Exploring The Impact Of Virtual Training Through 3 Real-World Success Stories

The modern era of education calls for businesses and Instructional Designers to pay the necessary amount of attention to the rise of technology. Learners lead busy lives, often pulled in multiple directions, but virtual training can engage them and enrich their knowledge base wherever they are. In this article, we will explore the impact of virtual training through the real-world success stories of two established businesses. Later, we will suggest four tips to help you replicate their success for your audience.

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2 Case Studies That Prove The Positive Effects Of Virtual Training

Let’s see how the following three businesses were able to boost their learner engagement numbers with the help of virtual training and, specifically, Adobe Connect.

1. The Open University

The Open University (OU) has been a leading figure in higher education and distance learning for over 50 years, dedicated to making learning accessible to adults in the UK and beyond. After many years of providing inclusive distance learning opportunities, the OU needed to replace its legacy conferencing tool with a more robust platform designed for live online events.

After a long evaluation process, the OU trusted Adobe to help them schedule and host over 60,000 live online events annually and connect over 200,000 learners. Using the platform’s sophisticated features, they were able to set up thousands of virtual “classrooms” in advance, give lectures design freedom over their sessions with pods, and incorporate chat boxes to increase learner engagement.

As a result, they increased the number of online events hosted by 150% and saw a rise in their daily user count from 4300 in 2018 to 30,500 in 2022.

2. MIDFLORIDA

MIDFLORIDA Credit Union is committed to delivering personalized financial solutions and banking services to its members. Until recently, all new employees who interacted with customers were required to undergo in-person training at the company’s main branch, often having to be away from home for a whole week. Distance eventually became an issue, discouraging candidates from accepting job offers.

To address this challenge, MIDFLORIDA launched a virtual training program designed to engage participants, attract more candidates, and preserve a culture of direct communication. With Adobe Connect, they ensured compatibility with their existing systems and created virtual learning content that was interactive and engaging for online learners. They simplified the training flow with layout templates and offered accessibility options through pre-set pods. The ability to reuse virtual rooms proved particularly useful, reducing the time and effort required to prepare training sessions.

Ultimately, the impact of virtual training was evident for MIDFLORIDA, as they managed to increase learner engagement and improve retention of top candidates by reducing in-person training days by 80%.

4 Virtual Training Tips To Improve Learner Engagement

Going through these success stories not only gives tangible proof about the impact of virtual training but also highlights some key insights you need to take into consideration if you are considering adopting this training strategy. Let’s see what those are.

1. Incorporate Interactive Content

As we saw in the case studies above, creating virtual training programs with interactive elements is vital for learner engagement. These elements are what will make the transition from passive to active learning possible, attracting a wider audience and retaining their attention. Features such as live sessions, videos, simulations, games, quizzes, etc., can significantly improve the learning experience, providing participants with engaging content that they will look forward to accessing.

2. Enrich Training Sessions With Activities

Maintaining learner attention is something lecturers and tutors can struggle with, particularly during live sessions like webinars or synchronous classes, which have fixed and lengthy durations. To address this challenge, you must reconsider the number and type of activities you incorporate into the training session. For example, a one-hour-long webinar consisting solely of slides with the lecturer explaining them will likely result in a few yawns. On the contrary, a session that includes a poll, group discussion, quiz, and feedback portion will be much more interactive and impactful.

3. Promote Peer-To-Peer Learning

Virtual training shouldn’t prevent online learners from interacting and collaborating with each other. As we saw earlier, virtual learning platforms don’t only focus on making the course engaging but also on creating opportunities for idea exchange and teamwork. To this goal, they provide tools such as chat boxes, discussion boards, and breakout rooms that encourage group projects and discussions. By incorporating these elements into your virtual training strategy, you can promote peer-to-peer learning and enhance learner engagement by creating a sense of community and mutual support.

4. Make The Most Of Analytics

When you adopt a new training strategy, it is essential to stay on top of new data and metrics. Proving the impact of virtual training is much easier because the platforms that support it come with robust analytics features. All you have to do is pay close attention to this information as it comes in so that you can make necessary adjustments to improve learner engagement. For example, if learner attendance numbers go up, then you can be certain that the training program activities are effective. If the opposite happens, this is your cue to modify the course until engagement and participation numbers improve again.

Conclusion

Many businesses around the world are exploring virtual training, and the results are largely positive. Learners appear to be more engaged and motivated throughout the training process, knowledge retention and implementation are more successful, and, most importantly, the collaboration and interaction elements of an on-site training session are not compromised. The case studies that we explored in this article are only a few of the numerous examples that demonstrate the real-world impact of virtual training for education in general, and employee development in particular. Follow the tips we shared to increase your odds of replicating their success and make the most of the available virtual training resources and technologies that are abundantly available in the market.

Download Addressing The Learner Engagement Gap In Virtual Training today to leverage the latest tech, implement tested strategies, and overcome engagement obstacles in your L&D program.

You can also check out Adobe Connect’s webinar “Can You Hear Me?” Isn’t A Learning Strategy to uncover why traditional video tools don’t cut it for training, and what to use instead.

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