Glossary
Virtual Classroom
Definition
A virtual classroom is a learning environment in which students (customers, partners, or any third-party) engage with the lesson material online. Information is often conveyed through voice or video conferencing with several participants and instructors connected to the same chat interface.
However, not all virtual classroom platforms require instructors. Unsupervised virtual classrooms involve the learners’ going through the content at their own pace, reading digital resources, and watching YouTube videos of the material.
A virtual classroom is an innovative new method of bringing together students into a controlled environment tailored for teaching new concepts and ideas. Students can engage with the material from any device that can connect to the Internet. Lessons are created based on the needs of a student, instructors can assist as required, and they can track which parts of a lesson students are struggling with.
What are the Advantages of Virtual Classroom Training?
You may find the improved convenience and efficiency of virtual classes suitable for training your customers and partners. Virtual classrooms offer a variety of benefits over traditional ones:
- Better accessibility. Customers from virtually anywhere can participate in a virtual class through a web browser.
- Lower cost. Without the need to manage travel costs, arrange physical facilities, or plan out schedules, virtual classrooms cost far less than traditional ones. They offer a flexible way to provide virtual instructor-led training (VILT) for real-world environments.
- Global reach. Whether you want to teach local students or want to reach out to international clients, a virtual classroom is the best way to convey the material with little time and effort.
- Multimedia support. Virtual platforms can host much more than text and images. Video files, audio recordings, interactive simulations, and even educational games can improve the flexibility of the course. Your IT department can even create sandbox environments to test scenarios that they may encounter in the workplace.
- Faster feedback. Since all content mentioned during a virtual class is recorded instantly, customers have instant access to review materials once a session ends. You can analyze the performance of your customers, see what areas they excelled and struggled with, and collect valuable feedback about your products.
- Scale as you grow. The virtual classroom environment offers nearly infinite flexibility. As your needs grow, you can easily scale the capabilities of your virtual classrooms.
What are the Potential Drawbacks?
Virtual classrooms do have a few notable drawbacks. Here are a few disadvantages that you should be aware of:
- Virtual classrooms cannot be accessed in areas with limited Internet connectivity or a lack of compatible hardware. However, this problem is irrelevant to most modern businesses operating in urban areas.
- Since students and instructors aren’t physically near one another, keeping the focus of the class can be a challenge online. Ensure that your company is using analytics to understand which areas students are finding difficult to complete.
What are the Characteristics of Effective Virtual Classroom Solutions?
Are you looking to train new customers and partners with your software solutions and want to know how to create a virtual classroom for your business? Here are some of the prevailing trends connecting today’s most successful virtual classrooms:
- Mobile optimization. Many virtual class applications now have support for smartphone and tablet devices, offering even more flexibility than before.
- Enhanced collaboration. Just because your customers aren’t near each other doesn’t mean they can’t interact and collaborate. Group learning and forums are popular methods for building relationships through the classroom.
- Interactivity. Whether it’s through simulations, flipped classroom setups, or real-world case studies, virtual classes have the potential to be more than just listening to an instructor speak. Online applications offer a higher degree of interactivity when it comes to engaging with the material.
How Effective are Corporate Virtual Classrooms?
It’s no secret that business managers employ virtual training environments to help customers learn how to use their software in an efficient environment. But just how effective are these customer training solutions? We’ve completed our in-depth research, and you might be surprised to find out that:
- It takes around 50% less time to learn the same skills through a virtual class than a traditional classroom thanks to better efficiency and accessibility.
- 42% of companies report that adopting virtual training resulted in increased revenue.
- Employees themselves experienced a 60% increase in knowledge retention when working with virtual classrooms as opposed to regular ones.
