How Virtual Instructor Led Training can help resolve Key Challenges

If the last few years have taught us anything, it is to expect the unexpected! In the last 18 months, many companies had to quickly move their operations into the virtual world, and this change has left many employees and employers rethinking what it means to get 'back to work'. 

Moving everyday business and training to the virtual world has become the norm across many industries, and it is something that companies are looking to continue - either in a work from home, work from office of a combination of both. 

This has left many thinking, how can we plan Virtual Instructor Led Training that can effectively resolve our challenges? 

Larger Classes

Many companies face the challenge of larger learning groups. Virtual Instructor Led Training is an ideal method to increase class size, without impacting the quality of material or learning experience. 

Firstly, when dealing with larger groups that are geographically spread out, introducing a vILT course can cut down the costs of travel.  Tied with travel costs is the spend related to accommodations for those that may have to come in to a central location from other offices. 

Another great way to cut costs with vILT is with training materials and job aides.  When providing a virtual course these materials can be created and made available via digital media and online tools.

A virtual classroom doesn't face the same logistical issues that planning an in person class would, so you can consolidate time, energy and resources to have a larger class group to accommodate all learners. 

When adapting Instructor Led Training (ILT) courses for virtual delivery or creating new vILT, there are some elements to consider. 

Course length and material

You may have ILT courses that are a half-day or full-day but when going virtual, the course length should be no more than 90 minutes and preferably 30 minutes to an hour. That means you will need to review the content and determine how to organize it.

If you have lots of material, consider splitting the training course over a few days or weeks. Since your learners can access your training from anywhere, this is a good way to pace learners without overwhelming them with information.

To ensure they stay engaged keep class length down and ensure your training content is concise - long classes with little opportunity for breaks can quickly disengage your learners. 

Before creating the new courses, review the learning objectives and revise them for each course to ensure they meet your company’s training objectives.


Learner engagement

When delivering your training in a virtual environment, there are several ways you can keep learners engaged:

• Make your presentation visually interesting with fun graphics, video and other media

• Use interactive exercises to keep learners actively participating

• Ask questions, calling on participants by name

Remote Workforce

A key challenge for companies with a large remote workforce, is how to get everyone together for traditional Instructor Led Training sessions.

Offering vILT to employees working from home positively reflects the company’s attitude towards supporting this style of work and ensures that those that are working from home can still be part of the organization’s growth and learning culture.  It is important to ensure that your remote employees have the same access to the course as your in-house employees which could require an additional step in the planning and development process.

Overall vILT is a great way to shift your organization towards a more robust form of learning and development that can easily adjust to changes in size, locations and demographics of the workforce. 

Ensure you have an instructor that can is comfortable with your virtual learning platform, as well as fully understanding what documentation they will need and most importantly, what your learning objectives are before you get started. 

Want to learn more best practices for moving your training to the the virtual classroom?

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