Many companies have relied heavily on traditional classroom or Instructor-Led Training (ILT) for their training needs within their organization. This is particularly because the courses conducted in-person allows the participants to interact with each other and they also benefit from the trainer’s expertise.
However, the year 2020 was challenging as the coronavirus outbreak engulfed the world’s health and economy and remote working had become the new normal for many companies. ILT doesn’t seem to be an option as people are working from home. So, the new normal of virtual training started.
Is Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT) an alternative you are looking for?
Simply put, VILT refers to the training that is delivered in a virtual or simulated environment. It provides the learners with the flexibility to learn from anywhere in the world. With VILT, companies can offer a similar instructional experience as the ILT.
How does companies which already have ILT training available convert to virtual training mode?
At first instance, implementing VILT might seem to be overwhelming but it is straightforward. Before you start to convert the ILT to VILT approach, it is important to understand the tools/technologies available for the training, the audience profile, and the most importantly, content coverage.
Here are some of the ways that you can use to convert ILT into VILT to ensure that all goes well:
Invest in the right tools & technology
VILTs are conducted using web conferencing platforms. There are a variety of web conferencing platforms available today and some of the most popular ones being Cisco Webex, Adobe Connect, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom. Ensure that you choose a platform that is best suited for your needs. Needless to say, you need to select the platform that fits your organization’s training needs and allows collaboration. Apart from this, it should be easier to use for both the instructor and the learner.
Design the learning content appropriately
You need to develop a virtual training strategy while converting the ILT trainings into the virtual format, and design the learning content appropriately. This should be done meticulously so that it is highly interactive and keeps the learner engaged. Every web conferencing platform consists of a lot of features, such as polls, chat, breakout rooms to keep the learner involved in the training. You need to use them interchangeably throughout the training to check for knowledge reinforcement and involve the learner more often.
A simple thumb rule is that you need to include the interactivities after every 3-5 minutes of learning content.
Ensure adequate support for virtual training.
There may be a lot of issues that you would encounter when conducting training in virtual format like the internet not working properly or unable to add questions in polls, etc. Therefore, you need to ensure that you have the support that is readily available to solve such issues. Furthermore, you need to ensure that facilitators or trainers are trained about the features of virtual training software. VILT requires a greater understanding of technology and virtual delivery so ensure that you include a moderator during the session to allow the trainers to focus on the training delivery.
Modify the content as per the requirement
In many cases, converting an ILT to VILT requires more than just making the PowerPoint deck available online. Typically, the sessions happen for an entire day in an ILT but it may be hard to digest in a virtual format. You need to make adjustments to the learning content and break it up into sizeable units or multiple modules. Before you start to convert the ILT into virtual format, consider how you can shorten the content while still providing value to the learners.
Conclusion
In today’s scenario, it has become imperative to include have online content available to the learners. As teams continue to grow virtually, you must develop a proper online learning strategy to ensure that employees are getting the training they need to be successful in the organization.
Please connect with Yogesh at yg@infonative.net or call him at +91-9811123594 if you need help with transforming ILT into VILT format or simply want to talk about your current situation as you anticipate about the next steps. We are here to help!
