How to Keep Participants Engaged and Motivated in VILT Sessions?

By now it is clear that virtual instructor-led training (VILT) sessions are the new norm in the online training sector. Do you as a training manager in your organization feel that VILT approach is a boring way to train your employees? If yes, continue to read this blog for tips that you can implement in your training sessions to keep your learners engaged and prevent them from daydreaming during the training.

For you to present a good VILT session, the basic requirement is to have an effective presentation, but to be honest there are many more things that can be done to keep your VILT session interactive and effective. Continue to read to know how to create effective VILT sessions for your learners.

What is Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT)?

In simple words virtual instructor-led training is an online training session that is conducted by a real instructor. It is an interactive session where the learner and the instructor can interact in real time on online platforms like google meet, zoom, Webex, Microsoft teams etc. These video conferencing platforms allow learners to interact and communicate with their managers, clients and trainers easily without any disruptions.

Benefits of VILT

• VILT sessions allow the learners to learn anytime and from anywhere, unlike classroom training where it requires the learners and the instructors to be present in the same place.
• VILT sessions are interactive even though there is no instructor present in the session.
• VILT sessions allow learners to have discussions, share their thoughts, participate in quizzes.
• VILT provides personalized learning according to the learners’ need.
• VILT sessions allow learners to track the performance of the learners at any time and from anywhere.

Explore how to master the art of designing and delivering impactful VILT in 60 minutes!

Now that we know the advantages of VILT, here’s another big question, how do you keep your learners engaged and motivated throughout the online training?

We understand that it is a big shift for the instructors to adapt to teaching online. Often, we see that many instructors cannot figure out and are not familiar about the platform that is being used for the VILT sessions. Since they are used to teaching face-to-face, communication in the online training process might get difficult for them with which the trainers might lose interest and do not feel engaged in the session.

So, how can you exactly keep your learners engaged and motivated throughout the session? Continue to read for tips that you can use to create content that is easy for the instructor to impart training and for the learners to be engaged.

Tips to Keep VILT Participants Engaged

1. Create Engaging Content

To create engaging content for your learners, you must first know your learners. Know their needs to gauge what exactly they want from their eLearning experience. This would help you connect with your learners better.

Next you must set clear learning objectives before developing the eLearning content. Learning objectives enable learners to understand the benefits and learning outcomes of the course. It’ll not only help in adding value to the program but also helps you have a clear course structure. Once you have a clear picture of your learning objectives, then the other things of your eLearning content will fall in place.

2. Design Short Learning Modules

It is difficult for people to devote their time for learning because of their busy schedules. Due to this reason, there are high chances for them to get disengaged. Keeping this in mind, it is better if we create short learning modules it is easier for the learners to connect with small chunks of learning modules than giving them long stories that consume most of their time.

3. Have Poll Questions to Measure Learning

This strategy is an effective one in virtual training. The course has short videos followed by a question. By answering the question, learners can see how much they have understood. This is more like a microlearning strategy, that has bite-sized nuggets which is a successful strategy in keeping the learners motivated and engaged throughout the online training.

4. Organize Breakout Rooms

Breakout rooms give an opportunity to the learners to collaborate with each other and work in small groups. It is stated that learners feel engaged in the breakout room activities and feel free and confident to talk and work in small groups. Breakout rooms support varying learning needs and styles. The instructor can support groups that require direction while one group works on a task independently. As others catch up, this keeps the first motivated and challenged. Additionally, it lessens the possibility that some groups will falter or lag.

Here’s how VILT can use breakout room to combat the demon of boredom:

• Learners can work on collaborative projects or competitive challenges in groups. Groups working on activities can be confident that no one will overhear or witness their ideas.
• Assign various aspects of the subject to different groups and ask each group to present a summary of its findings to the entire class.

5. Make Specific Rules

• Ensure that the learners don’t make noise.
• Ensure their phones are in silent mode or switched off during the training.
• Do not permit bullying and arguments.
• Keep peace by raising hands in case of queries.
• Make use of chat box and whiteboards to convey message or doubts.

Final Thoughts

In a VILT session, interaction and collaboration play a major role to keep the learners engaged throughout the session. Without these two things there are high chances for your learners to get distracted. If VILT sessions are created in the right way, it will allow you to work and collaborate and spend time with your team virtually. If you are interested to get more tips and guidance do not miss this handy guide and gain the ability to collaborate online and motivate learners.