How to Offer Hands-on Training Courses Online
Your organization has been offering practical, hands-on training for years, delivering them in-person. Recently, however, you’ve been thinking of expanding beyond the classroom in order to increase revenue.
You also think this may be the right time to make the jump to e-Learning, as some of your members have inquired about attending courses online. They cited scheduling conflicts, work demands, and travel time as some of the reasons they cannot attend in person classes. With all these compelling reasons, you want to get started–but you don’t know where to start.
In addition, you aren’t fully convinced that hands-on courses are good candidates for e-Learning; after all, there are so many practical elements, and individuals attending in-person get to view demonstrations live, with lots of opportunities to learn the practical application of the skill.
Worry no more! Here are three easy ways to offer practical, hands-on training online:
1. Use Video
The flexibility and efficacy of video communication is very well known.
For example, many in the academic world see video as being as good as an instructor in communicating facts or demonstrating procedures, as a student can view complex procedures as many times as they need to.
Associations in the concrete, massage therapy, dental, and other sectors that benefit from practical, hands-on training have all embraced video to record both the spoken lecture and the physical, hands-on elements of their training.
With such a wide range of cost-efficient video recording devices (like smart phones!), this is one of the easiest ways to create online courses.
2. Try “Classroom Flipping”
For a few years, universities have been on to something called the flipped classroom. According Educause, the flipped classroom is a model in which short video lectures are viewed by students online before class is in session, while in-class time is devoted to exercises, projects, or discussions.
Consider implementing an introductory step to online education by decreasing long classroom days and using e-learning content (such video lectures) to deal with the non-practical parts of your course; in-class time can then be used to cover these more hands-on elements.
You can post manuals online, have group discussions, and get learners excited about (and involved in!) the topic even before they come to their in person class!
3. Take Advantage of Technology
Putting your courses online provides a unique opportunity to organize your content into easily accessible lessons on your learning management system (LMS), making it simple for anyone to learn. Consider arranging your courses by topics, modules, or days to make it especially effortless to navigate!
Additionally, you can add knowledge reinforcement questions during your videos or as short quizzes after to ensure that everyone understand your course content.
With the Vocalmeet video player, your learners can exit a video and the system will know exactly where the individual stopped (similar to streaming services like Netflix!). Progress is tracked and courses can be viewed on any computer or device, accommodating the busy schedules of today’s learners.
You may also like: How Versatility in Learning Strategies Can Maximize Profit
Conclusion
Offering your hands-on courses online can be easy, cost efficient, and fun alternative to long in-class sessions. Try it out with your association’s next workshop–you may be surprised how effective it can be!
Want a better understanding of how to take advantage of technology to leverage your existing content? Book a meeting with us today!
References:
http://www.uq.edu.au/teach/video-teach-learn/ped-benefits.html
7 Things You Should Know About Flipped Classrooms https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli7081.pdf
