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Canada Association of Tourism Employees

9 Ideas To Interact Learners By means of Internet Conferences

How to deliver an interactive web conference

To some, the term “interactive web conferencing” may seem like a contradiction in terms. You may see images of remote team members passively staring at their screens while a presenter flips through the slides. It’s only a matter of time before learners are distracted by side chats, deleting inboxes, or browsing open browser tabs.

In this scenario nobody interacts and nobody learns anything. In reality, however, online training solutions can be extremely engaging and effective.

The immediate benefits of web conferencing are obvious (think of the time and cost savings and the ease of logistics involved in introducing training for remote teams). Another compelling reason to turn to eLearning is the unique opportunities it offers for active learning.

Why interactivity is important in learning

Active learning takes place when the learner engages with the content. They do activities and think about what they are doing. Rather than just hearing information as it is presented, active learners internalize it. Research shows that learners who interact with training are more cognitively engaged. Active learning increases the effectiveness of training by promoting understanding, long-term retention and the transfer of skills.

In short, training is more effective when learning takes effort. To get the most out of your online training, focus on creating an interactive web conference that allows users to understand, remember, and apply your content.

9 Tips for Delivering a Great, Interactive Web Conference

There are several factors that can make eLearning more attractive. First, get to know and use the functions of your web conference software to their full extent. Second, focus on strengthening your content. Third, there are activities that encourage interaction. With these factors in mind, here are 9 tips for adding interactivity to your web meeting:

1. Conduct polls and polls

One of the fastest ways to get people excited about a topic is to get them to think about it. Consider taking real-time polls or polls as you train. Asking people’s opinion forces them to think deeply and meaningfully about their answers. It makes it personal and therefore more memorable.

There are several ways to set up interactive Moments with a poll or poll. You can ask participants how they feel about a topic, what experience they have had with a skill, or how often they have encountered the problem you are addressing.

The process of responding will involve your mind and emotions. They are also invested in how their answer fits with the group’s opinion or experience. And when they help define the scope of the problem, people feel more about learning the solution.

2. Encourage viewers to participate

You can make learning active by increasing the chances of learners attending your session. When your audience has to do something, they will be careful and get more out of their learning experience.

Stimulate participation by asking questions and encouraging people to share their thoughts with the larger group – via audio or chat. Have volunteers read or explain content. Again, polls and polls are a great way to get people to interact with the screen. If you involve the learners in the advancement of the training, they will invest more in the content and block out distractions.

3. Break out to discuss

People retain information when they have the opportunity to talk about what they are learning. Encourage this type of interaction in your web conference by providing discussion forums. Ask the group a question, then use the breakout feature in your software to divide the participants into smaller “rooms” to talk about. If you stay in the larger group, individuals can sit back easily and allow others to have the conversation. Small groups are less intimidating and encourage greater participation.

4. Connect to visuals

Keeping learners’ attention is crucial to keeping them engaged with your content. Strong graphics are a great way to make quick impressions and emotional connections. Make sure your slides work for you by laying them out with large, interesting pictures and minimal text.

Frequent movements are also useful for directing learners away from distractions and back to the training material. Introduce visual changes by switching from talking to your camera to sharing your screen. Create motion by switching slides more frequently, adding animation, or highlighting certain information with your pointer.

5. Add social elements

In a recent study, GP Strategies found that over 70% of students prefer to study with others, offline or online. They feel more preoccupied with the content when working on it with a group or even just one other person.

Create a social learning experience by allowing learners to interact with each other throughout the training. Include, for example, required peer reviews of projects or tasks. Invite learners to post regularly on a forum or forum. Consider setting up small group projects as part of the course and asking learners to meet outside of the training and apply what they have learned together.

6. Focus on your content

Optimize your content to respect attendees’ time and make them think about the material. People are here to learn something specific and useful. Resist the urge to include interesting, but slightly off-topic, side information.

Ask yourself: Can learners understand the skills without knowing the theory behind them? Could a story example be moved to an optional library for future reference without creating confusion? In this case, the information is likely not required. Remove it and find the gist of your message.

7. Mix your media

Try to vary the types of media you are presenting. Even with eye-catching images and reduced text, static foils are only active for so long. Turn it on by pasting in things like relevant videos or infographics.

As with the graphic, make sure that the medium you choose is actually appealing. For example, is the video high quality? Does the pace keep people’s attention? Is it entertaining? Are graphics an eye catcher? Are they easy to interpret? Is the point directly related to the purpose of the presentation?

8. Make it practical

When people have the opportunity to practice what they are learning, they are more likely to apply it back to the job. Engage students in hands-on applications that will help them become familiar with the skills. Include role play exercises based on real-life situations. Have them identify current challenges that could benefit from what they are learning. When you connect to actual experiences, the content becomes real for your learners, and that will make it more compelling and memorable.

9. Embrace gamification

Adding a friendly level of competition also makes for a strong commitment. A survey found that 85% of employees said they spend more time using gamified software. Adding a bit of play is a great way to keep things interesting and keep the learners invested.

Use your LMS to apply and keep track of gamification elements that complement your web conferencing. Consider adding a leaderboard to show student progress based on assignments that follow a webinar. Set challenges and add levels to the learning path. Award points or badges for completing challenges.

Conclusion

Thanks to the technology, it is easy and convenient to conduct comprehensive and quick training courses in your company. However, it can be easy to fall into the trap of learning through web conferencing to be passive. Bringing your content to the screen and making it available is no guarantee of successful knowledge transfer.

Instead, give your training a boost by using active learning tactics. Use the tips above to pull people away from the distractions creeping into distant work environments and involve them in your training.

TalentLMS

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