Virtual Training
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Due to instructional design and technological innovations within high-tech and educational industries, online training is now a feasible and effective training solution for most training needs. Companies and institutions of higher education can create highly effective training or education programs by utilizing online learning. |
Ask the average person about taking an online training course in public speaking and you'll likely get a response that goes something like. "Public speaking? You can't take that online, can you?" While this limitation may have been true in the earliest days of online training, today's online courses parallel the collaborative and engaging environment found in a face-to-face classroom.
Today's Internet experiences are quite different than they were just four or five years ago (do you remember getting excited about downloading a video clip only to realize that you needed to spend 10 minutes downloading a plug-in and then another 5-10 minutes downloading the clip?). Now learners can be engaged using real-time applications online.
Research indicates that people retain 5-10 percent of what they read or hear in a lecture, and approximately 50 percent of what they discuss with others. That is the level of sophistication that many online courses utilize today. But if we learn 75 percent of what we practice by doing and 90 percent of what we teach to others, wouldn't these elements make online courses that much more effective?
Teaching a skill such as public speaking can be done quite effectively in the online environment. There are two facets of online course development that can make this possible: (1) online course developers need to think outside the box, and (2) developers need to be aware of how to integrate new technologies that allow real time interaction, presentation, and demonstration with online learners.
For example, in public speaking courses taught to Park University's students worldwide, basic theories of public speaking, outlining a speech, and the ability to quiz students on this fundamental knowledge are routine tasks. However, in any speech course, the true value lies in actually giving a speech and receiving constructive feedback from instructors and peers. That's why online speech students at Park deliver their speech to a live audience at their place of employment or at a local university or college. The speeches are videotaped, digitized, then distributed online for their instructor and fellow students to watch and critique.
This technological model could easily transfer into the corporate world. If you need to develop your sales force's public speaking skills, but they are located all over the world, you can deliver this training to them in a way that produces measurable and positive results, yet is cost effective. Today's trainers are frequently challenged with evaluating employees who are geographically dispersed, making it difficult to evaluate hands-on skills, or demonstrations. Such a model as used in the online classroom enables the trainer to assess employee skill, retention and application in an online environment.
This is just one illustration of "thinking outside the box" in an online course, but there are several other types of hands- on training that can be accomplished. Such examples include using preceptors for clinical work in training programs, internships, the completion of oral exams using voice-over IP technology, or web cams employed for live examination or demonstration.
Emerging technologies that include online simulations, online chat rooms, and online whiteboards allow learners and instructors the ability to work together in real time. For example, an online learner can manipulate the weight of a falling object in a java applet and see the effect on the object's velocity. Or, while interacting with their instructor and classroom participants in a web conference, learners can use an online whiteboard to deliver and share presentations.
Due to instructional design and technological innovations within high-tech and educational industries, online training is now a feasible and effective training solution for most training needs. Companies and institutions of higher education can create highly effective training or education programs by utilizing online learning, despite shrinking budgets.
Linda Passamaneck is the Dir. of Online Learning at Park University in Parkville, MO. She can be reached at: 816.584.6817 or by e-mail at linda.passamaneck@park.edu.