This edition of Training Industry Magazine challenges us to think broadly about program design, and to consider using all of the tools at our disposal to revolutionize the classroom experience. Classroom learning in the corporate context requires a lasting and significant business impact to justify removing an employee from their job to attend training in a face-to-face environment. These programs are by far the most expensive to execute when considering employee downtime and the total costs of the program.

I would like to challenge the traditional view that we should strive to minimize costs when developing these programs. The cost of program development is a mere fraction of the total investment required to make these programs happen. Our perspective should be to invest as much as we need to get the program right and to ensure the program is as impactful as possible.

I always find it interesting that as soon as we consider classroom learning, we immediately think of projectors and flipcharts. We should never accept “death by PowerPoint” as a fair use of our company’s training investments. We need to employ everything at our disposal to improve learning and enhance engagement in our classroom sessions, including incorporating video, polling, problem-solving, role play and group work to encourage collaboration. As learning and development professionals, we need to consider and leverage the fact that nearly everyone has some form of access to technology with them at all times, even in our classrooms.

It has been a classic assumption in the training industry that the reason a classroom learning experience is more engaging is because the instructor can see whether the learners are engaged or not. We should challenge that hypothesis, and instead, design the program to require engagement for the learner to complete the class.

Beyond the use of technology to enhance the classroom experience, we must continue to look for ways to reduce employee downtime, shorten programs, improve relevancy and empower our instructors to maintain consistency, while allowing for creativity and storytelling. I hope this edition of our magazine provides some ideas that can be implemented in your next major training initiative.  Remember, the cost to develop the program is important, but the impact of not engaging the learner and affecting change is much bigger.

As always, please feel free to reach out and let us know your thoughts.