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.