Online Training.
What is Online Training?
Online training or virtual training includes dissemination of information between an instructor and a student, participant, or employee via the Internet. Online training makes use of presentation tools such as online conferencing or webinar software, email, collaboration tools, whiteboards and other Internet based groupware applications to assist with the dissemination of information.
Who Can Benefit From Online Training?
Online training is helpful when individuals are in separate or remote locations and it is not feasible to travel because of time, budget, or familial connections.
Online training can be used by small or large businesses and educational institutions who want to conserve money while retaining the best talent, and would rather invest in such business software solutions than spend the money on traveling. Because of the vast number of individuals that the Internet can reach, businesses have access to more individuals than ever.
What Are The Advantages of Online Training?
Companies may choose to train their sales force, marketers, customer service or other employees via online training to save on time and travel expenses. Online training may also be utilized by Universities that want to appeal to the working professional who may need continuing education courses. The working professional may not want to relocate because of familial ties or financial constraints. Therefore, training online would be more cost-effective. For all involved, distance learning software is readily available to facilitate the online training process, and to reduce costs further, free online education programs such as free web conferencing has been heavily utilized by online trainers and teachers.
How Does Online Training Work?
Typically, in an online training scenario, web conferencing software, whiteboards or teleconferencing are used to communicate information from an instructor to a participant. Most of the instruction may be text based through the use of slides, PDF files, and html files. However, in some instances, a webcast is used to add a human element to the instruction.
To learn via online training both parties (instructor and participant) must have access to the Internet. The participant is typically given a login and a password to access the web conference. Once the participant is connected to the conference, the participant can listen to the instructor while viewing the instructor’s computer screen live, and then respond and ask questions virtually when the instructor permits. If there are any assignments associated with the online training session they can typically be emailed, shared via file sharing, or via whiteboard collaboration software. Any special tutoring or one-on-one instruction can be accomplished via remote support software features, where the instructor is allowed to control the student’s actions in real-time and assist the student through the learning process. This is also ideal for students to work together independently yet interactively.