Web Conferencing As a Training Strategy? the Webinar As Part of a Blended Learning Strategy

TECHNOLOGY

Web Conferencing as a Training Strategy? The Webinar as Part of a Blended Learning Strategy

by Ed Beasley

nowledge has a “half-life.” is one of delivering the targeted person at the right time. And how You probably haven’t heard training to the right person and at about place? Kthat term since high school the right time (close enough to Well, that’s one of the physics, but like radioactivity, product launch) so that the soft- strengths of Web conferencing. something learned decreases by ware users don’t forget what they The audience can be anywhere. If half (barring reinforcement) after a learned before they actually use you’ve got access to a PC and a certain period of time. I personally the product. Training given too phone line—you’re in. Many of learned this years ago when early is not retained. Training the Web conferencing softwares attempting to learn DOS (disk must be given just-in-time (JIT). use voice over IP (Internet operating system) com- Protocol) so you can drop the mands. I would sign up for “Webinar” is a combination of the phone line and substitute a a DOS course, take it, not microphone on your PC. words “web” and “seminar.” The use the commands, and The use of webinars then take the course again. technology to accomplish this has throughout all industry is It was a continuous failure been around for more than a few somewhat broader than just for training and seminars. loop: learn, forget, relearn, years, and now it seems to be and so on. Thank heaven Webinars are also used for for Windows OS. finally catching on! Some growth internal meetings and exter- I was reminded of the estimates are as high as 33% annual nal sales presentations. The ephemeral nature of knowl- growth through 2009*. tool is also employed for edge at a recent presenta- application support in cus- tion by AFS. I talked with *Frost & Sullivan Research Report tomer service. the Managing Director, Web conferencing is Irene Blake, and the part of the “blended” move- Training Director, Mike Alegado. This JIT nomenclature may ment in training theory. Simply AFS spoke of the challenge of conjure up ghosts of TQM (Total stated, it means that approaching training its clients on the Level Quality Management) training, students from more than one III loan system and AFSxpress but certainly the principle is still direction is a good thing. Using origination software. valid. Information and knowledge several options to break up the In a nutshell, AFS’s challenge need to be targeted to the right training format tends to add vari-

65 Web Conferencing

Figure 1 STRATEGIC LEARNING Blended Options

Classroom Audio/ Round Tables eLearning Audioconferences Face-to-Face Videotapes

CD-ROMs/ Web: Multimedia Internet (Stand-alone) Intranet

Knowledge Bulletin Boards/ On-Line LMS/LCMS Webinar Management Self-Study Discussion Forums Best Practices

Industry Info

Interactive Tools Diagnostic Courseware Assessment Human “Gap” Resources Measurement

Remediation

ety and hopefully interest. Web Figure 2 conferencing can be part of a com- Webinar Features Benefit prehensive eDelivery strategy or it can be done one-off! All participants need not have the application installed on Application sharing So where does the “webinar” their PCs fit in the overall scheme of train- Multiple presenters Variety of expertise, from any location. ing tools, and what are its primary strengths and best practices? Automatic invitations Reduces administrative overhead. Figure 1 depicts the strategic slot Interactive white- Import and explanation "on the fly" among more than one held by webinars. boards participant. If we return to the concept of information aging, the benefits of Polling Instant feedback, computation, and display. Web conferencing become obvi- Chats Sidebar conversations, workgroups. ous solutions for the usual round of training impediments: dis- Recording facility Capture the session, play back on demand. persed audiences, precious training time, travel restrictions, ROI, Archive facility Replay weeks or months later. etc. Figure 2 examines some of Calendaring to Outlook Book the session to the individual's PC. the features and benefits of Web conferencing. Audio (voice over IP) Absence of phone conference costs.

Breakout capability Group work.

66 The RMA Journal September 2003 Web Conferencing

Summary Web conferencing’s strong travel and time out of the office. Web conferencing cannot be points are collaboration, informa- For quick distribution of succinct used as a vehicle to offer a compa- tion sharing, and short time to information, Web conferencing is ny’s entire menu of training. It is market. The more geographically an ideal technology. ❐ only one of the many useful tools dispersed the audience, the more Beasley can be reached at in the blended options strategy. Web conferencing can save on [email protected]. WEBINAR SNAPSHOT David B. Herter, Director of Credit & Capital Markets Training, FleetBoston Financial Web conferencing system: WebEx. How selected: MCI, Fleet's telecom vendor, offered WebEx to anyone in the bank who wanted it. Web conferencing pilot? Yes. Small pilots were conducted within the learning and delivery community before delivering to the credit audience. Scope of use: Fleet needed to train the staff on new due diligence policies. The audience numbered 1,600. For those who couldn't attend the three-hour face-to-face instruction, an hour and a half Web conference was conducted. Lessons learned: To get real learning, the Web conference must engage the participant. Use of the "polling" function is a good way to engage participants and keep the presentation interactive. For instructors new to webinars, it is important to have a "producer" manage the technology and track online questions. Future plans: Web conferencing is a good vehicle for certain segments of training. Good for information sharing and dissem- ination, less so for teaching a skill. Best practices: Quick information to geographically dispersed venues. Lessons Learned/Best Practices • Costs: There is both good news and bad news in the costing of Web conferencing. The bad news is that it's not cheap. The good news is that a company need not marry the vendor. Many vendors are amenable to contracts as short as three- months. The other positive is that a well-planned implementation can reap the rewards of amortizing costs over more fre- quent usage and/or more numbers of people per seminar. For groups who may routinely communicate collaboratively at a distance, Web conferencing software can be an ideal format. • Learning curve and administrative overhead: Any recipe mixing the two ingredients of the "Web" and "training" must be measured carefully. If someone can misread, misstate, or misinterpret the process, it will happen! Leave as little to chance as possible and try to identify any negative factors early on in the process. By zero hour of the live conference, people assume they'll be able to log on and without complexity. When they can't get access, can't view all the materials, or can't communicate within their groups, frustration manifests itself quickly. Any occasion where people are downloading and configuring files to their PC can go astray. Having clear guidelines, accessible alternatives, and responsive tech support can go a long way toward easing the pain. Obviously, this takes administrative resources. Once people are logged on, the software learning curve is shallow. • Webinars must be engaging as well as informative: Although Webinars are not quite infotainment, the presenter must be somewhat animated and interesting. You're dealing in fewer dimensions than face-to-face instruction. There are fewer hooks into the audience to hold attention. Warm, upbeat, active, and peer-to-peer will best pedagogic, monologue, and pedantic. • Pacing the presentation: Too much of a good thing is actually a bad thing. Webinars allow the use of participant polls, animations, PowerPoint's, etc. These should all combine to form a cohesive, engaging, interactive performance. • Webinars—no solo flight! If you're delivering the training, you'll need an event producer/manager to help you. This is the person who takes care of the details before, during, and after the show. Attempting to accomplish trainer/support roles, particularly during the "live" session, can result in disaster. • Time limits: Ben Franklin used to lament that fish and visitors stink after three days. The same holds true for Web conferencing. Keep the session to one or one and a half hours maximum. • Preparation of materials: Unlike audioconferences, which you can approach with a written outline only, Web conferencing demands rigorous preparation. You're appealing not only on the auditory but also the visual sense. Graphics should add value to the presentation. • Train-the-trainer: Both the trainer and producer/host should do a dry run of the session as a rehearsal.