Elearning is now no longer a technological dream. It has been happening now because of the pandemic. There can be many tips applied to make sure elearning is imparted properly:

• Formation of a community:

Students are looking forward to studying in a class because they get opportunities for interaction. When students are being taught remotely, they should be given opportunities to become friends with other classmates.

So, instructors can facilitate the formation of such friendships by making sure that they call out students via their names. It’s important so that other students get to know who their fellow students are.

There should be a way in which students are introduced to each other before a video session starts.

They should also be motivated to divulge some information about their lives so that other students can find some common ground with them like their passion for the same sport, being part of the same profession, etc. Instructors can also guide students on the way they should introduce themselves via a video sent to them before the real session.

The formation of a community is important so that students have the same friendly experience in remote learning as they have in real classrooms. The students must be also separated into groups to forge stronger relationships among them. These groups can be created for students to have a discussion among them on projects done through assignments. They can also discuss whatever is taught to them through live discussions in remote learning.

• Having important communication with students:

Communicating with students is important when there is remote learning.

The students can only talk to teachers for a limited number of hours per week. So, you have to let them know when you are available to them.

It’s important to provide some introduction to students before the video starts when you can make them aware of your availability for their queries.

There can also be messages sent to students through the LMS emailing system or via discussion boards answering their doubts. You should readily answer any doubts within 24 hours of students posting them on discussion boards. This way, students know that someone is concerned about their understanding of the course. You can put notifications in the LMS about when you are available for them.

You can make good efforts to make sure that students have all their queries answered. Students can be given an office hour in a week where they can raise their doubts and get them solved.

This is important if the students didn’t have any time with you because the class was asynchronous.

Of course, this kind of live hour is not required if there was extra time available with students like in a blended learning setup where students are taught asynchronously but some time is already reserved for synchronous discussions.

• Students should be clear about how to use the LMS:

The students should be clear about how to use the LMS. It’s important because some students might not be able to figure out the technicalities of the course if they are using the LMS for the first time. The students might have a hard time navigating through the course. So, students can be given a demo video on how to use the LMS to find their course and its files.

A rubric is an important document that is a part of an LMS. This is how students can know what is expected out of them in assignments. They will only complete them properly and as per the trainer’s expectations once they know the grading system of the rubric.

Including a rubric in the LMS also saves you from the hassles of responding to multiple emails about why students were poorly graded on an assignment.

So, following these tips, you can make sure that remote training has the same quality as classroom teaching.

There has been a major change due to the Covid19 pandemic and training has started happening in an altogether different way now. Last year blended learning became the norm.

Many companies were however not prepared for this sudden move to remote learning. The companies had to use digital training methodologies developed before the pandemic.

Artificial intelligence

The use of artificial intelligence in learning and development offers scope for the personalization of the content. Use of the chatbots is also happening because they can answer user queries without intervention from humans. The use of artificial intelligence in training has led to a jump in queries answered in real-time when humans don’t have time. Even custom-made content can be delivered because user preferences have been analysed.

Support for the performance of recruits

Now, companies are making sure that whenever new employees are hired, there are no long onboarding events. It’s because such events require the human presence and social distancing has become the norm after the pandemic. Also, when recruits are hired and trained they may not remember much of the information given to them during onboarding. When they start working, they simply don’t remember any of this information. So, training should be given just-in-time to recruits so that they get information when they require it the most. The just in training has also started receiving more focus because there has been an increase in perception of training as a journey, not as a one-time incident.

Training of trainers

The trainers also need training. It’s because the entire learning process has become remote.

If the pandemic continues, the trainers will have to be prepared to provide remote learning for a long time.

There is a niche set of skills needed to deliver virtual training. For example, the attention span is better in virtual training because the learners are isolated from each other. Apart from that, the trainers should know how to grab the attention of participants because sometimes, this isolation could mean a lack of attention.

Design materials for learners

Such trainers should make sure that they have design materials to interact with the learners. This implies that the learners must have a look at the important part of the slide, rather than the whole presentation being shown to them. The presentation could be sent to them through an email after the remote learning session ends.

Bandwidth could also be a problem in remote learning sessions. So, it’s better to avoid the use of webcams in that case. It is better to communicate with learners through text chat etc. Even whiteboarding is a good option where bandwidth is low. You can write on this whiteboard and zoom in to show the text.

The trainers should also log in before the learners so that the latter don’t face empty screens after logging in. In case, the trainer is unable to log in early, there could be polls and quizzes shown on the screen to learners so that they while time, till the trainer becomes live.

But the virtual trainers should know how to involve the participants. So, this is how remote learning is different from offline training where trainers are learners are present face-to-face.

There has been a lot of stress on the remote education since Covid19 hit the world. All the teachers and instructors are online teachers now. Video lessons especially asynchronous are great tools for students. These kinds of lessons can be used to teach software to students. They can also be used to teach scientific facts to students.

Studies have revealed that students especially those who are between the age groups of 8-12 have been spending a lot of time on social media every day. So, such video lessons must be prepared carefully because they carry extra value when done nicely.

Having a video lesson with them implies students can watch it repeatedly which enhances their learning. They can pause the video and watch it again if they have not understood any part.

So, they don’t have to follow a teacher’s pace at learning things.

While preparing a video lesson for a student, there are some things that you need to take care of:

Prepare high-resolution videos 

It’s better to use videos having high resolution for remote learning.

The resolution of the video must be 1920×1080 pixels. This makes sure that the learners can catch every minute detail in the video which includes gestures also. It’s not necessary that you need a DSLR camera to record such a video. You can also use camera settings on the iPhone to get such a video quality. You can simply change the settings on the iPhone by going to the Camera and then Settings. To get more focus in an iPhone video, you can also blur the background so that focus is on a single object. For example, you are shooting the video of an insect’s movements, then it’s better to blur the forest environment. Tools like Captivate also give you an option to use the screen resolution of 1920×1080 pixels while capturing simulations.

Proper lighting for shooting the video 

While shooting a video make sure that you have proper light in the classroom. With an iPhone, you can always adjust Exposure to get the perfect video light. But it’s better to have natural light while shooting the video because research has proven that students score better where they have more natural light in the classroom than those who don’t. So, in a virtual classroom, you should try to replicate that exact environment with natural light. It’s better that you don’