Virtual Instructor Led Training (VILT)

Designing VILT

The design of VILT isn’t just a matter of moving classroom training into a Zoom or Webex classroom. Development requires a different approach entirely. The instructor and learners need mechanisms to communicate frequently, in groups and individually, and the content needs to engaging, collaborative and interactive. We don’t want online meetings and lectures, which is what moving ILT online can turn into!

So what does VILT need to be successful?

The following are components I have found that make the most successful virtual instructor led courses:

• Telling–or letting the learners discover–what’s in it for them. It is important to establish early why a course is relevant to the learners and how it can help them in their jobs. They need to know the ‘what’s in it for me’ to keep them engaged in the training and to retain and apply their new knowledge and skills.
• Providing support for using the technology. Not everyone is versed in the platforms used to delivery VILT. Teaching the facilitators how to use breakout rooms, digital whiteboards, polls, quizzes, media sharing and managing the learners contributions is an obvious necessity. But instructing the learners on how to share their screens, raise their virtual hands, annotate the virtual whiteboard or a slide, access chat and discussion boards, will allow them to participate, reach out to instructors and peers and to access the resources shared by instructors. I in
• Foster engagement through collaborative activities. Nothing turns a learner’s brain off faster than sitting in an endless lecture. Now imagine that is an online lecture, and you have a disaster at hand. Successful classroom activities are all about the interaction between the facilitator and the students. I create exercises where learners interact with each other in the virtual classroom – this has proven to be key in learner engagement.
• Providing reinforcement with Digital Learning Assets.  Reinforcing training is important if you want your learners to retain what they have learned during a VILT session. Usually a recording of the session is offered to all participants, a copy of all the media used, copies of any polls, virtual whiteboards, and chats and discussions created, or sometimes I create a summary of the results of polls, FAQs posted on discussion boards and activity or challenge results after the course is complete in the form of info graphics or charts. It’s all helpful.

Any successful training is learner-centric. I offer learners a way to navigate and engage in their own learning experience to ensure engagemnt and knowledge and skill retention.