Are you a trainer or education provider currently facing the challenge of digitizing your day workshops? In this article, we share 10 concrete, practical tips to help you succeed quickly and effectively:
Digitization is advancing in giant leaps in the continuing education industry as well. This presents you as a trainer or education provider with new challenges: Day workshops are in less demand, while digital concepts are all the more sought after! You probably already know how to host a webinar. But not every day workshop is suitable for a webinar. You don't have to develop a completely new digital concept if you already have a successful face-to-face concept! We will show you how to implement your day workshops completely digitally:
Part 1: Basics and practical tips (here)
Part 2: Practical implementation
Preparing Classroom Content for the Online Course
To start digitizing your day workshop, you only need two things: Your content, and a platform for the online course. First, you should go through and organize your content: Which content belongs in which phase? And how should your digital workshop run?
1. Divide your classroom content into synchronous and asynchronous exercises:
In the first step, many trainers ask themselves: Where do I actually start? Take your existing content and try to categorize it into synchronous and asynchronous content:
Synchronous: Which content and exercises should you, as the instructor, accompany "live"?
Asynchronous: Which learning content can your course participants work on on their own?
Synchronous | Asynchronous |
|
|
2. Develop a schedule for the online phase of your workshop
In the next step, you can organize your synchronous and asynchronous exercises and design a schedule for your online course:
For example, start asynchronously with a short welcome video and a course overview, where you gather all the necessary information and materials. This could be followed by a synchronous short round of introductions via Zoom to get to know your participants "in real life" too. Then you start with the practical part of your workshop.
With these two steps, you've already done most of the planning. However, there are still a few things you should keep in mind during implementation. With the following ten tips, the digitization of your day workshop will be more successful:
10 Tips for Digitizing Day Workshops
1. Make asynchronous learning units mandatory!
Digital continuing education carries the risk of appearing less binding than an on-site event. The preparation of your course participants is therefore all the more important.
To remind your participants of your live online session and the preparation, we recommend a short quiz: Ask in a playful way whether all course participants
have prepared themselves content-wise,
have tested their technology for the live session,
know when and on which platform it takes place.
This is how you convey commitment. At the same time, you make sure that all participants enter the live part of your workshop without any problems and well-prepared.
2. Give your course participants a fixed plan to follow!
Especially for the asynchronous learning units, many course participants need a rough course schedule to guide them. For example, give them time slots, like a school timetable, during which they should work independently.
It is best to also note your synchronous live sessions on this schedule, especially if they require preparation. This ensures that every participant knows what to do and when.
3. Ensure variety in the learning units!
Purely digital continuing education formats drain significantly more energy from your course participants than classic face-to-face courses. Therefore, varied content is particularly important! Design your digital day workshop with a mix of synchronous and asynchronous learning units.
Try to involve your participants and do not deliver a monologue. Variable group constellations, e.g., in different small groups and then back to the entire course, also help to maintain your participants' attention.
4. Formulate the tasks clearly and concisely!
To avoid too many queries, your instructions should be formulated as simply and logically as possible. Even in the asynchronous learning units, you should make sure that your language is as simple as possible so that your course participants can work with the content without any problems.
It is better to focus on less content with a core message, and avoid overwhelming your participants with too much input.
5. Provide a platform for exchange among all course participants!
Learning largely consists of reflecting on what has been learned. This works particularly well in a group! If you offer your course participants a suitable platform, they can help each other and solve problems independently.
To ensure that communication doesn't end in chaos, especially in large groups, you as the course instructor should set up rough interest groups or channels. This way, other participants can also quickly find answers to questions that have already been asked and answered.
6. Check your technology!
Before the synchronous exercises, make sure that your technology as the course instructor really works. Therefore, ask yourself:
Do all links in my online course work?
Are my microphone and headset working for the live sessions?
Is my internet connection stable?
Do I have good audio and video quality?
If yes: Perfect, you are technically well prepared!
7. Don't use too many different tools!
To avoid overwhelming your course participants with technical basics, you should limit yourself to a maximum of 1-2 tools, even for purely digital day workshops. For example, use a simple learning platform like blink.it and an additional online meeting tool like Zoom. This avoids potential compatibility problems with end devices. Your participants will also find their way around more quickly.
8. Plan enough breaks!
Plan enough time for reflection rounds so that your course participants can really internalize what they have learned. Even in a digital workshop, your participants need to breathe and take a coffee break now and then. Give them this time and actively ask if attention is still present. If not: Take spontaneous breathers as well.
Two final insider tips from our Blended Learning expert Dennis:
9. Set up regular office hours!
As a course instructor, you should always be available for questions, even online. Therefore, check in regularly to see if there are any problems or uncertainties. For example, you can offer a Q&A chat or arrange an opportunity for a personal conversation after your breaks. Ultimately, your participants should get as much out of your day workshop as possible.
10. Establish small learning groups!
The exchange between participants is particularly crucial for a long-term learning effect. Digitally, groups rarely form on their own. Help them out. Especially when it comes to working out content in small groups, it makes things much easier if you simply define these beforehand in a list. Ideally, the participants will exchange ideas there and perhaps continue to work together even after your day workshop.
Theory is all well and good. But would you like to know how to put these tips into practice? Next week, here on the blog, we will use a concrete example to show you how to easily transfer your day workshop into an online course.
