In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, in-person employee training sessions are going by the wayside—with good reason.
However, if your workforce still has pressing training needs, you have options. According to a recent TechJury survey, approximately 77% of US-based companies used online training to get their workforces up to speed.
Webinars are a great tool for team training, no matter how large your workforce.
Adapt Your Current Training Program
If you have an in-person training program already in place, you have a leg up in developing an outline and structure for your online training program.
Start by assembling your resources. Assess your current training program; determine what resources you have and what needs to be developed.
Evaluate what parts of the program involve hands-on components; what the current testing strategy has been; and what the reading and written components are. Reading and written materials are often the easiest to adapt to online learning.
Once you have a clear picture of your existing in-person training program, you’ll have an idea of which components will be easy to adapt to online learning—and which will require some creativity.
Ask Your Employees for Input
Your employees and trainers may have very useful feedback about the most important parts of the training program and how to adapt key components online.
You could gain some valuable insights by polling your employees or having conversations with a few experienced trainers to get a sense of how they experience training on the ground, and which parts are most crucial to emphasize in online learning.
Organize and Upload Complementary Materials and Resources
Not all of your existing resources will be adaptable to the online format, but some of it may be useful as part of a complimentary guide that includes all the main points of study, links to supporting research, resources such as PDFs of classroom handouts, and more.
Develop Practice Tests
Practice testing can play an important role in helping employees grasp challenging concepts. Develop a series of practice test questions to go along with key concepts and help reinforce learning in critical areas.
Adapt In-Person Components
The in-person component can be the most challenging to adapt to online learning—but it can be done. Consider online training simulations, micro-learning tutorials, or even games that give students a hands-on experience that reproduces real life.
Add a Discussion Forum
A robust discussion forum can play a key part in helping students learn and collaborate when in-person cooperation and conversation isn’t an option.
Include More Than One Presenter
Different presenters and educators on your team will have different styles, approaches, and areas of expertise. Including a diverse range of instructors will help you keep things interesting and varied, and develop a program that meets a more diverse array of needs.
Make Your Visuals Eye-Catching
Simple, compelling visuals can make a big difference in helping employees understand challenging concepts. Make sure your visuals are not just eye-catching, but also varied and easy to understand at a glance.
Online learning can be an outstanding tool for training your workforce—no matter where they are. Ask your employees for input in developing the course, assess your current resources, and use creativity in adapting in-person components online—and you should be able to develop a world-class webinar training program.
