Facilitating in a Virtual Classroom

In the last one year, the world and the way we work has changed. The focus on learning and upskilling has also changed – the need is actually felt more and the demand for it has also surprisingly grown, as our Best Employer research shows us. What has also changed is how this need is being met. Many of us have now facilitated learning programs on virtual collaboration platforms – Zoom, Teams, Blue Jeans. We have got comfortable speaking to a laptop, not seeing a human interface as participants are reluctant to switch on cameras and handle unresponsive participant groups. Many of us have also tried to use various apps and tech platforms to create interest in the sessions. In this article, I talk of the “virtual classroom” and what it means to the design of the program and the style of facilitating it.

Duration: When I began facilitating leadership learning programs in 2007, two-day training programs were the norm. Companies would focus a lot on the ‘menu’ and ‘venue’ – I have been to many a fancy location as part of my work! It was a social occasion where people across a firm would meet in non-work related surroundings, interact and build relationships. I have seen the move to day long programs and then half day ones, but some of the menu focus stayed! Today, in a virtual setting, all the frills have disappeared. It is now mainly an occasion to learn. The social element of a training program has more or less gone out the window.

The most difficult part of this transition is the following: while the earlier model ensured a captive audience for the duration of the program, in a virtual format, the participant can remain logged in, put the program on mute and carry on with whatever they please, with the facilitator being none the wiser for it. Hence the pressure on the facilitator on engaging the audience and ensuring learning has gone up by leaps. This makes the duration of the program a key element in ensuring participant engagement. In my experience, anything more than 2 hours long is a stretch. Participants are generally able to block two hours on their calendar and focus on the program for the duration. Anything more than this and you are likely to see BRBs put on the chat window and people excusing themselves to take urgent calls!

Program design: The design principles for a virtual program remain more or less the same as an in-person one. However, since you have much lesser time, you now need to plan for every 10 min. Since it is virtual, you also need to make sure your “hooks” to the program are also many and come up at regular intervals. One way of ensuring interest and usefulness is to follow the “flipped classroom approach”. In this, the material that will be discussed has to be sent prior to the virtual connect. The expectation is that participants will glance through the content before they log in. It is a difficult ask, but not impossible or unreasonable. In my experience, atleast 6 our of 10 participants do look through the material, if it is short, interesting enough and accessible easily on all devices. This makes sure that the virtual connect is dedicated to discuss how, when and where to use the leadership skill/ technique being discussed. Some things to be kept in mind as design principles.

• Keep 10 min for opening and 10 min for closing.
• You will not have time for participant introductions - try to know them beforehand.
• Make sure you stick to the time to the T. People will log off the moment the time gets over. Most will have prior commitments to attend.
• Make room for a 5 to 10 min break in between. This is to cater to bio breaks, water breaks etc. Even if the participants do not need it, you as a facilitator need a break in between.
• Keep the session focused on one area. Resist the temptation and pressure to pack the 2 hours with too many theories/ models/ techniques. One skill discussed thoroughly and practiced is good enough in a two hour session.
• For every 30 min you design, ask yourself the question: “At the end of this section, what should the participant know/ understand/ be able to do?” Then check if you are achieving this.
• There are many online tools and platforms available to design activities in a virtual media. These will help you create engagement and interest. More on this in my next post.

Size of group: This too remains more or less the same as in person sessions. If it is a content heavy session that is largely going to be a one-way conversation, you can go limitless. It is you aura and charm that will keep the audience with you! If you are looking to design an interactive session, where you want a healthy two way conversation and learning is a process, limit the participant size to 20. Remember, small group activities will need to be done in Teams and Zoom rooms and you would need someone from your end to be able to visit these rooms to make sure everything is going per plan. You cannot have more than 4-5 people in each virtual room. So with 20, it means you need to monitor atleast 4 rooms. Also, in the debrief, each group is likely to take 3-4 min to talk about their discussion. This means a debrief will take 15-16 min. You are unlikely to have more time than that. I needn’t even talk of the difficulty of engaging more than 20 people at a time – it is taxing in-person and impossible in a virtual setting.

The pressure to add more participants in virtual session is heavy. Point out to the stakeholders that the engagement and learning value decreases for all participants with every additional person after 20.

Role of a co-facilitator: In in-person training programs, it is a luxury to have a co-facilitator who can take on some parts and give the main facilitator a much needed break in between. This is mainly because a duration of 8-10 hours a day and gets demanding. In a 2 hours session, this should not really be needed. But contrarily, a co-facilitator is a now a necessity! There are some reasons for this.

- Back up: Your network will glitch and you will get logged out of your session in the training program. Your co-fac is your back up and insurance.

- Break out rooms: You will have small group activities/ discussions in break out rooms. You will need a co-fac to moderate some of those rooms.

- Tech tools: You will use many that will need to be lined up and kept ready for action at the right time. Your co-fac will cue these and make them live for you. Many of the instructions will be given on the chat window. For you to toggle between screens while speaking will be difficult, if not impossible.

- Voice monotony: While this is a challenge in in-person sessions as well, it is more so in virtual ones. Since your video presence is mostly reduced to stamp size, it is your voice that has to hold the audience. Having a variety there makes it easier for the participants to focus.

- Chat window: If your session gets people thinking or interested, you are likely to get many comments and questions on the chat window. Your co-fac can curate these and call your attention to the key ones.

 Participant involvement: This is the most tricky one in virtual sessions. You do not have the benefit of non-verbal cues to understand where your participants are at – what resonates with them, which idea or thought was jarring to them, how is the group divided in receiving the new information, are there any learning difficulties etc. Most of us have developed skills of observation, can collect data to answer each of these and are largely in control of the room. However the virtual space is another ball game. While I always request for cameras to be switched on, there are usually 3-4 people in the group who are comfortable in doing that. Respecting privacy, one can’t insist on this. So what does one do? I have observed the following signs and patterns of engagement:

1. Enthu cutlets: The 3-4 who will be open and willing to put the camera on, are also likely to speak up first. Capitalise on them. They will contribute right from the beginning. Make sure you give them the space and hear them patiently. They may not always make very valid or useful points, but keep them with you till you are around 1/3 of the way into the program. The other participants are observing how you deal with this set and are debating whether to enter the conversation or not.  
2. Testing the waters type: This set will make a stray comment or will write something on chat in the first 30 min or so. If you can catch that and invite them into the conversation, read out their comment and ask them to say more about it, they will speak up and participate. If the comment on chat goes unnoticed, they will drift away. Again, highlights the importance of a co-fac.
3. Mute/ unmute type: This set wants to say something but is either unsure or not invested enough. Here is where yours or your co-fac’s observation skills come into play. On most platforms, you can see if someone goes on unmute. If you notice closely, some participants unmute and mute in quick succession. Chances are this person wants to say something and will do so is you invite him/ her in to the conversation. The great part about the virtual media is you can see the names!
4. Quiet but observant: This set will not want to speak but they are interested in the session, absorbing and learning. They will participate in the activities, follow the instructions, ask for clarifications in between. It is fine for them to be this way. That is their style of learning and you must respect that. Remember, participation by speaking is not equal to learning. 
5. The Naysayer: This person will express disagreement/ dissatisfaction in the first part of the program with whatever is being discussed. After this, he/she will be mentally switched off from the program. Resist the temptation of trying to convince this person of the value of what you are saying. It is better to leave him/ her rather than waste precious time in dialogue that will go nowhere. Invite the person to stay back after the program is over and discuss it. This is the equivalent of “lets take it offline” response to participants in an in-person session. You do not have the luxury of a tea-break or lunch hour here. So push it to the end of the program. Invite the others if they want to stay back and be part of the discussion but do not spend any part of your precious 2 hours on this person.

In the next article, I will share details of some online tools and platforms I have used and how they work. If you have any thoughts and wisdom to share, do put it in the comments section. Would love to learn from your experience!!