Move to Virtual Training Now and Keep Your Organization Ahead of the Curve
by Bob Shively, Enerdynamics President and Lead Facilitator
There is no shortage of news articles about how coronavirus is changing the world of work. One change already seems clear – it will be quite some time before employers and employees feel comfortable having training delivered in a room full of 30 people sitting in close proximity. Yet employees still want to learn, and many are more motivated to do it now than they were prior to stay-at-home orders.
According to a recent trainer buying survey from findcourses.com:
- COVID-19 has not dampened the appetite to learn. Sixty percent of individual learners are more likely to book a course in the coming three months.
- Individual learners are motivated to learn more in the next three months due to an increase in free time followed by a desire to prove value to current or future employers.
- Seventy-six percent of corporate training buyers say that they would be comfortable booking training now with a provider who will commit to offering a virtual alternative for in-person training.
- Sixty-one percent of corporate training buyers say they are currently more likely to choose online rather than in-person training options when searching for upcoming training.
So what can you do to continue offering your employees training opportunities during this strange time? One solution is to look for available individual online training. And that is a good option in many cases. But some learning is best done in a collaborative environment where employees can share ideas and learn from each other. Today's circumstances call for live virtual or blended online/live virtual learning. In some cases, your training providers may already be prepared to provide you with such options. For example, Enerdynamics is now delivering its The Future of the Energy Company seminar repurposed from a two-day classroom seminar to a blended virtual class. The virtual version is a mix of prework including reading and videos plus four two-hour live virtual sessions. Polling, chat, and group activities in breakout rooms will provide the usual level of participant interaction.
But moving live classes to virtual shouldn’t be taken lightly, as the quality of learning will depend on many hours of development to repurpose methods and materials for the different format. Here are five best practices recommended by Learning Solutions Magazine:
- Take the format seriously – Take the time to understand how your learners will be interacting with the content and rethink every part of your training to fit the new format.
- Break it down – Convert a day of classroom training to a series of short digital installments.
- Get personal – Design ways for your facilitator to connect with learners such as including a personalized introductory video and having the facilitator immediately foster interaction upon starting a virtual session.
- Keep it simple – Keep content easy to navigate and find since you won’t be standing there to explain a large binder of content.
- Fit the platform – Do your research to find the right platform to fit your content.
Is this easy? Definitely not. But doing your homework now and/or finding the right partner to work with you promises to provide your employees with quality learning opportunities right now.
Interested in providing quality virtual training to your employees? Enerdynamics can convert any of its live seminars to a virtual learning experience. Reach out to Enerdynamics' course development team via email or call us at 866-765-5432 ext. 700.
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