As a training manager, you build and renew your training catalog to support your various learner populations in developing new skills. The major challenge of this mission is to build an effective training system, i.e. one that engages learners and effectively enables them to enhance their skills. To do this, you need to think about the different pillars of training: 

• Your training format: virtual classroom, classroom session, blended learning
• The duration of your training: should it last 2 hours, half a day or a full day?
• Learning modality: should learners train alone or in groups?
• The content of your training course, tailored to your target audience
• The tool for measuring the effectiveness of your training program during learner follow-up

If we zoom in on distance learning, this is a format in its own right which has often been seen as the poor relation of training, but whose advantages are now recognized, particularly in terms of duration and measurability.

1. Distance learning vs. face-to-face training: a false debate for training managers?

COVID has put the spotlight on distance learning, which for over a year and a half was the only possible format for continuing to train learners. These distance learning courses appear to be a default choice for want of anything better. The return of face-to-face training then led to a debate on distance versus face-to-face training. 

• Does distance learning really create links?
• Aren't participants more focused during face-to-face training than during distance learning?
• Aren't face-to-face training sessions more effective at engaging participants?

The distance versus face-to-face debate has distracted us from the real issue, which is "what kind of learning experience do I want to create?

Rather than asking the question of distance learning versus face-to-face training, we now need to ask the question of group learning versus learning alone.

The idea that distance learning is the same as learning alone is partly due to its assimilation into the Moocs format. With completion rates approaching 5%, there's no denying that the flexibility of "self-paced learning" actually leads to drop-outs.

Fortunately, distance learning is more than just a solitary approach. 

Proof of this is the rise of cohort-based learning as a key component of successful distance learning courses. These are training programs that you follow from start to finish with a group of peers, such as AltMBA, Maven or OnDeck, which are increasingly popular with individuals and companies alike, and which put the learning experience back at the heart of the debate.

2. The different types of distance learning

There are different types of distance learning courses on offer, depending on a number of different teaching methods:

• Type of training content: Is it theoretical or practical? Is it presented in the form of concepts or case studies? In what format is the content presented: written? video? Audio? 
• Number of learners: How many learners can consult the same content at a given time?
• The learner's position: Does the learner have the possibility of doing other activities at the same time as training, or is his or her attention 100% dedicated to this training moment?
• Memory required: Depending on the format, what memory is required of the learner at the time of training? 
• Type of learning: Does the learner learn alone or in a group? Is learning active or passive? 
• The level of learning: Does the training aim to provide a targeted level of learning or, on the contrary, a very macro level of learning of a subject?

To help you find your way around, here is a comparative table of the various existing face-to-face and distance learning formats, taking into account the 6 teaching methods mentioned above:
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Each type of training has its advantages and disadvantages, which is why we are now seeing a majority of blended training courses, i.e. combining different types of format (face-to-face, distance learning) and different learning methods (individual or group).

Choosing the right teaching methods for your training course is a key factor in its success.

3. The benefits of cohort-based distance learning

The advantage of distance learning, whether on your own or in a group, is that learners can take continuous training throughout their lives: 

• If it's a personal initiative, it can be carried out with little or no scheduling constraints, in the evenings or at weekends, or during short periods of the day.
• If it is the result of a company initiative, then the financial and logistical cost of the training enables us to create a year-round training program that is much denser than if it were purely face-to-face. Renting a training room, blocking 1 or more full days in the diaries of dozens of employees, covering the travel costs of employees who are not on site (abroad or away from head office)... these are all logistical and financial costs that force training managers to limit the volume of training courses. These challenges are alleviated by distance learning, which enables you to train your learners on an ongoing basis.

Let's take a closer look at cohort-based distance learning, which uses group dynamics to enhance learning. Managers are increasingly attracted to cohort-based learning. This is an underlying trend that is definitively breaking the distance = solitary association, and is becoming a success factor for many companies. In the U.S., for example, alt-MBA trains thousands of leaders from all over the world via its intensive virtual classroom program. Furthermore, if the training scheme is intra-company, it has the merit of enabling learners to meet and exchange with peers with whom they are not accustomed to interacting, as they would be in another country/region or city, or working in another department. Conversely, if the training course is deployed on an inter-company basis, it enables learners to open up to other working practices that could inspire them within your company.

At NUMA, too, we see three major benefits of the "cohort effect" on the learning experience: 

• It acts as a social constraint, with each participant having a rhythm imposed by the community of learners.
• It implies that most of the training is carried out synchronously, and encourages the trainer to take advantage of group dynamics by multiplying the learning modalities: practical exercises in sub-groups, Q&A time, reflection in plenary sessions.
• It puts active participation at the heart of the process, and recreates a sense of urgency: if you don't participate, pick up the phone or watch a recording offline, you're missing out on a lot of the value.

That's why we use this approach in our virtual classes, which all share 4 key pedagogical modalities that Claudio Vandi presents in this video.
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4. How to create engaging distance learning courses

To create an engaging distance learning course that really gets participants on board, it's key to ask yourself these 3 questions: 

• What is the optimum length of your training course to maintain the attention of your participants and match the operational reality of your learners? 
• What should be the ratio of top-down information versus interaction in plenary sessions or small groups? 
• How many participants should be included in a "live" distance learning session so that everyone feels involved and concerned?

Distance learning duration

Two hours of remote training are equivalent to one day of face-to-face training. 

Imposing two hours of distance learning on your learners can be seen as a promise of quality ("we're going to train you super-efficiently, concentrating on the essentials") or sound like a threat, announcing an overdose of soporific content ("we'll try to give you as much information as possible in a short space of time"). 

Two hours of training is long enough to cover a subject with precision, but short enough to keep a steady pace. To make the choice of a short two-hour distance learning format meaningful and fulfill the promise of quality, it's key to carefully calibrate the ratio of top-down information versus interaction, to avoid a soporific effect. 

Sequencing your distance learning course

As far as the agenda is concerned, the simple sequencing of "theory then practice" doesn't work. What works is alternating between engaging lecture styles and practical sequences, plenary moments and sub-group moments.

The "virtual rooms" functionality offered by leading videoconferencing tools can make online courses more interactive and engaging than traditional ones. Forget time spent organizing groups, concentration lost due to neighboring tables talking too loudly, plans sabotaged by "I'll just have a coffee before we start again", online everything becomes instantaneous, you decide how long the sequences last and you can visit each group without moving.

Not everything has to be interactive, but if more than a quarter of the course consists of listening to you speak, it's best to record it as an elearning video or podcast. Teaching today also means knowing how to choose the right communication channel according to format and objective. Our recommendation is to target 25% "conference" sequences and 75% sub-group work to keep your participants captive during the two hours of distance learning. 

The number of participants in your distance learning course

After several trials, we at NUMA have found our golden number when it comes to distance learning participants.

Twelve people: this is a group small enough to involve everyone, but large enough to have lively exchanges and be able to have diversified sub-groups. 

Conclusion

While distance learning may have been perceived as a "default" training system, "for want of anything better", it is now seen as a training option that responds to a number of key issues for companies and their managers and/or employees: available time, prioritization of training content, and the ability to move around in an increasingly widespread "work from anywhere" context.

For better assimilation of skills, benefiting from the experience of peers and greater commitment on the part of participants, it would seem that the cohort-based virtual class modality ticks all the boxes. 

To find out more, discover NUMA's distance learning courses in the form of virtual classes for cohorts of 12 learners on our Workshop page.