eLearning, microlearning, in-context learning, self-paced learning, and social learning have all changed the way employees learn and train. And all of these have their place. Employees often find there aren’t enough hours in the day to finish their work—not to mention doing training on top of that. Studies have shown employees have as little as 2 – 3 hours per week that they can dedicate to learning something new. (I find that, for myself, it’s often less than that.)  

However, this doesn’t mean that the only types of training that can or should be delivered are those that can be ingested in bite-sized increments. And just because employees don’t have much time for learning during the work week doesn’t mean we can’t help them make time for it in general. 

Sometimes learning is hard. Sometimes it takes time. And sometimes it requires a more immersive approach. 

But… why? Why might you need to pursue a more immersive approach? Why can’t we simply provide employees with bite-sized, self-paced learning and expect great results every time?  

Consider How These Skills Will Be Applied

Skills like conflict management, writing, or organization can be immediately applied because employees often encounter these situations in their day-to-day work. Many skills like these are learned “on the job.” In other words, students can learn and grow their skills simply by applying them to their daily work. 

Other skills may be more about accessing information. If students use them infrequently and are unlikely to recall their learnings, they need reference documentation and resources that can be accessed on-demand. These types of skills might be appropriate for bite-sized and self-paced learning because the practice opportunities are ample. Employees can start applying what they’ve learned right away, and can do so in relatively low-risk ways. 

 Of course, this isn’t always the case. The biggest issue students run into is finding ways to practice their new skills in a real-world environment. Perhaps the student’s learning would slow down the rest of the team or the risk of real-world failure would be too high.

So, how can they find ways to practice? An immersive training environment provides students with these practice opportunities in a lower-risk, safe-to-fail environment. 

Another crucial element of practice is feedback. To truly learn and grow, students need to know whether they are on the right track—and if they aren’t, they need to know how to get back on track. This can be done through feedback loops. When learning a new skill, it’s important that students have tight feedback loops showing them how to get back on track as quickly as possible.  

On-demand learning has come a long way in terms of feedback loops, and there are great courses out there that provide helpful feedback. But sometimes, students need expert guidance to work through a tricky situation. That’s where immersive training comes in.  

What Is Immersive Training? 

We’ve been discussing immersive training, but what is it? Immersive training is one that forces students to really focus on their learning. Its most common form is that of classroom training. Classrooms, be they physical or virtual, are places where students are forced out of their everyday routine and into a learning environment. Students interact with each other, an instructor or facilitator, and new ideas and concepts. They have time and space to experiment, try, fail, and try again.

But immersive learning doesn’t only have to take place in a classroom. While we continue to believe strongly in the transformational power of classroom training (instructor-led or virtual instructor-led), we know that the learning world is evolving. Students, managers, leaders, and learning professionals are looking for ways to get the benefits of immersive, classroom learning while also making the experience more self-paced.

An example of this is blended learning. Blended learning gives students opportunities to learn on their own while also providing targeted opportunities for them to engage with an instructor, ask questions of their peers, or seek feedback on their work. It may not have all of the elements of a classroom, but a targeted, curated, and well-executed experience can still provide an immersive approach. 

 The Practice Conundrum 

Skill acquisition requires practice. We can’t fully absorb or learn something new unless we are given the opportunity to try it out (and try it out in a safe-to-fail environment).  

While there are practice opportunities that come with self-paced and bite-sized training, a significant load falls onto student. It’s on them to make the most of those practice opportunities. Since employees are already limited on time for learning, they might not commit as much as they need to the practice. Also, if they get stuck, there’s no one to help them through the problem.  

All in all, practice alone can lead to good outcomes if the student is able to find helpful resources quickly. If they struggle, it could also lead them to give up or take shortcuts to get through the activity rather than absorb the knowledge being provided. 

The Time Conundrum 

One conundrum surrounding immersive learning is time. Employee time is precious both to the company and to the employee. Prioritizing learning can be seen as a drag on productivity or taking away from business objectives. But self-paced, bite-sized learning can make the time problem worse. 

Take this example: I was recently speaking with a client about self-paced vs. live virtual training. The client indicated most of their students wanted to pursue a self-paced program, which was not entirely surprising. However, when we asked why they wanted to pursue self-paced, the client indicated it was because they didn’t feel they had time to step away from their daily work to do the training.  

Rather than simply taking the time away from work to learn the new thing, students would be trying to fit the learning in around their daily tasks. The interesting thing here is that pursuing a self-paced approach could actually make two problems worse.  

1. Students would be more distracted and stressed because they have to study in addition to their daily tasks, and  
2. They would likely learn less—or it would take them more time to learn the same amount—due to context switching and their divided attentions 

One way or another, learning is going to take time. Sometimes, the most efficient approach is stepping away from the daily grind for a while. 

The Knowledge Retention Conundrum 

The practice conundrum and the time conundrum both feed into the knowledge retention conundrum. If students don’t have enough opportunities to practice the new skill and they don’t have the time to focus on learning the new skill, then they aren’t likely to retain the knowledge and skills they are acquiring.  

For example, a programmer working in Java every day might have a hard time learning Kotlin using a bite-sized, on-demand approach. This is because she won’t have the chance to practice with her Kotlin knowledge; in between her training, she’s still working in Java 40+ hours a week.

A quick caveat: incremental learning stands in contrast to some of the examples we’ve been exploring. If you just need to learn how to enhance what you’re already doing, bite-sized, on-demand training might be just what you need. This could even be in the form of training materials you received from a more intensive experience.  

This works because:  

1. You aren’t context switching (or, at least not as much), and 
2. You’re learning something directly related to your work

This helps solve both the practice and the time conundrums. It resolves the practice conundrum because you can apply what you’re learning immediately. And it resolves the time conundrum because it’s more than likely helping you do your work more efficiently and effectively. As such, the time spent learning is being repaid with immediate efficiency and effectiveness. 

The Accountability Conundrum 

The element of accountability found within immersive training is difficult to replicate with bite-sized, self-paced training. It’s the social accountability of being in a classroom with other students and with an instructor, all of whom are working toward the same goal.

I went to a burger restaurant that my family and I once really enjoyed. They had replaced their cashiers with digital kiosks, so the only person working the “front of the house” was an expo who called out orders when they were complete. The experience was not the same. Half the kiosks didn’t work, there was no one to help if you had a problem with the kiosks, the condiments and napkins weren’t stocked, the lobby wasn’t as clean, and the food took longer to arrive. Even the quality of the food was worse. Why? There was no human accountability. 

Since no one had to directly interact with the customers, staff cared less about the customers’ ordering experience or whether the condiments were stocked. Without the human connection, the social desire to help and take care of others had been removed. 

I use this example to illustrate the power of social and human accountability in a learning environment. If you are working through content on your own with no human interaction, what do you do? You increase the lecture speed to 2x, you skim through the reading material, and you retake the quiz until you get the right answer.  

My point is simply that this type of learning may not encourage a student’s best effort, and it might not be intentional. It might be because students don’t have the time and the ability to really focus. It might be that they’ve got a looming deadline that’s taking precedence over all their other tasks. It might also be that there’s no accountability to an instructor or to peers.  

One of the reasons learning communities are so powerful is that community adds to the learning experience. Other students hold each other accountable. They learn together—from each other’s mistakes, their tricks and shortcuts, and form connections that can last years and even decades. 

What Does the Future of Immersive Training Hold?  

While I’ve been discussing some of the potential shortcomings of bite-sized and self-paced training, these training methods absolutely have their place and should be part of any robust employee development program. I’m not calling on us to abandon these and go back to ‘the good ol’ days’ of classroom instruction.

What I am suggesting is that every good and robust employee development program leave time and space for immersive training experiences. Classrooms and blended learning may take different forms, but they are still incredible places for learning. Transformation doesn’t happen without it, employees appreciate it, and it can accomplish things bite-sized training simply can’t.

Sometimes you need to learn from an expert, someone who has been there before and who can explain things in a way that’s easy to understand. You also need opportunities to socialize, build culture, share experiences, and practice things you wouldn’t normally do. 

The post Why Immersive Training Still Matters appeared first on Big Nerd Ranch.

Working remotely is woven into the fabric of our daily lives at Big Nerd Ranch. With over half of our staff being outside of the Atlanta area, and with our Atlanta staff not always in the office, successful remote work is something we do. If you find yourself suddenly having to work remote, we know it can bring challenges and adjustments. Here’s a list of tips, tricks, and best practices that we’ve found to help us be successful in remote work.

Be adaptable! 

Issues pop up from time to time, or things just don’t work the way we want them to. 

Software and Technology to support remote work

• Slack is excellent
  • Provides text chat
  • But there’s also voice and video calls, which are useful for quick calls without as much overhead as other call/video solutions (since you’re probably in Slack anyways).
  • There is screensharing. You can draw on each other’s screens, but Slack no longer supports shared control. So this can be useful for a quick share, but for more involved sessions you may need a different tool with better support for collaboration, such as Zoom.
• Video Conferencing solution, like Zoom
  • A primary way of doing video calls
  • You can put the whole room on the meeting.

Key Considerations

• Each medium (Slack, video, email, phone, etc.) has strengths and weaknesses.
  • Some are more ephemeral, some more long-lasting.
  • Sometimes you need to talk, sometimes you need to document.
  • Some are richer (seeing facial expressions, vocal inflection, and speed of discussion). 
  • Some are more convenient.
• Work to pick the best medium for the need, and don’t be afraid to change mediums if needed (e.g. move from a Slack chat to a voice call). Strive to maximize communication effectiveness.

Etiquette and Helpful Hints

• Go out of your way to be social.
  • Working remote lacks the in-person interactions of an office (e.g. bumping into people and chatting at the watercooler).
    • You have to – and should – make explicit efforts to interact with your co-workers, even in a fun and purely social way.
  • Just turning on your camera during meetings (especially larger group meetings) can help.
    • Allows others to see YOU.
• Be mindful of work blurring into personal life.
  • Working at home can blur the lines between when work and personal life start and end.
    • It’s important to have distinction between the two; how much is a personal decision.
  • If possible, have physical differences between workspace and personal space, such as a dedicated room, other than the bedroom (bedrooms are very personal).
  • It is proper to have an explicit start and end of your day, even if it’s not separated by a distinct event such as commuting.
  • It’s OK to not be “in work mode” all the time, especially when it’s so easy to open the laptop and start working. Build discipline to stay “signed out” of work; to give proper attention to personal life (family, friends, etc.).
• Have a good workspace and habits.
  • Be comfortable: good chair, good desk, good lighting, warm/cool.
  • Be well-groomed. We might joke about “pants optional”, but getting up every day and following routine to get ready for the day (e.g. hygiene, skin care, clothing) is a hallmark of successful remote work.
  • When you eat, it’s OK to eat elsewhere from the laptop.
  • Take breaks, enjoy the comforts of home, but don’t get too comfortable – the workday still needs to be productive.
• Strive for the richest medium, that is appropriate.
  • Video is great, since we can see faces, hear voices. It helps to improve communication and understanding. 
  • Plus, it’s personal and human.
    • Being able to SEE and HEAR people is warming. It helps you get to know people better.
    • Encourage others on the meeting to turn on their cameras.
  • “Appropriate”. Maybe it’s a group meeting?
    • Slack video might be fine for a standup or a quick call.
    • A more formal video solution, especially one with better support for multiple people and collaboration tools, might be more appropriate for longer, more collaborative meetings
• Be aware of the camera
  • We can see your eyes. This means we can see when you’re not paying attention to us (or paying attention to something else).
  • We see what’s behind you. Be aware of what’s on camera.
  • Be mindful of camera angles.
    • What is shown, or not shown.
    • Is there sun? Glare? Are you back-lit? Make sure others can see you well.
    • Do your best to “talk to the camera” when talking.
      • People like to be looked in the eye, so talk into the camera
  • If you are using your laptop camera, keep your laptop on a stable surface (desk/table). If the laptop is in your lap or on your legs, as you move around the camera is going to move and be rather disorienting and “sea-sickness” for folks.
• Use the camera!
  • If the speaker asks a yes-no style question, instead of struggling to unmute, speak, and be heard/counted, just give a thumbs up or down.
    • This also means you should position your meeting’s screen somewhere you can actively see people’s faces during the meeting. Don’t obscure the meeting window.
  • Nod your head, laugh, clap, smile, frown, other sorts of gestures can help convey yourself (without needing to unmute).
• Be aware of the microphone
  • Typing on keyboards (especially noisy ones)
  • Tapping on the desk/table with your fingers or cups
  • Rustling of papers/wrappers
  • Coughing, sneezing, eating/chewing
    • It may be worthwhile to default to “microphone muted,” enabling your microphone as needed.
• Be mindful of background distractions
  • Kids
  • Dogs/pets
  • Other noise and things. 
  • Be focused and “in the meeting”.
• Be aware of your screen
  • Screensharing often happens.
  • Be aware of what’s on your screen and how your software supports screensharing
    • Most solutions can share the whole screen or just a window (more privacy)
    • Slack screen sharing shares the whole screen (less privacy)
  • Privacy matters
    • Personal
    • Seeing things that shouldn’t be seen 
  • Consider turning off or muting “Notifications” during a screenshare, so sudden and distracting messages do not appear.
• Echo
  • This can happen  – headphones and microphones can help.
  • Sometimes your video/audio software can get out of sync, and may only be solved by a disconnect and reconnect.

Overcommunication is important

• Because of the work flexibility, a fair amount of communication is asynchronous – it won’t be a directly interactive conversation.
  • You need someone now, and they aren’t around.
    • They may be in another meeting, or just away from their desk. You don’t know, and you don’t have a way to go look for them.
    • It’s possible they could be away for an extended period.
  • It’s the nature of things. Totally normal.
  • Strive to communicate status/availability through Slack’s “status” feature.
• One thing we’ve found that helps.
  • If you ping the person and after your threshold of waiting they haven’t responded (for an interactive conversation), go ahead and leave them a “small essay” dumping all the information they need to be able to field your request. That way when they actually do respond they’ll have all the information and can do their best to robustly respond to you. 
    • Because, it may well be that when they respond, YOU might be the one that’s away. 
    • This is why it’s good to be as overcommunicative and robust as possible — it helps shorten the feedback loop.

Boundaries

Just because you’re home doesn’t necessarily mean you’re available. That must be understood, respected, and enforced by everyone. This applies to family, friends, neighbors, anyone living in the household, and yourself.

If you can use (physical) boundaries or ways to signal to others you’re unavailable, do so. For example, a separate room with a closable door; an availability signal light; a sign; whatever works in your context and within your means. Helping others know you’re in a “do not disturb” state helps minimize interruptions and disturbances. But again, it must be understood, respected, and enforced by all – it’s the only way to make it successful and maintain your sanity.

For me, I’m fortunate to have a separate room for an office, with a door. When I’m working and cannot be disturbed, my door is closed. If my door is closed and a family member needs me, they knock and wait for an answer. I may not answer – don’t take it personally; I might be in a meeting or I might be deeply focused on a problem. If I cannot answer, I will come and find you when I can. Rules such as these were established early on in my career of working from home, and they were instrumental in keeping some order and sanity in the household. You will evolve your own.

That said, do NOT overlook the blessings this opportunity provides. One big reason I wanted to work from home was to be with my kids as they grew up. Most of their interruptions were simply to show me the cool thing they did – it required all of 15 seconds and an “I love you, too” to satisfy them and gain hours of uninterrupted work. Besides, I can’t see my kids grow up if I don’t take the time to see them.

There will be challenges to overcome; boundaries help overcome some challenges. Remember to respect and enforce them.

Be Patient

• Successfully working remote is a skill that requires time to develop.
  • There will be rough spots and opportunities for reflection and improvement.
• Be patient with yourself and your co-workers as everyone adapts and establishes new habits.
  • A little grace goes a long way.
• Consider creating a Slack channel to specifically discuss the topic of remote work.
  • It provides a place to bond, ask questions, and share solutions (as well as struggles) on successful remote work.
• Realize that your company will evolve its own solutions to solve your specific needs. Furthermore, your company will evolve its culture in light of remote work.
  • Stay aware of these evolutions, but allow them to occur. Especially important in the early stages, as things are being figured out.

Adjusting to remote work takes time. It’s an adjustment for the company, for your co-workers, and for you. There will be struggles, but there will also be discoveries of new and exciting ways to work. Have patience, give grace, and we’ll all get through this together.

The post A Quick BNR Guide to Remote Working appeared first on Big Nerd Ranch.