Online Training For Working Professionals - Views and Experiences

I have been undergoing a lot of learning using online/offline education providers. In this article, I am interested in sharing my experiences with different training modes offered online by education portals or providers.

I have classified the training modes offered as follows:

• Online Self-Trained with no deadlines
• Online Self-Trained with Deadlines
• Online Instructor-Led Training

I am leaving out offline/Direct training modes as most of them have experience in it.

Online Self-Trained with no deadlines

With "Online Self-Trained with no deadlines" training, it is left to the learner to keep up with the pace of learning. In this case, we will not allocate a single time window to complete the course. With some courses, I have been lucky to complete them on a single go but for some others due to the want of time, I have to break the modules and learn.

One major problem I have been facing is the lack of continuity if I missed my schedule. For example, If I plan to cover 5 modules per week and due to the lack of time I was able to complete only one module for that week. When I start the second module during the next week, there will be a lack of continuity and I need to go over the first module again. This becomes a cycle and the learning slows down to months. It takes a long time to get hold of the complete subject.

In this training mode, We don't have options to interact live with the trainer which is a setback even though there are options to contact them with queries using offline methods.

The Online Self-Trained learning portals should have options to plan the learning schedule. They should also reward if the user is able to successfully complete the training as per the schedule. The rewards can be as simple as a points system.

Online Self-Trained with Deadlines

I am currently doing an Online Management Programme that follows the "Online Self-Trained with Deadlines" approach. Each course is divided into multiple sessions and each session has a deadline with the graded exam to be completed every Monday EOD. In this mode of learning, I have to learn through each of the modules in the session for that week and complete the graded exam by Monday's Deadline.

Here the Training Provider ensures that the learner completes the modules or sessions by the deadline. The learner is penalized if he doesn't adhere to the deadlines. The learner cannot skip the modules as there is a graded exam at the end of each session.

The advantages I see here are that we will complete the sessions as per deadlines. As per the training provider, all the students enrolled in that course are at the same level of completion due to these deadlines. These deadlines make the online instructor-led training sessions which are conducted during week-ends more effective. Personally, for me, this has been a more efficient form of learning compared to the courses with no deadlines.

In this training method, We don't have the option to interact directly with the trainer but it is compensated by weekend Instructor-Led online classes.

Online Instructor-Led Training

I have seen that "Online Instructor-Led Training" is the most efficient training method compared to the other two. In this method, the training schedule is clearly defined and the learner needs to attend the classes with the instructor.

From my experience, I have been trying to cover certain IT courses initially with the "Online Self-Trained with no deadlines" mode of learning. I was facing all the issues that I have mentioned with this mode of learning. Missing planned learning means missing continuity and start-over again from the first.

I had a situation where I needed to acquire training and skills as soon as possible for the upcoming projects in work. I then decided to undergo training for two courses that were offered by Online Instructor-Led Training. One with a 3-day program and another with a 10-day program. Both had online Labs accessible with the Instructor-led Live training. I was able to complete the training as per the schedule and the live interaction with the trainer really helped me to grasp the technologies with greater speed. The post-training support was also provided by these training providers. This helped me to jumpstart on the new projects using the technologies learned in these courses.

The advantage I see in this training mode is the faster completion time of the courses. Live interaction allows us to get the clarifications done then and there with the trainer. The trainer also shares his practical experience while covering each topic of the course.

The negative side is cost. The cost is higher for this kind of training.

Conclusion

Having seen my positive and negative aspects of different training modes, the selection of the training mode is completely dependent upon the learner and the planning he does to complete it.

The online education providers can definitely try to bridge the gap by designing the courses and the training software which leads to greater motivation and rewards for the learner to complete the course. In a business sense, this will pull more learners to their platform which will lead to a more profitable outcome.

Please help give your comments about your experiences with various training modes you have had and your suggestion. Thanks !!