Elliot Masie, who first coined the term ‘E-Learning,” once said, “We need to bring learning to people instead of people to learning.”

Many asynchronous e-learning courses – such as the Khan Academy – have already had an outsized impact on the learning industry. Virtual classrooms are now becoming more commonplace as well due to the increase in available broadband and the next generation of reliable conferencing software, such as Zoom.

There are many reasons to consider virtual learning: the cost and logistical issues coordinating in-classroom experiences given a decentralized workforce, the desire to have training match the environments many of us work in today, and the ability to access content and connect with colleagues no matter where you are in the world.

Since 2014, Abilitie has been offering both our People Management and our Financial Acumen simulations as fully virtual experiences as alternatives to our in-classroom experiences.

In 2019, more than one-third of those simulations we delivered were fully virtual. That represents a greater than 50% increase in fully virtual training events in less than two years for our organization.

Iteration with an eye toward constant improvement is vital when focused on enhancing one’s approach to virtual delivery of content. The way we work is becoming more virtual every day. This represents one of the many opportunities that virtual training provides.

Our team has consolidated the 3 keys that we believe have allowed us to scale our virtual training offerings and maintain survey scores from participants akin to the numbers we receive when all participants are together in the same classroom.

#1 Technology is an asset, not a liability

We set the expectation that this will be a camera on, microphone on experience in the pre-communications so that people show up prepared to embrace the technology and allow it to enhance their experience.

Allowing participants to speak openly, see others at all times, and leverage technology to come close to mimicking the experience in-person is a vital first step on the path to effective virtual learning.