The pandemic caused a lot of reactive change in terms of learning delivery, but when pandemic measures are lifted, further changes will occur, and it will not just be a case of reverting to pre-pandemic practices. How will you deal with the impending changes?

Proactive Measures to Deliver Learning Tomorrow

The world has experienced substantial changes in how we have lived our lives throughout 2020/2021. Most of us have spent far more time indoors. Many of us have also spent significantly more time away from friends, family, and coworkers. We have been living a more solitary existence overall.

Remote working techniques and collaborative technologies have been used by organizations to assist employees in these scenarios. There has been a significant surge in video calls, which have replaced face-to-face meetings and even many phone calls. Water cooler and cross-desk interactions have given way to chats via messenger systems. Everyone just about kept up when they were thrown into a new world of remote work.

1. Making Plans for Post-Pandemic Learning Delivery

Employees (or consumers) now have different expectations than they did two years ago. If things continue to improve, they will be different in a year. We transitioned from local to remote working and are now returning to local work. However, it is expected that we will not return to our prior operating paradigm. Instead, a hybrid model will be used.

Many individuals believe that these will be people who work both locally and remotely. However, it is more likely to be nuanced than that. Some will remain remote, while others will return to their local offices. Others will divide their time according to a set timetable, while others will do it on an as-needed basis.

For some time, we have been able to use blended learning delivery in eLearning. These are often classified into three types:

• Non-interactive content: such as video, music, graphics, and text.
• Synchronous interactive: such as in-person or virtual classrooms/one-on-ones
• Asynchronous interactive content, such as discussion forums

This is when I notice a fresh transformation taking place. In hybrid working, there may no longer be a guarantee of either local or distant presence. It might be both simultaneously, with some people receiving training in person and others receiving it online.

While this split-attention environment may appear overwhelming at first, there are things we can do to make it more manageable. The objective is to bring together a common experience of the best points.

2. The Pandemic And Learning

Training activities have to be shifted to online delivery almost immediately after the pandemic began. While many organizations have some digital content available, not all required was in an acceptable format.

Instructors who had never offered training outside of a face-to-face classroom setting were forced to learn how to use new video conferencing capabilities. Learning development teams were required to create new content to assist employees in learning about topics such as IT security for remote working, how to use the company’s online collaboration tools, and so on.

It largely worked, but for the vast majority of learning professionals in these situations, it was an extremely stressful time of reacting fast to urgent needs and changes. They were able to gain the abilities and resources needed to function in this distant manner over time.

In addition to increased video-based instruction, microlearning has grown in popularity. Breaking down learning into smaller bits helps to solve today’s workforce’s attention difficulties. It simplifies the delivery of on-demand training. It also enables learners suffering from digital overloads, such as “Zoom fatigue,” to consume and absorb more knowledge than they would in a single long sitting.

However, the world is changing, and as the worldwide pandemic situation gradually improves, organizations have begun to work on reforms to accommodate what comes next. But what does this signify for instructional designers?

3. Making Use of Digital Tools in the Physical Classroom

The second step in connecting the virtual and physical classrooms is to ensure that the benefits of a digital classroom can be carried into the real classroom. The key to this is to establish a configuration that allows the instructor to access the same digital tools in both the real and virtual spaces. This can sometimes be accomplished adequately by sitting at a computer. Other times, added technology, notably interactive boards, makes a difference in freehand sketching and writing exercises.

Many teachers will already have access to interactive whiteboards. For people who do not have such equipment or who need to be more mobile for distribution, relatively inexpensive technology is available. There is equipment available that, when combined with a projector or screen, can transform it into an interactive tool.

4. Bringing Physical and Virtual Classrooms Together

First and foremost, evaluate how you can integrate remote learners into the real classroom. All video conferencing software nowadays allows you to display people’s videos or avatars on screen. Thus you should have a screen in the classroom to do so. This configuration will enable the people in the classroom and the instructor to communicate with them.

Next, cameras, microphones, and speakers should be installed in the classroom to allow the teacher to broadcast what they want the distant learners to see and hear in terms of material, as well as to see, hear, and participate with the in-classroom learners. In terms of efficacy, learning as a shared experience should never be underestimated.

There are numerous possibilities for changing audio/visual equipment. The technology to support this is well established and reliable, with numerous microphones such as array microphones and wireless microphones, as well as an even wider selection of compatible video cameras.

It may even be preferable to have numerous instructors on hand at the beginning of the transition and throughout lengthier sessions. While one instructor is teaching, the other can assist by switching cameras, keeping online learners connected, and so on. With practice, a single instructor can surely accomplish this, but keep in mind that with two instructors, you may be able to conduct a course with a bigger student population anyhow, so this is not always an added overhead.

Conclusion

The COVID-19 epidemic has had a huge impact on society and industry, but like every struggle, it has pushed us forward and taught us many things. We must now turn our attention to the future. We must find a method to continue putting what we have learned into practice while also considering the problems and opportunities that this brings.

The coming months will bring new possibilities to apply what we’ve learned from the pandemic in novel and exciting ways. We responded reactively during the outset of the epidemic but now is your chance to adopt a more proactive approach to delivering learning in your business and possibly beyond.