Time for Tea and a Wee.......

I find that scheduling breaks into the agenda for virtual training works well, attendees seem less distracted when they know they will have time to themselves in a little over an hour. For me the "tea and a wee" breaks present an opportunity to seek feedback and "tweak" content and delivery. 

Feedback is in abundance in a virtual environment, it comes in the form of facial expressions, gestures, inotation which conveys a variety of emotions (surprise, anger, wariness). We receive feedback of an interactive nature through non verbal responses, polls, show of hands, chat. 

We also receive feedback of an evaluative nature through gestures or facial expressions that indicate support, disagreement, doubt, or frustration. Discomfort comes from the absence of feedback, attendees have an expectation that the host will be present,consistent in participation, and provide encouragement. Hosts need exactly the same from attendees.

Frequent and consistent feedback in the on-line environment can stimulate active engagement and yet there is also the danger of making inference based on interpretation of verbal and non verbal cues. Often we are meeting attendees for the first time and have little reliable data. 

So, in the interests of gathering valid data to help me to adapt as I deliver I build a variety of activities that provide feedback loops into virtual training.

I set the expectation that feedback is a key part of the training and should be specific, and non-evaluative in the joining instructions, in the agenda, also at the beginning of the session. One place where is works well is just before the tea and wee breaks. 

I use a variety of methods to seek feedback and that depends on the group characteristics and dynamic. Sometimes I use interactive polls through Zeetings or Mentimeter, today I used an interactive PowerPoint activity with a group of 8 people and it worked really well. The feedback was that they appreciated the interactive nature of the activity as they clicked their chosen image to reveal a behaviour to which they responded by saying why they did or didn't feel that way. Of course this provided me with the feedback I needed to make any changes necessary.

Feedback is integral to the learning process its not a final or a summative judgment like evaluation it's an essential enabler of progress when it is given at a point where a person is able to make changes. How and when do you seek feedback in the virtual environment?