How Effective is Online Training? Pros and Cons of Online Training

Training is a fundamental tool for business continuity. Also, it is a key growth prerequisite, especially in times of crisis.

As we live in the Covid-19 era, which its consequences reflected on every aspect of our lives and of course on training. Now, most training providers either personal of institutional turned their training programs to online due to social distancing obligation. This way, participants are allowed to attend training virtually without a need to leave their places.

Online training programs effectiveness has been the center of many discussions, research, and meetings. In this article, we will review some of the points that this discussion includes.

Cons (-)

1- Absence of face-to-face communication

It’s a very important element of training. Each trainer knows well the importance of face-to-face communication for trainees. It allows the trainer to create safe learning spaces, support trainers, and observe their impressions and thus providing them with what they need. Trainer mainly depends on observation, which is very difficult in online training.

2- Energy Levels

Training rooms depend on energy levels. Trainees are powered by the trainer and vice versa. If the trainer is dynamic and energetic, it will reflect on the trainees. Unfortunately, this can’t be applied in online training as not everyone is in one room. The trainer attempt to move in the room, stand up or raise the voice will not be reflected on the trainees, as he looks at a screen, not people.

All of the above puts a greater burden on the trainer to create many points of interaction to preserve the audience's energy.

Pros (+)

1- Short hours of training

 Limiting the time to 1.5 or 2 hours for the session, enforces the trainer to focus on the most important parts to maintain training time. Online training requires more preparation to make the most of the short training time.

2- The short hours of training

It allows the trainer to creatively divide the training material, and decide more than one time for the training. The regular training problems like booking training room, budget, coffee breaks, and street congestion have no place in online training. Now, it’s the trainer’s role to properly provide the training without being tied to the place or budget.

3- Trainee effective participation

Online training makes it important for the trainee to be an effective part of his learning process. He/she must read more and practice between the training sessions to compensate for the short training period. This gives the trainee the opportunity to work hard on the training material. Also, to participate in the training to gain important knowledge and ask about what he needs or lacks. Now, the training process became mutualized and the trainee is plating a vital role in it. This is what the trainers have been trying to achieve and now thanks to online training, became real.

4- Innovation

Despite online training is depriving us of interactive learning games, technology provides us with effective alternatives. These alternatives give us the opportunity to innovate, experiment, and engage in new areas that we would not have been able to try in if we had not been forced to do so.

5- The big difference between Webinar and Online training

The maximum number of participants is 20 or 25 in the online training. We must bear in mind that having a wide space doesn’t mean mobilizing participants for training. As long as we decide it’s training, it is necessary to keep its elements that allow trainees to interact, train, and ask. All these can’t be achieved with large numbers, who we can’t see in camera or interact with their comments due to time lack.

Training is a very deep word that needs a lot of work. The trainer now has a lot to study to provide effective online interactive training.

 

Photo source: Nick Morrison  from Unsplash