How and when to use webinars in blended training with an LMS
Webinars have become parts of our lives during the last year, changing the way we do training, but often affecting training design very lightly: in this article we will try to frame webinars within a wider training strategy, understanding when and how to use them within blended programs thanks to the integration of LMS platforms.
THE SUCCESS OF WEBINARS
It is quite easy to understand why, among all the different forms and types of content available for eLearning, webinars have soon become the most popular and used: as we have already said in an old article, the reason behind their success is mostly related to their promptiness and similarity to in-class lessons.
The main issue in the quick rise of distance learning, in fact, has been with the lack of digital skills of many teachers, for whom digital tools were often an enemy. Prejudice towards technology, then, led many people to turn to the easiest and most friendly solution in the immediate future, counting on the fact that things would have turn back to the traditional in-class training very soon.
However, among all the things that 2020 has taught us, we can include without any doubt an irreversible change in training: if the past was totally face-to-face, the future we envision is blended, a mix of face-to-face and distance digital training.
WEBINARS IN BLENDED TRAINING
Within blended training, then, webinars play a crucial role: they allow, in fact, to recreate even from a distance the situation of involvement and the relationships typical of the classroom, avoiding the risk to loneliness you have with digital learning.
Keeping in mind all the tips to improve video lessons we talked about and which remain valid to increase their effectiveness, it is fundamental that in the new normal we are living webinars are included in a long-term training project.
Of course, just like SCORMs have their specific functionalities, in the same way you should include webinars in the process when they are needed, so not to waste learners’ time keeping them in front on the screen. In the perspective of optimization, in fact, it becomes crucial to reduce live lessons (even online ones), to allow training to be more adaptable to students and teachers’ working and personal life.
WHEN TO USE WEBINARS IN BLENDED PROGRAMS
Since they are a replacement for in-class lessons, webinars integrate into blended programs in all the occasions when a confrontation is required, as a moment of discussion or clarification about the topics studied in the self-paced learning part. In addition to that, they can also be useful to put into practice content learnt in theory, with practice exercises to be completed alone or in a group with the teacher’s guidance – once again exploiting the social aspect of this type of lessons.
On the contrary, it can be counterproductive to use webinars to present new information: in this case, in fact, put many students in the same class risk generating dissatisfaction, since content will be explained with methods and timing that will not be right for everyone. On the other hand, to devote face-to-face time to clarify doubts arisen during individual learning time allows to exploit social learning mechanisms and helps to create relationships withing the group.
WEBINARS AND BLENDED WITHIN LMS PLATFORMS
We have highlighted many times the role LMS platforms play to make a blended training project successful. Talking specifically about webinars, on the other side, people often use dedicated solutions, tools created for other purposes (mainly work meetings) and then converted into training tools.
When you understand the importance of instructional design, however, it becomes clear why it is crucial to include synchronous learning such as webinars in one platform: taking part in online live lessons becomes an integral part in a wider process, tracked and monitored by the teacher. The integration of digital tools becomes then the key to a planning integration, where one single blended training project – which includes self-paced learning and webinars – correspond to one single LMS platform.
By reason of this, when building Quiddis Join LMS platform we have decided to integrate BigBlueButton, a system for videoconference and webinars specifically designed for distance training: for our blended training, in fact, we consider essential to have a tool to host and record online live lessons. In order to keep the platform user-friendly, we have chosen BigBlueButton among all the existing applications, since it seems to be the most complete and effective solution.
Do you want to discover how BigBlueButton functionalities can help you to improve your webinars management? Write us to see a demo!
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