Due to the pandemic, an increasing number of businesses and universities are canceling in-person classes, meetings and events and moving them online. Yet, doing live virtual training is not the same as moving to another physical location. It takes thought and planning to develop engaging live virtual training.
Often, leaders, trainers, facilitators and educators do not have much time to prepare for the pedagogical shift of virtual training. So, here are some of the best resources for transitioning from classroom to live virtual training and events.
Guides and Resources
These are sources of for getting started in running live virtual training events.
- Virtual Training Delivery: Connecting Platform Tools with Learning Objectives
- Tools for Remote UX Workshops (relevant if you use any UX techniques)
- Best Practices for Delivering Virtual Classroom Training
- Education Companies Offering Free Subscriptions Due to School Closings
- Emergency Remote Instruction Checklist from Quality Matters
- Facilitator Guide for Live Online Classroom
- Get and Keep Learners Engaged in a Virtual Classroom
- How to Be a Better Online Teacher: Advice Guide
- Online Learning Consortium Continuity Planning and Emergency Preparedness
- Presentation Science with Will Thalheimer (free to teachers and faculty through April)
- Producer Checklist
- Recorded Webinars on Virtual Training
- UCF Teaching Online Resources
- Virtual Training Resources: Books, On-demand webinars and white papers
Blogs
These are articles that provide insights into what’s involved in running a virtual classroom.
- Ten Tips for Emergency Remote Teaching
- Getting InSync
- Lightbulb Moment Blog: Articles about Webinar and Virtual Classroom Design and Delivery
- OLC Insights of the Online Learning Consortium
- The Digital Backpack: Your Resource for Online Training (K-12 Focus)
Books
If you have time, check out these books that focus on engaging virtual classrooms.
- Interact and Engage!: 50+ Activities for Virtual Training, Meetings, and Webinars by Laborie and Stone
- The Modern Virtual Classroom Experience: Managing the Experience by Hofmann
- The Modern Virtual Classroom Experience: Facilitating the Experience by Hofmann
- The Online Teaching Survival Guide by Boettcher and Conrad
- The Successful Virtual Classroom: How to Design and Facilitate Interactive and Engaging Live Online Learning by Christopher
- Teaching Online a Practical Guide by Ko and Rossen
- Virtual Training Basics 2nd Edition by Huggett
- Virtual Training Tools and Templates by Huggett
Podcasts & Podcast Episodes
- Disruption Series from Learning Uncut
- Webinar and Virtual Classroom Podcasts with hosts Jo Cook and Michael Cook
- The Teaching Online Podcast from University of Central Florida
- Virtual Training is Much More Than a Presentation with Cindy Huggett (listen or download the transcript)
- Creating Virtual Classrooms and Webinars with Karen Hyder (listen or download the transcript)
Tools
- Education Companies Offering Free Subscriptions Due to School Closings
- FlipGrid: Allows virtual participants to record videos
- Snag-it from TechSmith: Screen recorder that is free for educators through June 2020
- VoiceThread: Allows for voice comments
Journal Articles with Free Access
- Akpan, S., Etim, P.,& Udom, S. (2016). Virtual Classroom Instruction and Academic Performance of Educational Technology Students in Distance Education, Enugu, World Journal of Education, Vol. 6, No. 6.
- Berry, S. (2019). Teaching to connect: Community-building strategies for the virtual classroom. Online Learning, 23(1), 164-183.
- Bettinger, E., Fox, L., Loeb, S., & Taylor, E. (2017). Virtual Classrooms: How Online Courses Affect Student Success, American Economic Review, 107(9): 2855–2875.
- Crisanti, A., Earhart, J., Rosenbaum, M., Tinney, M. & Duhigg, D. Beyond crisis intervention team (CIT) classroom training: Videoconference continuing education for law enforcement. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 62, 104–110.
- Ismail, S.S., & Abdulla, S.A. (2019). Virtual flipped classroom: new teaching model to grant the learners knowledge and motivation. Journal of Technology and Science Education, 9(2), 168-183.
- Kessler, G. (2016). What can we learn from our colleagues? A Framework for Virtual Classroom Training. Online Learning Consortium.
- Martin, J. (2019). Building Relationships and Increasing Engagement in the Virtual Classroom: Practical Tools for the Online Instructor. Journal of Educators Online, v16 n1.
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Hi Ann,
I do not have a list like that. I know Cindy Huggett has been teaching how to do virtual training for many years. Why don’t you see if she can help you or if she can point you to someone else.
Connie
Thanks for putting this list together. Do you happen to have a resource list of small/regional training companies that provide live training virtually to organizations on general topics such as communication, project management and similar?
Thanks!
Thank you so much. These are wonderful resources. So helpful!
Hi Greg,
I’m sorry I do not. Like most things, it depends on your needs. I’m sure you can identify the functionality in the most well-known webinar platforms (such as, whiteboard, groups, etc.) and also identify the functionality you need and find the best match. There’s also pricing and support to add into the mix. The big ones seem to be WebEx, Zoom and GoToWebinar and then there are a lot of smaller companies, like WebinarJam. I know there are reviews out there. Good luck!
Connie
This curated list of resources is wonderful, Connie. Thank you. I’ve shared it widely.
Do you know of any credible rating & reviews of best webinar software/SAAS (for training)?
I’ll check it out. Thanks.
Thank you for this list Connie! This would really help educators get the headstart they need. You might want to add this too https://alldigitalschool.com/, this might help your audience too! Stay safe and healthy!
Thanks, Connie! Superb list. Really useful.
Hi Daniel,
I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you mean as it relates to this. Please help me understand.
Connie
Great list for anyone who is keen on taking their training online, at the moment. Thanks Connie!!
Could you also share some resources for aspiring Learning Consultants (corporate) or Educational Consultants here.
Thanks for the kind words, Rick. I’m glad you found this valuable.
Animated videos do seem to get people’s attention. Like any other medium, use when it will help people reach the performance goals. Of course, there are so many benefits to visuals, such as making explanations concrete, allowing for metaphors, and maintaining attention. The downside is animations may go by too quickly for some learners. So, users need to be able to control the animations. And to avoid split attention, that is, if there is a lot of reading involved, learners will have to split attention between the reading and the animation. In that case, a voiceover with animation is best. What animated video tools do you like, Ira?
Nice one, Connie. Much appreciated. Great list.
Thanks for the kind words.
Connie, you are the best! Thanks for posting this and really enjoyed your webcast with Brent & Chris.
Hi Connie – as a facilitator who also designs my own online courses, I have found video, particularly animated videos, really engage. Your thoughts?