Transition to a Virtual Learning Program – How to ?

It All Starts with Technology

First, start with the technology. This may seem obvious enough but ensuring that you’ve thought through the process, worked past the hurdles, and built protocols before launching the programs will help the change management for end-users and administrators.

Here are the most important four features to help you identify your chosen tech solution:

• Use technology that can scale with you. Some packages limit the number of online attendees. Ensure that you have enough licenses for the types of online learning you are going to facilitate.
• Certify that attendees can log on from their systems. This might also include dial-in numbers from phones or VOIP for browsers. You need to know your audience and ensure global employees have access.
• Make certain that you can share apps and presentations.
• Look for software that allows for the following:
  • Polling
  • Whiteboarding
  • Breakout rooms
  • Chat windows for attendees
  • Reporting
  • Video streaming

But Don’t Forget the Human Element

Plain and simple, if your experience isn’t engaging, your workforce won’t be engaged. The second factor is to keep your solution user-focused, which is the only way to keep engagement high. Here are five suggestions to increase energy and engagement levels during learning sessions:

1. Polling. Offering an engaging activity can be a great start for keeping users stimulated in the virtual learning environment. Polls can be kept simple, and in addition to keeping your audience engaged, they can gather data to help keep administrators informed.

2.  Use a chat window. Encourage attendees to utilize a chat window during sessions. Here are some example questions:

• What are 2-3 websites you use every day to get the latest news about your day?
• What do you like about them?
• Where are you calling in from today?

3. Whiteboards. Using whiteboards is a great way to promote user interaction. After polling attendees, copy the text from their given answers and paste them on the whiteboard to continue the conversation.

4. Breakout rooms. For topics that require more in-depth levels of conversation, or to add some variance to the sessions, try using breakout rooms. It’s common in larger online learning spaces for a few people to share repeatedly while others remain silent. Using smaller breakout rooms with fewer individuals will minimize the imbalance and promote activity from all attendees. In most applications, you can assign people to virtual break rooms to tackle a question or do an activity.

5. Annotation tools. Many conferencing platforms will offer annotation tools, which help create environments similar to in-person meetings, drawing users’ attention to specific areas if you need to “re-engage” the audience.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story @ How to Transition to a Virtual Learning Program – Degreed Blog