News (blog)

Challenge

• As AAA’s T&D team transitions to delivery of more virtual training programs, we have been challenged with providing our trainers with new skills needed to effectively deliver the training. 

Ideas and Suggestions

• Instructor Training
• • Allow instructors the opportunity to learn new skills in smaller chunks.  Start with basic webinar features and advance to the more complex (breakouts).
  • Create an online persona.  Attend acting classes, exaggerate gestures and facial expressions, or otherwise find a way to stand out in a virtual environment.
  • Create a certificate program for trainers that have mastered the art of delivering instruction in the virtual classroom.
  • Allow instructors to pair up during delivery.  Identify a strong virtual instructor and pair them up with a new virtual instructor to see best practices.
  • Google best practices for delivering in a virtual environment.  There are many articles.
  • Tie virtual delivery skills to existing training methodology (i.e. Bloom’s Taxonomy, Gagne, etc.).  This helps to draw connections to existing practices.
  • Online book: “Creating a Sense Presence in Online Teaching”.
• Practice
• • It is critical to give instructors ample try to practice using the tools associated with the specific webinar technology that they will be implementing.  (recognize the investment in training trainers)
  • Instructors should have time to practice delivering the content in the session in front of their peers.  This provides a safe environment to collect feedback.
  • Record practice sessions so that the instructor can review themselves and self-evaluate.
  • Give instructors the opportunity to attend a virtual class and be the student to gain that perspective.
• Instructional Design
• • Make sure that the course is well designed for a virtual environment before it is given to the instructor.  If the activities and class exercises are well defined for an online environment it will create a better opportunity for success.
  • Identify a “producer” role to assist the trainer during initial classes so that they do not have to do as much multi-tasking as they are learning the process.
  • Provide templates for the virtual classroom.
• Change Management
• • Demonstrate how achievement of these new skills will make an instructor even more valuable to the organization and marketable in the future.
  • Gain instructor buy-in by giving them the opportunity to participate in the course development process.
  • Communicate that many physical classroom skills can easily be transferred over to the virtual classroom.
  • Make sure that virtual delivery is not perceived as punishment for instructors that have always delivered in the physical classroom.
  • Provide research that demonstrates the impact of training in a virtual environment.
  • Create a logo for virtual training to make it distinguishable from run of the mill webinars.