Guidance on Remote Training

Tower Mains staff have experience of providing remote training to people and groups around the world. The benefits of groups working with experts “face to face” are well understood, especially the personal interactions such courses provide. This is not always possible or desirable when considering cost and environmental impact of travel, and the current pandemic has brought the benefits of remote training into clear focus.

Nobody would wish for the current situation, but it does present an opportunity for catching up on training. This guidance document outlines how Tower Mains approaches remote training.

DELIVERING REMOTE TRAINING

Delivering factual presentations can be as effective remotely using modern technology. Screen sharing allows the slides to be presented as if participants are in the room, and many video conferencing packages have a “hands up” function for people to be able to ask questions. The same function allows reasonably good discussion sessions, providing the number of participants is not too high.

It is often possible to replace workshops with individual tasks or quizzes. Where group work is required, separate video calls for each group can be set up. Materials can be made available electronically in secure, shared folders and participants can upload individual exercises or group feedback to the same folder.

POINTS TO CONSIDER

The delivery of the course depends on reliable internet connections for both tutors and participants. We recommend that connections are tested in a separate session before the course commences, possibly the previous day to allow problems to be sorted. Access to the shared, secure folder for the course should also be tested since some company policies may prevent access and materials may need to be provided by e-mail instead.

You should not assume that everyone has access to a printer so materials should be designed for viewing on-screen as much as possible and course materials should be designed for on-line completion and submission whenever possible.

A major advantage of remote training is that participants can be in any location. Under the current extraordinary situation being able to set aside a day to focus would be unrealistic as there would invariably be domestic issues and interruptions. Hence, Tower Mains remote courses are designed to be delivered as a series of related modules lasting 1 – 2 hours.

PUBLIC COURSES

Tower Mains has adopted the modular approach for our public training courses. We offer the same topics as modular, remote courses as our face-to-face courses with the content adapted to optimise the delivery format.

There is greater flexibility in the modular approach, and we will be repeating modules to take account of participants’ availability.

Modular training will still encourage interaction and sharing between the participants and will retain the benefits of a small group “masterclass” format with our expert tutors. This will not replace our face-to-face programme but will provide extended opportunities for training at a time and in a format that is most beneficial to participants.

IN-HOUSE

Remote modular training is available to individuals or groups. It is a powerful, cost-effective way to deliver training at your site – or (more importantly) to teams at different sites at the same time. All courses can be tailored to your particular needs in terms of content and timing. Perhaps you want to set aside a training day or cover the same material over five lunchtimes – we can design and deliver to meet your needs.