupted

Training Uninterrupted

How many trainings do you conduct every month and how many have you been able to conduct this past month? While online training continues seamlessly with a reasonably good network connection, how do you plan to convert your classroom training fast enough for learners to access them on time?

Here are some available formats that can help you with the transition:

Webinars

Two key benefits of classroom training are learner-instructor interaction and learner-learner interaction. Webinars are cost-effective and easy-to-use formats that allow the above interactions over a digitized medium. It allows real-life presence and synchronous interaction, as in a chat-enabled webinar. Today, when we are being forced to work from our homes, such webinars not only help continue with our training but also bring people together.

Instructors can make their seminars engaging with interesting presentations, animations (created using Microsoft PowerPoint and easily available online tools), and activities (with the help of an inbuilt chat tool as well as external chat tools like Hangout). Shorter modules spread across multiple sessions help trainees carve out distraction-free times while working from home.

An added advantage of webinars: In most cases, the instructor can record the session for future reference.

Talking Head Videos 

Though talking head videos are not as effective as webinars in replacing classroom training, they can prove helpful if internet connectivity is an issue. The instructor can record a session from their own home and share it with the trainees. These videos can be recorded by the instructor himself without any special instruments or additional budget.

Podcasts

Podcasts can prove helpful for concepts that are introduced through stories, incidents, and scenarios. Like talking head videos, the instructor can easily record them without additional help. The small file size makes it easy to transfer, stream, or download. These can even be shared with the trainees before a webinar and then discussed during the session.

Make the transition seamless

Selecting any of the above formats means that though the date and time of the training will not change, the location and format will. Let your trainees know what changes to expect. A mailer is one of the best tools to achieve this. You can also use mailers to let the trainees know about additional activities like creating a Google account for a Hangout chat or listen to a podcast before joining the webinar.

One quick way to move multiple pieces of training online is by utilizing available social media platforms or even your own company website. You can create a training web page and invite the trainees by sharing the link through a mailer. Try to include the chat functionality for the whole curriculum. Instructors can use this platform to share additional learning materials and reference links. It can become a unified solution for any curriculum.

So, while we wait for things to get back to normal, let’s continue learning. If you have time, then do consider advanced eLearning formats like AR and VR technologies, simulations, and gamification for the transition.

– By Anannya Talapatra, Manager – Instructional Design at MPS Interactive Systems