The Myth Of Classroom Training

Is the end of the traditional classroom on the horizon?

There is a long and strongly held belief that classroom training is the pinnacle of all training delivery methods. Both L&D professionals and learners feel forced to accept the tradeoff to online or virtual versions of training to manage costs, increase attendance and convenience and allow for the collection of metrics. This view, however, overlooks the possibility that digital experiences might, in fact, be better learning experiences.  

If the training you are offering is for a ‘soft skill’ or leadership training, then the belief in the classroom as best is even more deeply ingrained. Earlier this year, at a tech training conference, as we assessed different training platforms, even tech frontrunners held the opinion that Emotional Intelligence training is best delivered in a classroom.

A tradition of classroom training
Classrooms are the predominant or only way we have been trained. From kindergarten to university we spend a large portion of our waking hours in class. Learning and Development professionals have also been trained in class to train in class. The classroom experience is the one in which we are most experienced and often most comfortable.

Exposure to poor digital experiences
We’ve all experienced them and some of us have even developed them. The learning and development industry is still learning how to create digital experiences and there are still lots of examples of training programs that are the standard classroom slide presentations put on a digital platform. This may be sufficient for compliance training, but it definitely doesn’t have the impact or learning that is required for soft skills or leadership training that requires interactivity, practice, and reflection.

The cost of moving to digital was out of reach
It’s not been easy or within most budgets to create great digital experiences. Moving to digital platforms has, in the past, required a large investment of money and other resources. Many of these platforms only offer a part of the required experience. This is changing rapidly. It has now become much easier and cheaper to build a pilot chatbot or test a VR program without entering into long, expensive projects.

We have held a ‘trainer’ mindset over an experience ‘mindset’
A digital transformation shifts the focus from single events, such as 2-day training, to learning experiences that take place over longer timeframes. To make this shift means that L&D departments must embrace new roles with new mindsets. In her book, The Expertise Economy, Kelly Palmer outlines the need for new roles such as learning experience designers, content curators, marketing, learning technologists/scientists and data analysts. The addition of these roles and skills complements the expertise around adult learning and training to build more robust and effective experiences.

Towards a remarkable digital learning experience
At The Institute for Health and Human Potential (IHHP), we have committed to digitally transforming our learning experience. After launching an updated live online facilitated program earlier this year we shattered some of these entrenched beliefs internally. Technology allowed us to actually create a more engaging learning experience. The participant feedback was resoundingly positive, much to the surprise of the participants themselves.  
We used technology to remove many of the classroom’s barriers such as geographical distribution, busy schedules, reduced learning budgets and restrictions on travel that participants faced in attending programs. This allowed individuals who did not previously have the time, money or ability to attend the travel to experience our content. 

As we ran our first few programs, we discovered that there was a remarkably high level of connection to both the facilitator and the other participants. We have recently added follow up sessions at the request of participants so they could reconnect - at practically no cost. 

Our next step was to add more dates so that individuals had more opportunity to attend the program based on their availability as opposed to how often their training department could schedule a trainer or reserve a classroom. 

We are now integrating more technology into the experience in the form of a chatbot, which will provide the opportunity for participants to continue to connect and practice their learning in the two months after the program. 

The result of building this digital experience is that we are quickly increasing the availability, affordability and convenience of our learning while maintaining exceptional participant satisfaction scores. Meanwhile, we are increasing our ability to build and test new digital tools that provide an added layer of sustained engagement and learning reinforcement. Finally, through this experience, our clients’ understanding of the power of digital learning is changing and they are beginning to consider how they can change their own approach to learning.