Zoom - the 'new normal' for learning. Or is it?

Online learning using Zoom (or similar) for school children has taken quite a beating over the last 16 months or so. The general consensus seems to be it’s a sub-optimal experience and no substitute for children being back in the classroom.

What hasn’t received much attention is how this shift has been received in the world of work. What do employees think about the use of Zoom, Teams (or other available platforms) to deliver live training events, while people are working from home?

Pre-pandemic, almost no-on was interested in what is often referred to as virtual classroom training. I work with training and HR professionals from all sectors, here in the UK. Before last March, the focus of my work with these folks was almost always one of three things:

• helping them get started with designing e-learning
• making their e-learning design more effective, practice-focused and interactive than previously, or
• moving their classroom training away from ‘slides and talk’ to a more practice-focused, interactive approach.

Any mention of the virtual classroom usually resulted in a puzzled look appearing on people’s faces (‘the what classroom?’) or the glazing over of eyes. Contrast that with today, when (driven by circumstances) if you want a live training event, virtual classroom delivery is largely the only game in town. 

Which begs the question, will it remain that way? The long-time advocates of virtual classroom training (and they’ve been around for years) have always touted its financial benefits. Quick and easy to deploy (from a technical perspective); reduced travel time and costs for both trainers and attendees; and, consequently, less time away from the workplace.

Not hard to see why people holding the purse strings love it. But what about the poor old learners? Are they loving it, now they’ve had no option but to engage with it as the ‘new normal’ for delivering live learning?

At the moment, it’s hard to tell. Because of the difficult time we’ve all been through, I think people have been much more forgiving of a less than perfect learning event. After all, everyone’s been adjusting and finding their way through.

But historically, adult learners have not been very tolerant of a bad learning experience – particularly where technology is involved. I’m thinking, of course, of e-learning.

If you are a training or HR professional you will almost certainly have been on the receiving end of learner discontent with e-learning, at some point in your career. If you have been required to take a piece of e-learning as an employee, chances are it won’t have been the highlight of your working life.

So, what to expect for the future of virtual classroom training? I think it’s almost certainly going to play a much bigger part in the mix of how learning might be delivered but I’m not convinced it will become the ‘new normal’ for live learning events. I think it’s more likely that over time, we will shift back to face-to-face delivery for a live event. 

Done well, virtual classroom training can provide a pretty good alternative to face-to-face delivery but in my view, there’s no substitute for the positive dynamic that’s achieved when you get a group of engaged, enthusiastic adults together in a room, with a clear learning goal in mind.

What about you? Have you attended or delivered any virtual classroom events via Zoom, Teams (or any other delivery platform) over the last 16 months? If yes, what was your experience? Would you be happy to see this become the default for live learning events or would you prefer a live face-to-face event?