ANALYST INTERVIEW:
The Role of Instructor-Led Training (Face-to-Face and Virtual) in the New Learning Ecosystem
David Wilson
Founder and CEO
Fosway Group
Due to the recent changes in the new learning ecosystem, organizations everywhere are searching for ways to maximize the ability to impact their learners in the most effective way, despite many of today’s challenges. The fact is, ILT/vILT are still growing due to their effectiveness and the need for human interaction at the core of learning.
So, where does instructor-led training (face-to-face and virtual) fit within the new learning ecosystem, and how can organizations get the most impact from their ILT/vILT programs today?
Find out from David Wilson, CEO of Fosway Group, what his take is on these topics, and more!
Watch a snippet of David Wilson’s interview:
Watch the full interview with David Wilson of Fosway Group and find out where ILT & vILT is headed in the new today:
Here are some of the questions that were discussed:
- Is there a place for instructor-led training (face-to-face and virtual) in the new learning ecosystem?
The simple answer is yes. Learning has changed enormously over the last 20 years, but there are certain things that fundamentally will always be true. That is, how do we maximize the ability to impact learners in the most effective way? There has been significant growth in the use of digital media, content, and learning type activities. It’s still really, really important to be able to impact learners and create strong learning experiences and motivate learners as a part of the process.
ILT, in terms of face-to-face and virtual forms, still has a significant role within that. It still consumes quite a lot of corporate budget. We’ve seen a lot of growth in virtual instructor-led delivery, arguably that’s one of the biggest trends in the past 3-4 years. It’s not new technology necessarily, but it’s become really, really significant. So yes, absolutely, ILT has a critical role in the learning mix in the modern learning ecosystem.
- What are the challenges facing organizations that want to get more impact from their instructor-led training?
There are a lot of challenges organizations face around it. That was true, in absolute terms all the time, but in the modern world, the pressures around it have become more extreme. COVID-19 has dynamically changed the dynamics for a lot of organizations, and we’ll talk about that more later.
At the end of the day, it comes down to basic things: How fast can I reach my audience? How can I impact my audience? How do I create stronger experiences? It then comes down to fairly obvious barriers: resources, costs, travel, time for delivery… All of these create huge challenges for organizations in order to optimize how they can deliver to their audience. The biggest is how do I reach my audience fast enough. And, how can I be agile enough in terms of engaging with them.
Ultimately budget is always a challenge as well. How do I optimize how I spend money and where I spend money? What kind of value or impact do I get from that? That’s probably the most hidden one, I think. Learning organizations are guilty of ignoring focusing on what outcomes they get from these activities. And focusing all on input challenges. But that’s critical as well. The more effectively you can show that the easier it is then to justify everything else you want to do.
The final thing is ultimately, especially if it’s face-to-face delivery, then people have to be there physically to do that. In the current climate that is even more difficult to do. But even before recent challenges, the reality of everyone traveling has always been there and has been significant. It’s one of the reasons we’ve also seen huge growth in vILT activities as well.
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More from Fosway on ILT/vILT and the New Learning Ecosystem:
- Article: Learning System Suites & Specialists: Why Specialists weren’t rated as leaders in the corporate learning ecosystem… until now By guest author and senior industry analyst, Fiona Leteney of Fosway Group
- Article: Corporate Classroom Post-Pandemic: What is Next for Instructor-Led Training? By guest author and senior industry analyst, Fiona Leteney of Fosway Group
- Resource: Training Orchestra’s Training Management System Earns Strategic Leader Status on the 2021 Fosway 9-Grid™ for Learning Systems
What’s Next?
For over 18 years, Training Orchestra has been helping 600+ organizations worldwide address the complexities to automate and optimize their ILT and vILT training operations: session scheduling, resource management, instructor calendars, vILT, cost tracking and reporting. As a complement to your existing learning technologies, Training Orchestra’s Training Resource Management System can replace all XLS spreadsheets and manual tasks, so you can better manage training as a business.
Interested in how you can improve ILT / vILT efficiency? Contact us to learn more!
