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How to master your online training craft with these top tips

6/12/21

Frog Education

Frog Fact... The study of amphibians and reptiles is called Herpetology

Okay, so not the most flattering of titles but it is nice to be studied by professionals. As a training professional yourself, how do you ensure you reach and engage your learners in the right way?

These top tips will help you to transform your online training!

We don’t underestimate the quality that good trainers contribute to face-to-face training and people would be forgiven for thinking they cannot influence online training content in the same way. Whilst online training will never replace the unique aspects of in-person interaction and spontaneity, there are ways in which your training expertise can shine online. These top tips will help you to transfer your craft to online training:

Tip #1 Add variety to training content

Don’t lose creativity when designing content for online training, there’s a mix of styles you can bring into the online environment to breathe life into it. For example you can include quizzes, incorporate video, use images to bring scenes to life and perhaps film yourself for an in-person delivery.

Take a look at our ProTips inspiration for taking face to face techniques online:

Video Content

Content variety will not only suit different types of learners, but it will also improve training and boost knowledge retention. Once people realise the training doesn’t follow any particular pattern, they are likely to stay alert because they can’t predict the flow. Inserting barriers prevents a learner moving forward until they have found the correct answer. Although this can be frustrating for a person who has guessed incorrectly several times, they are unlikely to forget the answer if they’ve had to work harder to find it.

Not all online training content is born equal which means there is plenty of scope for a training professional to make their mark. The techniques are similar to those you already know, it is just in different packaging and without a physical audience.

Tip #2 Use insights to evolve your training programme

In-person training gives you an immediate impression of how engaged your audience is. Whilst you are unlikely to be able to observe your online learners, you can use reporting to gain insight into the effectiveness of the training.

For example, if a single module returns a high failure rate, you could revisit the content and present the information in a different way. A sample retest of the changes will quickly determine if that has resolved the issue. Closer to home, if an individual has been consistently struggling with training, it can be identified through the reporting and raised directly with them or communicated to their line manager. Insights will provide the high level data required by senior leaders and help with future training plans.

Tip #3 Sort compliance training and the rest will follow…

Every trainer will be painfully aware of the compliance responsibilities that must be met by organisations. Ensuring mandatory training is completed and kept updated is a huge task in itself. Although compliance training has come in the form of elearning for some time now, overseeing the status of all training and being able to evidence this in a handy report depends largely on the scope of the training platform.

Yet if your platform is handling the reporting and delivers information on teams or individuals that have not completed, the task of staying on top of compulsory training becomes lighter. With the mandatory requirements largely automated, the opportunity to be creative with elective modules or to make improvements to induction material is far greater. This ensures your training skills are being used to good effect to improve staff development and morale.

Summary

Your craft is safe, there is nothing to fear in the move to online training, in fact we hope we have convinced you just how you can still apply your training expertise to the digital experience. The benefit of being supported by technology is that your time can be spent on the areas where you can add the most value. The reporting and insights can provide the information needed to keep senior leaders informed and successes can be celebrated.

Online training puts you in the driving seat with as much control over content as you would have for a face-to-face session. Although the audience will be largely absent in this environment, an investment in a training platform doesn’t have to spell the end of all in-person training. In many ways, you can raise your profile with many more employees as you become a regular feature in online training content for remote and field workers. With everyone given equal opportunity to engage with training in the same format, it is possible to create more cohesion and a healthy workplace development culture.