Remote trainings during the pandemic – how to make them successful?

In recent months online courses have dominated the training market. The new formula brings a lot of possibilities, but also can be challenging. The projects carried out by Sii Training Practice show that thanks to the best practices and proper preparation, remote trainings can not only perfectly replace stationary ones, but bring additional value both to organizers and participants.

Quality concerns on online courses As the pandemic made organizing face to face meetings nearly impossible, online courses completely dominated the training market. From March 2020, trainings organized by Sii Training Practice have also changed their formula, which caused concerns of some of the company’s clients. The most frequently mentioned worries were:

• lower quality of remote courses,
• difficulties in communication between the trainer and students,
• problems with understanding the material,
• technological barriers.

– All these doubts turned out to be completely unjustified – says Rafał Kwatek, Offering Leader and Trainer at Sii Polska. – At Sii Poland, we have an integrated training quality management system, confirmed by the ISO9001 certificate, which is based on continuous monitoring of trainers’ work and the satisfaction of course participants. The statistics based on questionnaires filled in by our students during the period when we conducted remote training are not different from those from previous years and are constantly at a high level. The average rating of Sii’s training in this period is 4.66/5, and the trainer’s 4.72/5  – he adds.

So, what do we need to organize a good online training that will meet the expectations of participants?

Reliable tools

An intuitive and easy-to-use tool that will allow students and trainers to communicate and work efficiently is essential. That is why online trainings at Sii Poland are organized on Microsoft Teams.  Consequently, the participants not only see and hear the trainer, but can also chat, share documents, cooperate in subgroups in separate virtual spaces or observe a virtual board that replaces a classic flipchart.

– The main advantages of MS Teams are intuitiveness, versatility, and the fact that users of our training courses can use it for free. It is a great tool for communication and cooperation, which we know very well, because we use it at Sii every day – says Rafał Kwatek.

However, if necessary, clients can use their tools and environments for dedicated, closed trainings. Before the trainings Sii experts always properly test these solutions to avoid technical problems.

The best practices in conducting trainings

An important part of any online training is ensuring good contact between the trainer and students. It cannot be done without the use of cameras.

– Each of our trainers conducts training with the camera turned on so that participants can better understand the didactic content. We recommend that all participants have the opportunity to use their cameras. This is not a necessary condition, but it improves communication during the training – says Rafał Kwatek.

It is also extremely important to adjust the duration of the training to the new formula. Keeping participants focused for a few hours is very difficult, therefore a well-planned and conducted training should contain intertwining lecture parts, exercises, and activating tasks.

Remote trainings in practice

The projects carried out by Sii Training Practice show that in many cases the remote form of training can be an advantage.

For one of the clients from the automotive industry, Sii experts organized a series of accredited training courses on ITIL® good practices, conducted in English, French, Swedish, and Polish. Since the trainings were remote, people working on different continents could take part in them. In total, 104 people from 13 countries were trained in just one month. The remote form of training allowed the client to save funds that would have to be spent on travel and accommodation. Another several hundred people are yet to be trained in the coming months.

For the international network of petrol stations, the experts from Sii Training Practice have prepared a series of interactive trainings for the e-learning platform. The courses aim to facilitate the adoption of the new system implemented in the organization. The trainings were addressed to employees and company managers from the United States, France, and Poland. As a result, the client received a convenient, scalable tool allowing for standardized transfer of knowledge.

If you want to learn more about our trainings, visit our website.