- [Instructor] Let's say you're training new managers
for a large department store chain.
Each of the managers work
in a different region of the company.
In your analysis of the job,
you discovered that new managers often struggle
in their first six months,
and so a lot of them quit.
Because of these factors,
you want learners connecting with each other, collaborating,
so that they feel confident
and can develop a support network
when they return to their regions.
In this case, virtual instruction or a webinar-type format
is a good one to choose and lucky for you,
I just happen to have five tips here
on how you might go about designing it.
Tip one: create activities that encourage participation.
Participation is key to a successful virtual session.
Tell a story related to whatever it is you're teaching.
At the beginning, you might tell a story
about when you were nervous starting a new job
and what you did to overcome it.
Then ask participants
if they've experienced anything similar.
Or set up a scenario
and ask them what they would do in the situation.
For instance, a new manager who is quite a bit younger
than the people she manages
is struggling with a particular employee
who isn't respecting her authority.
What should she do?
Tip two: break participants into small groups.
Small group discussions and activities are great.
They're often more intimate,
they create some variety
and the students learn from each other.
Most virtual learning platforms
have this functionality built in.
If the one you're using doesn't, create a workaround.
Tip three: regularly check in with participants.
You don't have the luxury of having everyone
in the same room,
so you're going to have to check in with students
a bit more than normal.
Call them by name,
ask them to turn on their webcam when speaking,
encourage them to respond verbally or through the chat.
If you want to check in with all students
to see how well they're understanding things,
offer up a poll.
Tip four: include additional resources
that complement the session
that learners can check out on their own.
This might be material from LinkedIn Learning,
online modules, blog posts from leaders in the field.
This will give you stuff to talk about
during your next session.
And tip five: keep sessions on the shorter side.
The longest you want to go is 90 minutes.
It's way better to have multiple sessions per week
than one long honking one.
Keeping them shorter will also make recording
and uploading the sessions easier.
We've covered a decent amount of ground there,
so let's sum up.
Virtual instruction is effective
when students need immediate feedback
and the chance to collaborate.
When you design them, remember to:
create activities that encourage participation,
check in with students often
and keep sessions on the shorter side.