If you’re an expert in something, you may eventually be asked to train others. These guidelines will make remote training easier for you, and more effective for those you teach.

There are three essential elements to ensure great remote training: design, delivery, and tech. The unfortunate acronym for these guidelines is DDT.

Design

1. Outcomes

Create clear learning outcomes before doing anything else. They should say what the learner will be able to DO as a result of your session. Offer these to your students as a guarantee of how the session will benefit them.

As you know, the outcome should sound something like: “By the end of this session, you’ll be able to (VERB)…”

SHUN verbs that occur in the learner internally.

Examples:

• Identify
• Know
• Understand
• Recognize

USE words that you will be able to see or hear when the learner does them:

Examples:

• Describe
• Prioritize
• List
• Develop

Your outcomes are magic. They clarify both the content to deliver and the activities to include.

2. Activities

After providing the content for each outcome, instruct the learners to do each outcome. For example, if you said they’d be able to “list the three steps of…” have them do that. Use breakout rooms, drawing tools, chat, etc. Certainly, you can include other activities as well. But be sure to have the students do each outcome.

3. Assessments

You are able to assess how well learners are “getting it” when you can see or hear what the learners do to achieve each outcome.  It’s as simple as that. If they can’t do the outcome, re-teach the relevant content.

Delivery

We’ve all seen how horrible we (and others) can look online. These five aspects will make you look GOOD while delivering your content.

1. Place your computer on a stack of books or box so that the camera is above your eyes- nearly in line with the top of your head.
2. Sit straight or stand. If sitting, adjust your chair to ensure you are not too low or high in the frame.
3. Make sure your lighting is good. Super-important! The pros recommend using two lights positioned about three feet from either side of your face, a bit higher than the webcam. These lights can be simple clip-ons. You can diffuse them by draping a light fabric over them. Experiment with this until the lighting looks good.
4. Make eye contact as well as possible by looking straight into the camera. This is tough to do, since it is natural to want to connect with learners’ faces and eyes. Remember that you’ll be looking MORE at them if you’re actually looking at the camera.
5. Build in meaningful learner engagement throughout. Do at least one activity per outcome. Learners should be active at least 50% of the time.

Tech

1. Don’t try to do it all yourself. Use a producer to run the technology.
2. Practice the entire class, including all exercises, before going live.
3. Make sure you are comfortable with the program you are using (Zoom, Adobe Connect, Webex, GoToTraining, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, etc.)
4. Use a desktop computer, not an iPad or phone.

You have expertise to share. Integrate the guidelines of Design, Delivery, and Tech to transmit it most effectively. You, and your learners, will be glad you did.

Guila can make it easier for you to create effective, engaging online training.