3 Ways to Make Remote Training Sessions More Engaging for Teams

eLearning in the workplace is nothing new. Online employee training has been widely used for many years. However, most companies have historically used blended learning, which is a mix of online and in-person learning, to train their employees. But due to limitations created by the coronavirus pandemic across all industries, organizations have pivoted to provide education that takes place almost solely online. Remote training has become the new normal.

Company leaders must keep in mind that when training is moved fully online, especially when learners are accustomed to it being offered in-person or through a blended learning model, learner engagement can decline. This can be remedied when training administrators intentionally take steps to increase engagement for remote training sessions.

Are your remote learners bored?
Give these tips a try.

Is a good-sized portion of your workforce training from home these days? If so, these remote training tips will help you boost employee engagement for online learning sessions:

1. Offer more face-to-face interactions

Different learners are motivated by different learning methods. Some might easily engage with remote training, but some employees will likely find it is tough to get interested in training that doesn’t include face-to-face interactions. Increase the amount of these interactions by offering more real-time remote training sessions where employees can ask questions and get immediate answers, see their fellow learners virtually, and interact with their instructors.

Pre-recorded, on-demand training has a lot of benefits. For example, it can be accessed at any time on multiple devices. On-demand training should be part of your company’s remote training strategy, but so should real-time training, even if offered sparingly. Social learning tools, such as web conferencing, can help you deliver real-time remote training sessions that are fun for employees. Also, regularly checking in with employees to stay updated with their remote training progress helps increase engagement for online learning.

2. Increase the interactivity of online courses

Is engagement low for your remote training sessions? If so, how interactive are the courses you are offering remote learners? It’s no surprise that the higher the level of course interactivity, the more likely it is that learners will enjoy the course.

An ideal interactive element to add to any remote training course is interactive quizzes. The point of an interactive quiz isn’t to stress employees out about how much knowledge they have absorbed but to keep monotony at bay and make courses more interesting. To further increase engagement, your L&D team could add a reflective prompt at the end of each course segment or training session. These prompts would require learners to summarize what they learned in that session using one or two sentences. Be sure to carefully follow learners’ progress with remote training sessions using tools such as LMS reporting and analytics.

3. Host virtual roundtable discussions

One of the most negative aspects of social isolation is losing the opportunity to converse with those we normally would, such as our coworkers. Training administrators can ensure remote learners have meaningful conversations with their peers by hosting virtual roundtable discussions post-training. These discussions would not only get learners communicating with one another but could also spark a greater interest in learning.

Meeting Pulse recommends that virtual roundtable discussions have a clear purpose and predetermined topic, a set number of attendees selected by an administrator, and a capable moderator. “The moderator is vital to the smooth running of your roundtable,” wrote a contributor to Meeting Pulse.¹ “They should be confident enough to rein in the conversation and keep the participants on topic. A good moderator will also keep the discussion moving at a good pace – not too quickly, but not too slowly either.”

In addition to contributing to virtual discussions, learners should also be encouraged to participate in forums for debriefing after remote training sessions.

Increase engagement for remote training
sessions with an LMS

A learning management system (LMS) makes it simple for companies to deploy a remote training program. It also gives training administrators the tools they need to increase engagement for online learning through various LMS features. Launch an LMS rapidly with our Quick Start Program, which includes all you need to get started remotely training up to 500 employees.