Revamp your corporate training approach! Explore the art of crafting impactful training programs using interactive whiteboards, elevating learning through engaging and interactive methods.
Let’s face it—those typical, old-school corporate training programs just aren’t that inspiring. Although the concepts discussed may be noteworthy, the delivery method leaves much to be desired. Picture the scene: a dry-erase whiteboard, a projector, a photocopied booklet. So much for cutting-edge technology.
Long-time employees have all gone through these sessions at some point. Similarly, corporate trainers have likely faced the challenge of keeping participants engaged.
In addition to the lackluster presentation method, there’s the issue of participants who can’t seem to leave their work behind. To illustrate, they continue to take phone calls from clients or work on reports during training sessions. And even if they manage to focus, only so many questions can be asked, especially when the entire session consists of an instructor reading aloud from overhead and conducting an exam immediately after that.
Unfortunately, employees who have trouble paying attention will also have problems retaining whatever knowledge they gained. Cognitive science expert Dr. Art Kohn notes that humans tend to forget half of what they learned within an hour of training. This number rises to 70% after a whole day and plateaus at 90% after a week.
Modern, Engaging Corporate Training Techniques
Thankfully, modern technology caught up with corporate training and introduced new tools and techniques. Realizing that learning isn’t just about memorizing facts, many corporate training programs have adopted techniques that improve knowledge retention. Among these are three of the more popular training methods today—gamification, microlearning, and active learning.
Gamification
Most people love games and the idea of competition. Gamification takes basic elements from standard games and applies them to training programs. This includes common elements, such as accomplishment badges, fastest times, and high scores. For example, trainees who complete the first module receive a badge attesting to their accomplishment. This action then prompts the program to post the trainee’s name on the leaderboard, along with their score and time taken to complete. For participants, training just became a lot more fun. For trainers, gamification is a great way to keep people involved and engaged.
Microlearning
Taking off from Dr. Kohn’s observation about the limits of knowledge retention, microlearning reconfigures training information into smaller, bite-sized pieces so as to avoid overwhelming trainees. Instead of bludgeoning attendees with the whole coursework in a single session, microlearning distributes the sessions into shorter and more meaningful spells. This training method is favored by many online courses, making it perfect for busy workers who only have limited time to spare every day.
Active Learning
Another modern training method is active learning. This involves letting students actively participate in healthy discussions instead of letting the instructor dominate the session. With active learning, trainees are more responsible for engaging with the subject matter and asking relevant questions. In return, instructors can expand the participants’ understanding of a subject by asking them to solve problems, present case studies, or engage in relevant roleplay.
How Interactive Whiteboards Improve Corporate Training Results
Aside from modern training methods, modern tools can also raise the participants’ interest levels. Here, classrooms with interactive digital whiteboards provide superior engagement and participation levels to the traditional whiteboard, projector, and video player mix.
At the minimum, trainers won’t have to waste time switching between tools during a lecture. It’s as simple as turning on the interactive whiteboard to display a slideshow presentation, play training videos, or even serve as an interactive board for multiple participants.
More importantly, interactive whiteboards support modern training methods, including gamification, microlearning, active learning, and more. Instead of handing out individual test papers, you could host a game-show-type contest featuring two or more competing groups. Multitouch capabilities allow more than one user to simultaneously work on a single screen. In addition, problem-solving demonstrations can now display instant results, thus promoting active learning. Even better, all activities conducted on the digital whiteboard can be recorded and saved for documentation purposes.
Managing Interactive Whiteboards for Corporate Training
Designed to replace at least three traditional learning tools, interactive touchscreens are a great investment. As such, they need proper care and upkeep to generate the best returns. Today’s digital whiteboard prices range from $500 for a standard HD display with basic features to $6,000 for a 75-inch, fully interactive version with 4K resolution. Given the vital role of interactive whiteboards in enhancing corporate training, the additional investment in proper device management software to manage, maintain, and secure them is money well spent.
Like any smart device, an interactive whiteboard needs constant updating of its operating system, firmware, and application software. Performing manual, wired updates on individual devices wastes time and money.
For smart IT administrators, a better choice is over-the-air (OTA) updates via cloud computing systems. Further, secure cloud connectivity services such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) allow companies to perform cloud-based updates, fixes, and patches instantly and remotely, all without user intervention.
Strict User Access and Active Security
Keeping interactive whiteboards primed for training means restricting their use for nonproductive applications like surfing the web, accessing social media, and playing games. It also means restricting access to system files and private data to keep processes running smoothly while preserving data integrity. An administrator’s arsenal of security measures includes geolocating missing or stolen devices, remotely shutting down devices with unauthorized users, and remotely wiping contents in case of attempts to steal data.
Assigning specific user access based on work credentials is a great way to manage device usage. Admins and IT staff can plumb system software settings and make repairs but cannot access private user data.
At the same time, users are free to launch official apps and access modules and trainee records. That said, they cannot edit or modify system settings, launch unauthorized apps, or copy restricted files. Meanwhile, marketing and C-suite executives can collect and consolidate data to generate insights and improve future performance.
A Sound Investment for Corporate Training
When it comes to modern corporate training, forget traditional classroom tools. Companies intent on increasing the knowledge retention and engagement levels of training program participants should invest in quality training tools. An interactive whiteboard is the solution that allows organizations to leverage modern learning practices.
Interactive whiteboards represent a substantial investment for forward-thinking businesses. These tools must continue to perform optimally with the latest, most up-to-date software. Investing in the right device management can make all the difference—managing, maintaining, and securing your investment to realize enhanced performance and even better returns.
