I’ve previously talked about the new normal and how businesses will be focused on revolve (what companies need to do right now to make it to the future) and recovery (what companies will need to do to secure their futures). Learning plays an instrumental role in both. The new normal means virtual formats and eLearning will become more important as valuable instructor-led programs are turned into virtual formats.
I’m going to outline our blended approach to converting instructor-led events to virtual offerings— see-think-learn-do.
See: Teach something. Take the content of the current workshop and divide it into shorter lectures spread over a period of weeks. Then pre-record those lectures as webinars. If you are going to use subject matter experts as instructors, be sure to provide guidance and coaching to them.
Think: Assign an exercise that allows the learner to internalize what they’ve learned. This could be an assessment that can be marked automatically or even a scenario that requires a review.
Learn: Bring the learners together in a live webinar and have them work through a case study as a group. Today’s virtual tools allow for breakout rooms. Record these webinars and offer them back to the group for a recap.
Do: Bring the learners together again for a more in-depth analysis of the content; how it applies to their roles and goals. Then start building action plans for embedding that new knowledge.
Repeat the above in a series of see-think-learn-do cycles until the complete program has been delivered.
Three roles are essential to see-think-learn-do:
- An instructional designer who understands the constraints of virtual tools and can adapt the content to a virtual format.
- A technology producer who knows how to use the technology and record the webinars.
- Instructors who are comfortable with teaching online and can follow your formula and use the technologies.
Next time, I’ll talk about three reasons why empathy is essential for the new normal. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Lydia