As a trainer, coach, or consultant, you are currently facing a significant challenge: How should distance training work? You are not alone with this question! We present you with 5 solutions in e-learning on how to stay close to the participant, even without physical presence.

5 Challenges in Distance Training

Are you a trainer, coach, or consultant by passion? Then you probably care deeply about the personal connection to your participants. And – we probably don't need to explain it in detail – the topic of "contact" has not been that straightforward since April 2020. The obvious alternative to traditional in-person training is e-learning: But how personal can training via digital devices be?

Let’s gather the 5 biggest challenges you face along with thousands of other trainers. In the next step, we will present you with 5 methods on how to establish – and maintain! – a personal connection despite e-learning. And finally, we will show you 5 concrete examples of those methods.

What you value in your in-person sessions:

1. The participants should get to know you and build trust.

2. You want to know the participants and their concerns/wishes/goals.

3. You want to be available as a point of contact for specific questions.

4. You want to keep an overview and actively support as needed.

5. The participants should communicate and support each other.

5 Methods in E-Learning for High Personal Connection

Of course, face-to-face training is worth a lot. The personal, direct exchange from person to person cannot be easily replaced. However: For each of the aforementioned challenges, there are very good methods in e-learning. If the personal connection is important to you, you can also foster it online and successfully offer distance training.

We will show you how the individual methods can look in detail with specific examples!

5 Solutions in the Example with blink.it

1. Incorporate Personal Videos in the Online Course

Show yourself to your participants and speak to them, even if you are not directly in front of them! Many trainers, coaches, and consultants have great respect for the method of "video." The idea of speaking in front of a camera deters some – even though they are used to speaking live in front of several people!

However, videos in the online course serve as a success booster for several reasons:

• Your participants feel that you are speaking to them personally.

• Videos lighten up an online course significantly.

• Through image and sound, what is said stays better in memory.

• You can convey much more effectively orally than in writing.

• Your participants have an image of you and trust you more.

We have also compiled several examples of videos in online training for you. This way, you quickly get an impression of how you can effectively use videos in e-learning:

2. Incorporate Surveys and Quizzes in the Online Course

Communication works in (at least) two directions! Therefore, you naturally want to get to know your participants. What are their current challenges? What is their goal with your training or coaching? To find out, you can easily incorporate a survey or quiz using the right e-learning tool. Ideally, you do this once at the beginning of your e-learning to get to know your participants, then intermittently as a reflection exercise, and once at the end to learn about the progress and see if there are still unresolved topics.

This is what a survey looks like on blink.it:

A sample survey on the blink.it learning platform.

3. Offer Webinars and Other Contact Options

To be there for your participants despite the distance, you should clearly communicate in e-learning how your participants can reach you as needed. Three typical options for that:

• You give them your email address and offer to respond to all emails, for instance, once a week.

• You offer a small webinar once a week where all participants can ask their questions personally and live.

• You encourage your participants in all exercises to share their experiences and questions via comments directly under the exercise.

The comment function looks as follows on blink.it:

This is what comments look like on the blink.it learning platform.

4. Monitor the Participants' Progress in the Tool

The e-learning has been running for a while, and you want to find out the current status of your participants despite the distance? With the blink.it learning platform, you can always see at a glance how far individual participants have progressed. This way, you always keep an overview and can inquire if a participant is lagging behind more than expected.

This is what the participants' overview looks like for you as an admin on blink.it:

As an admin, you can always see the status of your participants across all chapters and content. Note: Last names are redacted in the screenshot for privacy reasons.

5. Offer Exercises for Collaborative Online Learning

The fifth solution for successfully conducting your training despite the distance: Make your content as interactive as possible! Even if each participant is sitting at home on their laptop or tablet, you can bring everyone together digitally with targeted methods. The comment function mentioned earlier is generally always a simple method to promote interaction in the online course.

In addition to the comment function, there are numerous exercises for collaborative online learning. In this blog post, I have already introduced some in detail: 3 e-learning exercises: Successful collaborative online learning.

You can see that training can also be interactive and personal without traditional presence. Try out the different methods and find out what works particularly well for you. Good luck and have fun!