Making the Move to Virtual Instructor Led Training

by Karin Levitt and Jennifer Crowfoot

Instructional designers and trainers who were reluctant to embrace virtually delivered training are now finding it is a business imperative.

There is a new business case for Virtual Instructor Led Training; Covid-19. Employees across the world still need to learn, but course manuals are sitting on shelves while instructors and potential learners are sheltering at home.  

So, it was not surprising that my colleague and I find our phones are ringing, WhatsApp posts are coming in, and Linked-In messages are stacking up. The rush is on to implement VILT, and we are corporate learning and development professionals who have been designing and delivering Virtual Instructor Led Training (VILT) programs for over 15 years. 

For a period of 8 years we worked together, building and delivering an employee focused curriculum for a global consulting firm. That company embraced VILT as part of its employee development strategy. VILT allowed us to provide training to a workforce distributed across international offices and client sites. The approach saved time and reduced training costs. 

The design and delivery of VILT is different from traditional classroom training, but at its core are the same instructional design principles and training delivery skills. Here are some tips for re-purposing or recreating your classroom training for a virtual delivery method.

First things first: A webinar is not VILT. Webinars are typically a lecture, presented to a large audience with limited or no interaction with the participants. The audience-to-presenter ratio can be high, and the length of time relatively short. If you are converting a short lecture or keynote presentation to virtual format, a webinar can work well. Consider adding video of the presenter to your visuals and PowerPoint slides to provide a more personal connection. 

Creating a true learning experience requires opportunities for learners to be exposed to new ideas, and to actively engage and do something, reflect on what they observed or experienced, extract meaning and understanding, and then apply new insights in a practice situation so they can later apply it at work.  Definitely not the stuff of a webinar. 

For VILT to work, you need to create frequent interaction and activity for learners. Not only will this engage them, but it may keep them from multi-tasking.  With larger groups, the interaction may be voluntary because the instructors won’t have time to connect with everyone. That’s why we recommend small classes of 12-20 learners. 

We’re also fans of modular training delivered in short chunks. This approach can reduce cognitive overload and increase retention. While a 2-3-hour module can be very effective in VILT, we’ve also delivered successful 7-hour VILT events that worked well because they leveraged a wide variety of activities and included ample breaks.

Blended Learning is another technique to consider. Use a webinar or an on-demand eLearning course to provide the “lecture” content, but schedule live interactive sessions to engage learners in practice and discussion.

THE ELEMENTS OF YOUR VIRTUAL CLASSROOM AND HOW TO USE THEM

You don’t have chairs, table, and flip charts, but your virtual classroom does need to be planned and managed. Here are some key elements of the virtual classroom and guidance on how to use them:

The Roster. This is the list of participants in the virtual classroom, including learners and the team supporting the class. But the roster is much more than a sign in sheet. You’ll use this to check a variety of status/activity settings, to set up breakout groups, and to call on participants. 

In a classroom you might set up an activity in which every student is expected to respond to something; this helps ensure everyone participates. You would start at one point and work your way around the room. You can do that in a virtual classroom by working your way down the roster. “I’d like to know what you had for breakfast. I’m going to start at the top of the roster and work my way down. Let’s start with Abe.” You can also switch this up, and work from the bottom of the roster up to the top, so Abe is not always first and Wanda always last. (Most rosters are alphabetical, but not all; check to ensure that the order you see is the same as the learners.)

Web Camera Gallery. Give careful consideration to the use of webcams. There are benefits: by being visible, learners are more accountable for “being present” in the classroom, and instructors also get a view of body language, which provides clues to comprehension and engagement. On the other hands, the gallery can create a lot of visual noise and be distracting. People may be checking how they appear and paying more attention than needed to the home offices of others. If you do use webcams, consider sharing a standard or corporate background.

Meeting chat. This is the space for participants and instructors to post questions, comments, links, and sometimes responses to questions. The chat box can be an ongoing way for participants to make a comment without interrupting the class. Use your host or co-instructor to monitor chat for anything urgent, but anticipate some people will just make side comments that are supportive of the class content. It’s a way to engage the learners with each other, replacing what might happen during a break or at a shared table. 

Mute/Un-mute. We may ask learners to mute their audio when they are not speaking to limit background nose, but we stress we want them to un-mute and ask questions verbally. While the chat feature is important in a webinar, in an interactive class you want to encourage speaking.

Activity/Status buttons. Many tools provide a way for learners to virtually raise their hands, to show that they agree or disagree, or indicate they need you to speed up or slow down.

• Raise hands. Of course, you can ask learners to raise their virtual hand to indicate they have a question to ask, but this feature offers other ways to interact.  As in the classroom, instructors can ask learners to raise their hand as a simple way to poll the audience. “Raise your hand if you like Swiss cheese.” Once you’ve used the raise hands tool, you can drill down further in the conversation: “John, I see you like Swiss cheese. Can you tell us what you like about it?” 
• Agreement/disagreement. Many tools have a button that allows learners to indicate they agree or disagree, or can respond Yes or No. Structure questions that work with your tools. “In the video we just watched, a manager met with an employee to provide feedback. Would you agree this was constructive feedback? Click Agree or Disagree.” Here again, once you have responses, you can ask for follow-up. “Marlene, you disagreed. Tell us why.” 
• Chat as an alternative. If your virtual meeting tool does not have these features, participants can type short answers in the chat stream; it’s a bit more difficult for you to follow, but it can work, especially if you have a co-instructor or meeting host supporting the event.

Polls. If your tool provides an online poll feature, you can prepare multiple polls ahead of time to quickly present to the group. Polls show a question with multiple choice answers, allowing learners to quickly select and submit a response. After the poll is closed, you can anonymously show the percent of participants that selected each choice. For example, a poll can ask, “What generation are you part of? 1) Millennial/Gen Y, 2) Gen X, 3) Baby Boomer, 4) Greatest Generation.” Polls are a great way to learn about your audience, and it provides a way for learners to understand a shared perspective. 

The Whiteboard. In a classroom, you might capture comments on a flip chart. You can do that with a virtual whiteboard. Better still, you can ask your learners to post their comments directly on the whiteboard, making this an even more engaging exercise. For example, you could ask “What do you like about your favorite store?” Once the comments are all posted, you can work with the learners to organize the comments into different parts of the screen, asking, “Which of these are things in the control of the service provider?” Another example is creating a 4-quadrant chart during a personality style workshop, and asking the participants to put their name in the section for their result.

Videos.  Watching the demonstration of a skill can be a very effective tool in a virtual training class. It changes the flow of activity and creates additional engagement. Be sure to test your tool to ensure audio and video will play for all participants. If you can’t acquire videos, an easy alternative is to have two instructors demonstrate through a role play.

Handouts. You can use your virtual classroom to “push out” documents or links. Some tools will allow you to post these documents in a “pod” ahead of time and reveal it at the appropriate time. In other tools you will simply use the chat function. If there is no tool for sharing documents, be prepared to send them before or during the class via email.

Virtual Breakout Rooms. Some tools allow you to “send” groups of learners into a separate meeting, with their own visual and audio components. It’s the virtual equivalent of sending small groups to discuss or practice in smaller rooms down the hall. This is perfect for trio practice groups or smaller group discussions and brainstorming. Bring the groups back together in the main classroom to share feedback on the experience and present results.

Wow… that’s a lot to do! How can I manage all that? 

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES FOR DELIVERY

Classroom instructors often rely on the support of others for a successful classroom event, so it's not surprising you will need support in a virtual classroom. Here’s how we recommend you assign roles and responsibilities for VILT:

Host/Producer. The host, sometimes referred to as the event producer, is a key role for a successful VILT event. By having someone manage all of the technology, the instructor is released for the technical details and can focus on teaching. During planning, the host will collaborate with the instructor to understand the overall program and flow of the session and discuss what options are available for learning engagement. They host can also create a “run of show” based on the instructor’s agenda. The run of show provides cues for when each presentation, action, and activity will start. The host should set up a rehearsal with instructors at least one week prior to the course. On the day of the session, the host should open the classroom at least 45 minutes prior to the start time. During the session the host monitor chats, assigns students to breakout groups, pushes out materials, and may even contribute to a two-person demonstration or help observe breakout groups. Another benefit of using a host in a virtual classroom is that adding different voices adds auditory interest and helps keep people tuned in.

Instructor/Facilitator. These are the individuals who are teaching the course, facilitating activities, and observing to ensure learning is taking place. On the surface this is the same roles as an in-classroom facilitator, but the techniques they use to engage and observe are achieved differently. While a VILT instructor can’t walk around the classroom as a technique to engage learners, they can do a virtual walkabout using the techniques discussed above. Instructors should work with the host to understand available options for classroom interactions, and they should provide the host any presentations or documents in advance of the session. On the day of the session, instructors should login at least 30 minutes prior to start time to be ready to greet learners as they join the room. 

SMEs and Panelists. Some sections of a workshop may be best served by guest speakers who are subject matter experts (SMEs) on a specific topic.  A single SME or a panel of up to 3 people can be a valuable part of the VILT experience. A recommended format for engaging your learners with SMEs is for the host or a facilitator to conduct a “fireside chat” with the SMEs. This is a perfect time to use the webcam.

COMMUNICATIONS ARE KEY

You can anticipate that many learners will have preconceived - and negative - notions about VILT; they'll assume it simply can’t work. Use your course invitation/announcement to recognize and address those concerns, as in this example:

A 7 hour virtual course? YES! 

Using the Adobe Connect virtual classroom, we believe you will find this to be a highly engaging course. During the day you will have multiple opportunities to interact with the instructors, coaches, and other students, and to observe others and practice your skills. We will provide ample breaks.

Send a "Know Before You Go."  As you would with a classroom event, you need to remind participants about expectations and preparation This may be achieved with a simple email, but you can also get creative and send a short introductory video to generate some excitement and anticipation for a special event. Beyond informing them of the event date and time, plan to include:

• Virtual classroom connectivity details.
• Links to any software learners need to download.
• Equipment needed for the program, including webcam and headset with microphone. 
• Guidance for their for location, such as a quiet room, comfortable seating, good front lighting (for webcam), and with minimal distractions.
• Reminders to learners to put their out of office notification on during this time, just as they would if for an in-person session.  Set expectations for closing email and instant messaging to avoid distractions.
• Request learners login in 15 minutes prior to the session start time. 
• If using webcams, you may need to state the dress code. With everyone sheltering in place, it’s likely you are expecting casual dress, but let them know. You may also want to try something fun like having everyone to show up in their favorite concert t-shirt!
• Since networking is a benefit of in person event, set an expectation for connecting with other learners before, during, and after the event. You may want to create a cohort group or online community to keep the learners connected and supporting each other. Setting this up ahead of time is can be a great way for learners share their learning objectives and questions before the session, and a tool to gather questions for the panelists.

We recommend a VILT Technical Orientation Session to address any technology issues well in advance.  Scheduled a few days before the event date, this 15-20 minute activity is conducted in the virtual classroom tool. This short session serves as technical troubleshooting and a virtual classroom tour for the learners. It can also be used to set expectations about multi-tasking. If needed, considering running the orientation twice to reach all learners.

WHAT TOOL DO I CHOOSE FOR VILT?

There are many web meeting tools and virtual classrooms to choose from, and plenty of articles to be found comparing them. Consider the activities we’ve identified above as you evaluate the features of each. There are more coming on the market daily, but here’s a start:

• Adobe Connect (our favorite because it offers a feature interactive classroom environment)
• WebEx 
• Zoom
• Microsoft Teams
• Amazon Chime
• GoToMeeting
• Google Hangouts

SETTING EXPECTATIONS FOR YOUR BUSINESS LEADERS

While you already have your core content, you can see that it takes time to re-purpose your ILT curriculum for VILT. It also takes time to retool your delivery team.  Your leaders may not understand the depth of the challenge, so try to set expectations for the time and resources you will need to get this done. If your need is urgent, consider a staged deployment, rolling your programs out one module at a time. Gather feedback from learners and share testimonials with leadership and other learners. Remember that you can develop rapidly if you keep it simple. If an iterative development approach is acceptable, you can add additional activities and complexity after your initial launch and success.

Regardless of your tool or the development approach, getting started on re-purposing your training for VILT will allow you to deliver training during the this Covid-19 shelter-in-place. In the long run, you may find that this training delivery approach has a place in your permanent employee development program.