Although it’s been around for some years now, Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT) still draws its share of suspicion that it may be a less-effective approach to training than the traditional classroom. While some of us in learning and education feel this question has been answered and re-answered many times, we still find ourselves being asked: “Does it work? And is it worth it?”

Those are, of course, two different questions. As to the first question, the obvious answer is that well-designed and delivered training is effective in any medium, while poorly designed and delivered training is not. If your “training” consists of a disengaged lecturer reading his or her PowerPoint slides verbatim, it will be equally bad in both the real and the virtual classroom. The only advantage to the virtual version is that the students won’t need to conceal their boredom from the instructor.

If you require more documented proof of VILT’s effectiveness, numerous studies have been conducted and reported by some of the best-respected authorities in the field. In particular, Dr. Ruth Clark has written on this subject a number of times, and the weight of her evidence is impressive.

As to the second question, the answer is an equally emphatic “yes” — VILT is definitely worth it because it has proven itself as a highly cost-effective approach to training. Again, multiple studies provide solid evidence that this is true. And as we all know, in this recessionary and post-recessionary period of shrinking budgets and waning enthusiasm for business-related travel, nothing draws more enthusiasm from management than a better bottom line.

What are your experiences with VILT? Has it already proven its worth to you or are you still on the fence? If you’re uncertain (or are dealing with skeptical management), take a look at some of the studies and see how convincing they are.

While still relatively young, most of us learn a basic truth about human communication. As teenagers, for instance, if asked about a first date, our replies to our friends (“He’s a total hunk!” “She’s hot!”) are significantly different than our responses to our parents (“He’s a nice guy; we had a good time.” “She’s nice; it was fun.”). The basic truth, of course, is that sometimes we have to tailor the message to suit the audience, even if the facts behind all the messages are the same.

This is equally true in the realm of education and instruction. All training and development professionals have been faced, at one time or another, with the challenge of developing instruction for multiple audiences, using the same content but with a different “slant” for each group. This has never been truer than it is today, with the current economic crunch pushing most training end-users to require the maximum possible return on their training investment—a “more bang for the buck” attitude that leads to demands for the reusability or repurposing of training materials for as many potential audiences as possible.

This can be a real dilemma for training professionals, because we all know that the audience matters! We wouldn’t teach spreadsheet software to a truck driver who wants to balance his checkbook the same way we would teach it to an accountant, even though both might have a need. So when we’re asked to develop training for several different types of learners—with a wide range of interests and needs—(and maybe even for customers!) we know that we have our work cut out for us.

Fortunately, experienced training developers have wrestled with this issue long enough to come up with solutions…and even a process for effectively tailoring content for multiple audiences. Challenges remain, of course, but the process has proven itself repeatedly—multiple audiences can be taught effectively, with no compromises to the integrity of the material or the instruction, all within budgets that clients can live with.

What experiences have you had with developing for multiple audiences? How did you meet the challenges? Are you happy with your solutions? Let us know how your process compares to ours.

If you’ve ever taken a river-rafting tour, you know that the first thing you learn (aside from “never try to stand up”) is how to row together as a group. Although everyone else in your raft may be a stranger to you, you quickly discover that collaborative effort by the whole group is necessary if the raft is going to go anywhere except in a circle.

The same is true of learning communities, groups of learners brought together to gain a deeper understanding of a subject through sharing and collaboration. As trainers and educators, we all know that “top-down” instruction (in which the instructor delivers content that the learner passively receives) is the least effective instructional method available to us. That’s why we work diligently to improve learner engagement through interactions with course content both in the classroom and online. Learning communities are a way to increase learner interaction.

Learner collaboration isn’t a new technique in classroom instruction; group projects have always been integral to good instructor-led training. For e-learning, however, the growth and widespread public acceptance of participatory online media (YouTube, Wikipedia and blogs like this one) and social networking (LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter) have opened new collaborative opportunities.

The academic community has adopted these new Web 2.0 technologies more readily than the business world, where management typically views social media as potential employee distractions and time-wasters. Over time, however, more of these learning community elements have begun to appear in corporate training efforts, particularly wikis and blogs.

And more changes are coming. While most of us in this field are still working out the best ways to utilize Web 2.0 collaborative and social networking tools in our training development, technology visionaries are already developing Web 3.0 applications, several of which seem designed explicitly for collaborative learning and use by learning communities. These new applications include Twine and Interactyx.

Have you been using learning communities in your training? Are you looking for ways to adopt collaborative learning strategies and integrate social networking into your online and blended learning efforts? Do you have or do you know about any noteworthy examples of learning communities that you want to share?

Remember when you were a kid and loved stories?  Like me, you might remember gathering around your 1^st grade teacher as she read a new chapter each day. I remember listening to Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald who lived in an “upside-down” house and provided magical cures to children with bad habits. Great fun…and, as it turns out – great learning, too!

Whatever type of training you might design, develop or deliver, you probably face challenges keeping people engaged. Have you ever caught folks dreaming during class? Taking a mental nap while completing an e-learning module? Well…it turns out that one way to keep folks interested is through the age-old method of storytelling.

Storytelling can help learners place new skills into context and, perhaps most important…keeps them wanting more. They want to find out where the story line goes, what happens to the characters and how it all ends. How perfect!

In our work, we’ve had some great successes using storytelling for all sorts of learning – from classroom to e-learning and many types in between. For example, we recently developed some e-learning with a main character – our “hero” – whose story unfolded to reveal the correct skills to use (and not to use) in a customer service role. As the learners got to know our hero, and watched his story unfold, they not only learned the skills, but saw how using the skills worked to the benefit of our main character.

Have you used storytelling in your work? How did you do it? How was it received? Any advice for the rest of us? Let’s engage in some storytelling of our own…and see what we can learn!

Have you heard about Google’s next hit invention: Google Wave? This collaborative technology – scheduled to roll out later this year – is being talked about as a replacement for a slew of your favorite social media from Facebook to LinkedIn to MySpace to your everyday e-mail account. And…it’s free!

It sounds like this new technology will greatly impact the e-learning market. Currently, organizations pay big bucks for learning management systems that enable facilitators and learners to collaborate. Google Wave is set to include a variety of interactive, high-end technologies…free! Because it’s open source (like your free Google mail accounts), the cost of live, interactive e-learning should be reduced. Trainers will be able to host web conferences with learners on a unified interface where they can talk, view each other, share files, and access media — with greater flexibility than ever before. It’s a point-and-click type of technology that non-tech savvy users can pick up with ease.

So don’t throw out your LMS checklists quite yet (remember, the product isn’t out yet), but get excited because all your facilitators and learners will need to participate is a computer with a broadband Internet connection — and that’s all! In my work, we’re already talking about how we’ll use this tool to help our clients get e-learning faster, better and cheaper. Does your organization have plans to use Google Wave?