Lately the adjective “virtual” has become popular in thelearning community to describe an array of services, many of whichhave little to do with holograms, ill-defined structures, orinstant answers and a lot more to do with leveraging technology tostructure learning activities that simply join learners with anetwork of knowledge.

But when discussing the term “virtual,” the conversation oftengets lost in the fog of technology speak, operating systems,configurable interfaces and cool apps. The intent of this analysisis to define virtual learning, offer practical approaches todeliver training and provide a perspective on free, availableresources to facilitate continuous, virtual learning (VL).

As I looked for a good definition of VL, I found many; mostseemed overly complicated and complex. But as you siftthrough the various perspectives, a definition emerges based onidentifying a consistent set of operationalfeatures:

• Web-based access to a classroom or meeting.
• Shared materials including images, videos, documents andMicrosoft PowerPoint.
• Synchronous interaction via tweets, instant messaging, polling,and discussion boards.

Engagement is encouraged, as this is a collaborativeenvironment. Therefore if we integrate these thoughts into apractical explanation of virtual learning it might sound somethinglike “learning in a real-time, online classroom designed for activeparticipation and sharing of information.”

Although that definition seems broad, realize that virtuallearning, like a good recipe, is nuanced by the ingredients andpreparation process you employ—industry, audience, timing, topic,and the technology involved. Regardless of the mix of ingredientsand process used, the event delivers an individual learningexperience where you can get as much out of it as you choose to putinto it.

Another important feature is that because almost all virtuallearning can be recorded, it becomes the gift that can keep ongiving; recording a session greatly adds to virtual learning'sefficiency, productivity, and cost effectiveness. In fact, it'squite common to record the lecture portion and then marry that to alive chat session allowing the main talent like a an industry guru,rock star CEO or passionate customer to present once but reach manylater via recording. Rerunning the marquee talent's messagesupported by an active team of live, subject matter expertsdiscussing the presentation can create an impactful learningepisode.

VL Program Elements

Based on that definition, it is likely that you may have alreadymanaged, participated in or presented at a VL program. Putting a VLprogram into practice requires a bit of structure and generallyinvolves elements that are common to most businessenvironments:

• A program overview detailing a target audience, learningobjectives and intended outcome of the event.
• Investing in a technology platform such as Cisco WebEx, AdobeConnect, AT&T's Web Meeting Service, GoToMeeting, or MicrosoftLive Meeting that can deliver the classroom experience whileproviding engagement tools for document sharing, collaboration,chat and polling.
• A subject matter expert to assemble text, audio, or videocontent.
• A production plan or script that defines roles, such asdesignation of a presenter; a monitor who will observe chat andother interactive activities and prompt the moderator; and amoderator who acts as the host and is responsible for polling theaudience , asking them to share inputs, or who takes screencontrol.
• An assessment of the program to “rate the class” and possibly abrief exam to determine the effectiveness of knowledgetransfer.
• A marketing plan to promote the event and provide complete andcurrent information about the program's content and benefits.

The tools outlined above are familiar to most businessenvironments, and the process elements represent a practicalapproach to hosting almost any meeting, regardless of the subjectmatter. The goals are to educate, entertain and engage theaudience. A smooth-running production that conveys valuableinformation, offers two-way communication and is easily accessiblefrom remote locations represents the key ingredients to VL success.By following an established process and delivering a quality eventyou will do much in developing a brand and reputation for your VLprograms.

Removing Roadblocks

In an attempt to remove a financial challenge fromdecisions to use VL, recognize that there are freeoptions. Some of these online meeting services come withattendant client software installations, while others might requirea separate audio/telephone bridge and the bandwidth requirementsmay be a consequent challenge for your IT network. As specifiedabove, there are a number of services from major players such asAdobe and AT&T along with smaller players like anymeeting.comand vyew.com. Most offer a time- and/or user-limited freetrial while others more generously provide an ongoing free ride butonly for a limited number of seats.

All the meeting services provide the option to trial theirplatforms with most features enabled so you can determine whatworks best for your audience and your goals for a VL experience.Each system offers rules of engagement but, for the most part theyare quite similar and relatively intuitive, so moving from oneenvironment to the next is may not be a dramatic shift in processor experience. All systems encourage collaboration, contentsharing and a private workspace. As a practical approach,organizing a test session or two before producing a larger liveevent is encouraged as the troubleshooting is left to you as thehost – read that as you take on the added role of techsupport. So practice can make perfect or at least be in closeproximity.

Moving from traditional meetings or conference calls toVL is a leap for both the moderator and learner.

Encouraging participation starts with establishing the savingsand benefits in cost and time. Those are the obvious benefits butthere's so much more. The environment levels the playing field soit can better address the disruptive participant who mightsuccessfully hijack a live meeting by interruption, body languageor topic shifting. The VL platform provides the moderator theadvantage of control with tools like “view-only, protocol with“hand-raising” and forced communal activities like polls. Thebottom line is that VL creates a platform for cross-classroomparticipation. Those attendees that are slightly more techsavvy may have an upper hand in capabilities of sharing and canlend support to a fellow student a bit overwhelmed by thetechnology, or even assist the presenter who has encountered atechnical snag, so learning the system can become a true groupsharing activity.

Don't forget to make this VL house a home.

Make the experience an inviting, memorable and unique learningexperience. The goal is not to displace traditional methodsbut to validate VL as a viable option for delivery. To buildenthusiasm for VL, personalize the environment by having everyonesnap a picture with a webcam so they see one another'sfaces. Include lots of visuals as this can feel a bit morelike watching an interesting TV show and it offers the ability forthe presenter to personalize the experience. Often simply seeingthe image on a person's desktop (child, object or landscape) tellsyou much about them and provides you a clue as to their interests;images can tell and sell stories.

Engagement is a critical success factor so buildparticipation by encouraging screen sharing and othertechniques.

Focus the engagement on key learning objectives and use polling to build consensus andestablish a quick level set of attendee attitudes and beliefs.Furthermore, engage the audience by seeking volunteers to leadsub-groups in separate “team rooms.” All of these techniques andtools can bring out the best learning engagement in people and makethem look forward to a VL experience.

Hopefully, this overview has demystified virtual learning andhas provided a basis from which to plan and implement a VLexperience within your organization. Let VL become another trainingtool in your learning delivery solutions.

Douglas Dell is senior vice president of eLearning Servicesfor Crawford & Company, managing the KMC on Demandlearningplatform and Crawford's continuing education (CE) business servingthe insurance industry. His responsibilities include technicaldevelopment of CE compliance software and management of theProperty Technical Certification (PTC) program. Dell is a boardadvisor to the Atlanta chapter of the American Society for Trainingand Development (ASTD) and a member of the business and managementfaculty of the University of Phoenix.