How to create the right environment for virtual learning
The virtual work environment is tough. It’s a daily uphill battle trying to keep momentum while ensuring teams are motivated, engaged and doing what they need to do. And while there are many tools, techniques and strategies you can use to keep your team participation high in remote meetings, there’s a whole other area you need to consider: virtual learning.
Training and development of your staff is necessary (especially given it’s a key tool in keeping engagement and motivation high), and it can’t just stop because you can’t be in the same room. Virtual classrooms are the new norm, so it’s important you adapt as a leader and trainer to learn the key steps in ensuring you’re delivering useful and adequate information, but that it’s actually being retained.
Zoom fatigue is very real, and very detrimental to the whole process of active learning. With multiple daily work calls done through a screen with an inevitable time-lag and an inability to read those face-to-face social cues that can subtly increase participation, retention and motivation, it’s essential to apply some tools and techniques to counter-act the communication barriers.
Here are a few tips on how to keep the energy levels up in your virtual classroom, and what to do to create an environment for better learning and information retention.
1. Focus on the task at hand
There is huge temptation in multi-tasking when on a virtual call. You feel like you can tune into what’s going, get through a few emails, catch up on your texts, even turn off the video to go and make lunch. The problem with multi-taking is that you’re not actually fully absorbing what’s being said on the screen. You’re only half-listening. And while that may not seem like a huge deal, it is when learning new information and training for progression in your job is at stake.
Communicate to your team that what’s happening in the virtual lesson is the only thing they need to focus on. Tell them to put their phones away, shut down any other applications and to simply be present in the classroom.
2. Look at the camera, not at their faces
When we talk to someone face-to-face, we show them we’re engaged with that they’re saying by looking at them in the eyes. And so it’s only natural that we do the same on a virtual call – we look at people’s faces and eyes. The trouble with this is that you’re not actually making eye contact. To encourage a sense of connection in your communication, make sure you’re actually looking at the camera lens. It will feel weird and possibly rude, but the person (or people) on the other end of the screen will feel that you are making eye contact and a social connection talking directly to them, which can help improve engagement with what you’re saying and teaching.
3. Don’t forget your framing
Think no one cares about how you present and that it’s all about what you’re saying? Whether or not your students realise it, how you present yourself as a teacher actually makes a difference in how they learn. Aim to have your head, neck and shoulders in the screen (not just your head), and don’t have your screen sitting too low, or point up your nose. Remember, you want your camera lens eye level. You may need to adjust your desk and chair for this, or if working on a laptop, use a small box underneath to prop your computer up.
It’s also a good idea to ensure you’re sitting in a well-lit room, and not against a window as your background, as this will make you look dark and shadowed. Rather turn around and have the light from window fall on you.
4. Take regular breaks
Influential learning science researcher John Sweller has focussed a lot on information retention and how to ensure that students aren’t overloaded with too much at once. His latest research looks at how the human brain may need regular breaks to ensure that we’re processing information correctly.
“It’s beginning to look like with working memory, if you’ve been concentrating on something for a long period of time without a rest, you would have some difficulty keeping on going,” he said to Edsurge. So if you try to time your training sessions for too long, your working memory and ability to process and retain the information becomes worse.
However, Sweller suggests that if you take regular breaks from mentally-challening tasks, working memory can recover and you can process more. While he still in early stages of his research for this theory, he recommends working for 20 to 30 minutes, then taking a five minute break to refresh the brain and give it a chance to absorb more information.
When planning your training sessions, aim for shorter sessions and regular breaks – while trying to cram it all in and get it over and done with may be tempting, this will benefit everyone more in the long run.
Speak to us at Play4Business for more information and practical examples in action. Our training is in a blended format: we combine virtual classes and self paced learning for team leaders. And what’s more we provide you with a toolkit of easy to use activities including our famous ‘what the duck’ set of techniques. These are built for team leaders so that they maintain engagement in their teams – during every team meeting, stand-up session, morning ‘buzz’ session or any time your team gets together.
