What Makes Your VILT Training More Effective?
One of the most significant eLearning developments in 2022 will continue to be Virtual Instructor-Led Training. According to the Report on Benchmarks and Trends in Customer Education for 2022, VILT programs have grown by more than five times due to remote work and employees working in different time zones. [1] Switching from the classroom to a virtual conference room has become normal practice in corporate training. But how do employees efficiently learn and upskill while sitting in the comfort of their homes, surrounded by family members and everyday chores?
Do you want to learn more about how VILT may help your business? Continue reading to find out more about the most successful VILT practices.
VILT: The Genesis
Prior to COVID-19, organizations used ILT and live classes in which training managers and participants were in the same room. ILTs were the favored training approach for many organizations. However, they abruptly ended during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March 2020, corporations, colleges, and educational institutions have been using a virtual learning environment.
Thanks to VILT, millions of people are changing their learning habits both on and off the job. Businesses are increasingly incorporating it into larger integrated training and development solutions. Customer and product training, professional development, sales training, and onboarding are additional frequent business-related purposes. For the last few years, VILT has become a well-liked trend in the L&D business due to its cost savings, effectiveness, and scalability. Many businesses prioritize their employees' need for regular corporate training to upskill them and choose live VILT. To ensure continuous learning several firms are increasingly choosing online training and development programs. VILT is an integral part of blended learning.
VILT refers to trainings which are delivered either in a simulated setting or in a virtual space that is located in different locations and/or different time zones. It is a form of learning using various video conferencing tools.
The primary goal of VILT is to mimic a regular classroom in a virtual learning environment in order to improve the effectiveness and adaptability of remote training for corporate learners. This has been an excellent approach to maintain the convenience of everything being remote while also including a live and interactive element.
Factors Crucial To Successful VILT Implementation
VILT requires a seamless interplay of three important factors: The 3E's—Engaging content, Efficient technology, and Effective delivery. To get the best desired results from VILT programs, L&D teams must rehash their whole training practices.
Engaging Content
VILT programs require different design considerations when compared to online or classroom programs. As a result, when designing and developing VILT content, the following pointers are crucial:
- Remember your audience might be spread across multiple time zones.
- The topic must be engaging, and the design of the content must provide opportunities for frequent communication between the instructor and the participants.
- The development of training materials must prioritize learner involvement.
- To pique learners' attention and encourage retention, VILT content must be built around a proper learning strategy.
Efficient Technology
- The software that underpins VILT technology usually emphasizes usability, accessibility, and simplicity.
- To build an effective VILT session, we must mix interactive elements like instructional videos, online quizzes, live discussion, chat, polls, and formative tests in a thorough set of engagement tools that are organized and supervised by facilitators.
- The most successful VILT solutions also make use of webinars, remote labs, and video conferencing platforms.
Effective Delivery
- To deliver compelling VILT, facilitators must be good at communicating.
- According to a Nielsen report, "almost 11% of the 128 million-strong US workforce worked from home some or all of the time 10 years ago, based on US Census statistics." [2] According to a recent Stanford study, "an astounding 42% of the US labor force now works from home full-time."
- Instructors must primarily focus on learner engagement, skill mastery, and retention.
What Makes A VILT Training More Effective?
VILT has so many advantages that it is considered the ideal and most effective technique of training by experts. Here is the list of top 10 factors that contribute to the effective adoption of VILT.
1. Short Format Content
VILT is often delivered in smaller bits across numerous sessions, resulting in competence development.
2. Informative And Interactive
VILT is engaging because it is mostly video-based. It enables participants to ask questions as they interact with information, share their views/opinions, participate in debates, and be trained alongside their peers.
3. Multiple Formats
The VILT approach also allows participants to download several kinds of learning resources in a variety of formats, including Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, infographics, and videos. They can also take notes online, clear any doubts, and share them with other participants if necessary.
4. Affordable/Reduced Cost
Cost control is a crucial aspect of managing a business. Company finances will take a serious hit if the L&D team must rent out a classroom for extended periods of time, employ a specialist to instruct their personnel, or even fly their staff to a training facility outside the nation. Both specific equipment and relocation are not needed for virtual training. VILT allows the reduction or elimination of travel and accommodation expenses.
5. High Flexibility And Convenience
One of the greatest advantages of VILT is its flexibility. Participants in VILT may attend training sessions whenever and wherever they choose, whether at home, at work, or on their mobile devices. As more global firms and workforces become remote, an employee may find it difficult to participate in trainings at the same time as his/her peer. The VILT training addresses this issue while also providing learning opportunities for even the most distant team members. It is also considered an excellent tool for maintaining staff engagement and motivation while also saving business time and money that would otherwise be used for travel, logistics, and other training materials.
6. Modular Design
To meet the demands of busy professionals, VILT programs provide training knowledge in short, progressive modules that may be completed independently or in combination with other courses.
7. Improved Capacity And Scalability
Compared to typical classroom settings, VILT can accommodate a large number of participants while using less space and resources.
8. Increased Diversity
Because of the reach of VILT, participants and trainers from varied cultural backgrounds can engage simultaneously.
9. Customizable Visual Communication
One of the biggest advantages of VILT is that instructors find this the quickest and most successful method to disseminate information immediately to colleagues.
10. Better Learning Outcomes
Using Multiple formats helps learners become active participants in the learning process rather than passive recipients relying solely on the instructor.
Challenges In Virtual Instructor-Led Training
According to a 2019 study conducted by the University of North Dakota, learners of all ages absorb more information when they read directly on paper. Though VILT is the most user-friendly learning method, it is not necessarily the greatest option for overall employee training. The following are a few of the key challenges to successful VILT deployment:
- Instructors' inability to communicate and interact with participants and successfully manage their groups.
- Due to technological restrictions, converting ILT content into a virtual course eliminates many of the benefits of ILT.
- Learners may also become restless when training delivery attempts to blend into the background noise of day-to-day job interactions. Researchers have also noticed a drop in learners' enthusiasm to attend VILT.
Conclusion
When organizations reopened after the pandemic, L&D teams treated VILT as a stopgap measure, but modern technologies make virtual training easier, less expensive, and as effective as in-classroom training. As your training environment changes, so do the benefits and drawbacks of each modality. Your redesign should be a learning solution that uses the best combination of VILT, web-based training, and experiential learning to meet the specific needs of your learners.
It is indeed critical to distinguish the VILT learning experience from the rest of the similar mediums.
How are you planning to convert your ILT content to VILT? What are your questions, needs, or concerns as you begin the process? Refer to our VILT Beginner's Guide for more information and visit our website for more such interesting and informative articles/blogs on VILT.
References:
[1] 2020 Customer Education Benchmarks and Trends Report
[2] The Nielsen Total Audience Report: August 2020
