I facilitated a training session on Zoom earlier this week. It was so mentally exhausting I went home and ordered a burger from Wimpy. Here is what I have learned so far in my initial forays into the rapidly developing world of remote training and facilitation (spoiler alert: not a great deal):
One: You apparently must make sure all your hardware and software work OK.
I have learned a lot about my laptop over the last few weeks. For example, it turns out that cat hair can make the bottom line of letters on my keybbbbbbboard stick down. Also – and any tech-savvy readers can enlighten me on the reasons behind this one – my inbuilt microphone does not work too well when I’m connected to my second screen. Anyway, it is best to find all this out in your own time, and not when it is 10:57 and you have a session starting at 11:00. Taking a brief YouTube course on how to use Zoom features such as screensharing and the interactive whiteboard is certainly time well-invested.
Two: How people absorb the material.
2020 could be the year of techagogy; learning directed by technology. The term has been around for a while but hasn’t really been the subject of much research apart from some scant agreement that it can be applied alongside andragogy and pedagogy – not instead of. When asking for evaluations of my recent Zoom trainings, people highlight the usefulness of structuring online trainings differently – even when compared to e-learnings – and although I do not teach kids, I am sure they would learn differently in a remote setting too. In such a situation, there are more distractions, more barriers (such as resistance to technology), less supervision and maybe less access to knowledge as well. The management of messaging and instruction which is not conveyed as much through body language, but more through words and intonation, creates a potentially challenging learning environment and one which will be different for each participant.
Three: Learning new ways to make it interactive.
As I write this, I am preparing a quite a few trainings for when my hotel reopens and playing around with instructional design, specifically around how to make a simple speech or PowerPoint presentation come alive through conferencing platforms. I am also researching learning management system (L.M.S.) tools that are free – or at least cheap – to use, as these can be used to make standard presentations really come to life, through voting tools, gamification, and blended interventions – hitting that sexy sweet spot between synchronous and asynchronous learning. In the meantime, keeping remote trainings going with simple icebreakers, props and the Zoom whiteboard give a good foundation for getting people involved and maintaining engagement.
Four: Time travel.
Thoughts on this one, please! I have found that when hosting a session of remote training, the passing of time seems to creep up to the speed of light. Certainly, I have noticed that time management during such training is harder, and I cannot work out why (it might just be my inexperience at running them). A facilitator might also be preoccupied with distractions such as technological gremlins or simply managing remote participants such as their microphone being unmuted, late joiners, interruptions, or feedback (the audio kind, not the “Mike it is really time for you to trim your beard” feedback). Managing time when training could be a whole other post but getting to grips on it with two firm hands is essential for success in remote facilitation.
Five: Comfort and calmness.
I can deal with my cat Oscar chewing my elbow on a webinar, but not when I am training people on consultation processes. So far when training remotely, I have managed to be in the wrong place, each time (I have another session coming up next week, so third time lucky). Finding a good remote training setup might well be different to a standard working from home setup; you might need more space, a quieter atmosphere, even different décor. I have the option of cycling to the office when I need to, so from now on will be training people remotely while I am at work.
There is also the question of mental preparation. In addition to any stressors relating to being new to training remotely, there is also the need for the trainer managing their patience. When training online, you go from not just managing the learning environment to manging the existential environment as well. Alongside regular Q&A, facilitators must now handle questions about turning on a camera, muting a microphone or even field WhatsApp conversations with attendees trying to find the correct Zoom call. I guess it is the equivalent of training someone how to walk through the door into the training room (I hope you have never been in that boat).
Remote training is almost certainly here to stay. Not only will the need for continued social distancing make such training the safest way to go, over time it will become easier, more comfortable, and crucially, cheaper for businesses to embrace such interventions. I guess I will be indulging in a quite a few more guilty-but-delicious Wimpy meals of over the coming weeks and months.
Originally published 5th June 2020.
Photo by Catherine Heath on Unsplash.