Is In-Person Training Obsolete?

In this current (and perhaps future) time of COVID, in-person training is not occurring as it used to. Two years ago (which seems like a lifetime), organizations would request staff attend training courses monthly or as needed. The trainer, either from inside the organization or someone hired, would conduct a course on trauma-informed care, therapy models, or other subjects. Attendees would get certificates and continuing education units if applicable. Hopefully, the participants would glean what they could from their training and use it in their everyday work.

But now with the ongoing issue of COVID, organizations are less likely to use the in-person approach. Due to social distancing concerns, hybrid locations (work and/or home), and new job requirements, getting staff in one room is not practical. So can organizations begin to change their thinking in the future about how they train staff?



If staff cannot be trained in person, the online training process can be a successful option. Although it lacks the closeness of having staff interact and do activities like role-playing, online training offers several benefits:

1. Staff can connect to the trainer regardless of their location. All they need is to use Zoom, Microsoft Teams, GoToMeeting, or other online tools to attend.
2. The training reduces costs. When an organization hired a trainer in the past to go to their location, that meant travel, meals, sometimes overnight stays. Now, the travel is gone and so are the extra costs.
3. Interaction can improve. In live training sessions, the vocal or extroverted members tend to do all the discussion while the quieter and shy staff keep in the background. This is due to the social constraints of operating in a large room. But when staff is in front of their computer, they can chat or talk with fewer fears of opening up.
4. Attention can be monitored. When you have a large room of trainees, it’s easy for them to sleep, talk to other participants, or check out their phones. Monitoring their participation is difficult. But when on screen, the viewer has to show themselves in the camera and be there to actively show they attend. And the trainer can call on them because they know all participants’ names to ensure engagement.   
5. Most importantly, the training can be recorded. Unlike in-person sessions where video equipment is required, recording an online session is easy and takes one button on the video conference panel.  And a recorded training can be available at a later time for those who missed the session. Moreover, when new staff comes in they can benefit from the video presentation at any time. Preserving the session becomes a valuable tool for the organization. 

For these reasons, in-person training may become as extinct as dinosaurs while online training may improve knowledge and be more cost-effective.

Praxes provides live-streaming online training for its organizational clients. For more information, please contact us.