If you are looking to deploy a behavioural learning program today, it is very likely to be a virtual or hybrid program. While many people feel that virtual learning programs on behavioural topics do not have the same intensity and effectiveness as physical classroom-based programs, it may not necessarily be so.
However, designing an engaging virtual program may require you to think beyond your current LMS templates and design approaches to adopt a wider canvas. Here are some ideas on how to make the design of your virtual programs more engaging and effective.
Establish Relevance
Participants often come to a Program without a clear sense of what the Program will cover, why have they been nominated and how will attending the Program help them with their day-to-day jobs. Answering these questions upfront allows you to engage participants more effectively. Putting up an orientation video covering these topics can be a great way to achieve this.
Remember the most important question to answer is “What is in it for me?”
Embed opportunities to practice
New behavioural skills are often far more difficult to learn than technical skills. Try and provide opportunities to your participants to practice these skills. Set up role play sessions or embed In-basket or group interaction sessions to allow participants to practice these skills with a facilitator or a fellow participant.
Provide Structured Feedback
In case of behavioural skills, participants are often unaware that their behaviour is experienced in a certain way by others. Wherever relevant, organize for them to receive feedback from colleagues through 180 or 360 surveys. You can also provide personalized feedback during or after practice sessions.
Allow Learners to Personalize the Journey
Each learner has a different preference on how they want to get on with the learning journey. Some want to methodically go through the content in the sequence presented while others want to start with a particular topic of interest. Some want to spend 15 minutes every day on the program while others would like to finish everything in one long 3-hr dash. Try and configure your learning journey to allow learners to exercise their preference in terms of how they access and complete the journey.
Create Opportunities for Social Collaboration
Self-paced journeys need not be lonely journeys. Your virtual learning programs, especially on behavioural topics, should be designed to provide some human interaction for the participant. Such interactions can be a simple “liking” and “commenting” on posts by other participants to interactive practice sessions to more complex small assignments to be completed in groups.
Designing an online course on a behavioural topic is in itself a difficult process. Applying the ideas outlined above to your learning program will certainly require you to put in additional effort in both design and delivery of the Program. It may also require you to look beyond your current LMS and explore a platform like Elemetrik to deliver an outstanding journey-like program experience to your participants.
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