Be Smart When Taking Instructor-led Training Virtual!

Not all classroom instructor-led training(ILT) programs are ideal candidates for a direct conversion to virtualinstructor-led training (VILT), and while there are a host of benefits toreformatting ILT as VILT, you’ll want to conduct careful planning and analysisat the outset of a conversion project.

VILT saves money over classroom ILT byeliminating travel costs, and it also makes it easier to break up courses intoshorter chunks delivered over several days or weeks—a benefit both for learnerretention and workload balancing. And you can leverage VILT by repurposingsnippets of recorded VILT sessions into eLearning as content that is easilyrenewable, reusable, and sharable.

When evaluating whether to convert classroominstruction to VILT, consider the qualities that make good classroominstruction successful, like hands-on practice and interpersonal interaction. Ifbuilding personal relationships is a key objective of the training, thenface-to-face training is recommended, but still, consider redirecting someclassroom content to virtual sessions and creating a blended course to reducetravel costs and out-of-office time.

Still, there are intrinsic differences betweenclassroom instruction and VILT, and there are challenges in virtual learningthat face-to-face training mitigates. Specifically, VILT facilitators haveminimal control over the learner’s environment, and social norms that motivatelearners to pay attention in a classroom setting are lessened. Thus, outside distractionsbecome a far greater obstacle in VILT, so maintaining engagement becomes muchmore important.

Here are some questions to considerwhen planning a conversion of classroom training to VILT.

Isthis the right material to present online?

As with anycourse development, the first step is to review learning objectives and source content.This is where you can decide whether the objectives are appropriate for virtualdelivery, what current content you must update, and whether you could deliver anycontent through other methods, such as between-session homework. Havingexisting course content to start with is great, but you need a solid review ofthe content.

Howengaging are the visual elements?

When creating slide decks for liveclassroom training, less is more—when we want eyes on the facilitator, not on ascreen, we like to have fewer slides and instead focus on discussion among learnersand/or with the facilitator. In VILT, the learners need something to look at, soyou’ll want more slides to cover the same amount of content. Create moreslides, with less text and more graphics, to keep the learners’ eyes on the training—andnot multitasking to other screens.

Whatabout the interactive components?

Quality classroom instruction providesopportunities for practice via exercises, activities, and discussions. Makesure you think through the conversion of interactive components, and ifcritical activities won’t translate to virtual, you can stop right there.

In some cases, you can easily retrofit interactionsfor VILT, but in others not so much. A classroom flip-chart activity can becomea virtual whiteboard activity. You can do pair discussions using private chatfeatures and leverage classroom social learning strategies and tools tocontinue learning between sessions. However, it’s quite difficult to convert hands-onactivities, like a team competition to build a Lego bridge, or running a ropescourse! Hands-on skills may be beyond VILT, but teaching concepts andbackground for those skills is possible. You wouldn’t want to learn heartsurgery in VILT, but you could learn a lot about the anatomy of the heart orbest practices for managing time when scheduling a surgical suite.

Howwill you keep learners engaged?

In the classroom, it’s easy to see who ispaying attention, who is multitasking, and who is falling asleep. Virtualfacilitators need other methods to gauge attention, so build in frequent checks.Factor in time to take a poll, ask for responses in chat, or take everyone offof mute and ask each person to say something. Give the facilitator ways to keeptabs on who is participating.

Changing the learning format also requireschanging assessment methods. Consider the role that the classroom facilitatorplays in assessing how well participants are learning during the session, andplan ways to test for understanding within the course in a virtual environment,such as using chat questions, polls, and whiteboard activities.

Arewe ready to deliver?

Trainers need to be aware of thedifferences between classroom facilitation and VILT facilitation, starting withmastering the technology. Insist on multiple practice sessions for first-timevirtual facilitators, with the first few sessions focused strictly on managingthe technology. For mission-critical training, consider having a technicalproducer work with the facilitators. VILT facilitators should also understandthe importance of vocal variation in virtual sessions, to deliver content withhigher energy to keep learners listening.

Beingable to leverage existing training materials provides a head start on developingVILT, but you should not convert all training. Take time to plan out theconversion before wasting time and resources on a conversion project that won’tultimately bear fruit.