Did you know that by 2015, less than half of all learning was instructor-led in a classroom without a virtual learning component? So, like it or not, training is moving in a more virtual direction.
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Luckily, there are many learning technologies and services available nowadays that make it exceedingly easy to create virtual training courses. So, if you don’t have a lot of technical skills or know-how, fear not.
Here are some of the basics regarding what you need to know when creating a virtual training course, even if you have minimal technical skills.
Know Your Audience
Before doing anything else, make sure you have a clear idea of who your audience is and how they want to learn. For example, if you have a lot of remote employees across the world in different time zones, you might want to create more on-demand virtual learning opportunities.
But if your employees are all located in the same building, you might want to consider developing blended learning opportunities with virtual components. In addition, you’ll want to consider whether your learners want to access virtual learning content as a group, via their mobile devices, as well as how often they’ll need to access it, etc.
Identify Your Goals and Objectives
After you have a clear understanding of who your learning audience is, you’ll be able to determine the goals and objectives for your virtual training. And this will help you determine what type of training strategy and technology you’ll need to use.
For instance, if you’re onboarding a group of construction workers to a new jobsite and need them to review safety guidelines and procedures, you might opt for a virtually simulated environment that allows them to explore hazardous conditions on the jobsite. But if you’re onboarding customer care representatives, you might want to opt for creating a virtual environment where employees interact with virtually simulated scenarios that allow them to learn how to handle customer complaints instead.
Choose the Ideal Delivery Method
Once you know your learners and what they need to learn, you’ll know how you need to deliver your virtual training. Decide whether your employees are on the go and will benefit more from virtual training content that can be accessed form mobile devices at any time or whether they will benefit from a blended method by which some of the virtual learning content will be distributed in person. Ask whether they will need to access virtual training content periodically on an ongoing basis or if the virtual training only consists of a stand-alone module.
Use a Platform with Advanced Authoring Capabilities
If you don’t have great skills with learning technology, select a learning management system (LMS) platform that’s easy to use and has course-authoring capabilities. Select an LMS that lets you edit and upload learning content easily with easy-to-use features. This way, you will never have to rely on an external third-party software again to create your virtual learning content.
Stay tuned—tomorrow’s post will include some more of the basics regarding what you need to know when creating a virtual training course, even if you have minimal technical skills.