Learning In A Time of COVID: The Step-by-Step Process To Transform Your Company’s Training

By: Sue Ebbers, Ph.D.
Updated May 30, 2023

One of the challenges companies faced during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic was a need to provide new and current employees with training, despite being unable to meet in person. Many businesses tried to be nimble and innovative by offering distance learning for remote employees, but with questionable or negative results. There are five key things to consider if you are considering transformation of any face-to-face course to an online or e-learning course so that you can support remote learning.

Align with your company’s organizational strategy

What impact must this course or group of courses have on organizational performance? It’s important because you’re spending good money on your training, so you want to see a positive return on investment.
What key performance indicators (KPIs) are impacted within the organization through the skills learned in the course? Depending on the organization, your signals for success can have an impact on sales, product quality, service quality, and other important factors. KPIs help ensure you are on track to success.

Identify the course’s learning objectives

What do you want to see the learner DO as the result of this professional development? Your employees must have knowledge, but more importantly, they must have the right skills to do their jobs effectively. It’s important to determine if the course delivers skills or delivers information only.

Evaluate the course content using Quality Matters™ standards

Does your current instructor-led (face-to-face) course effectively deliver skills you want to see the learner do? If so, make sure you have measurements that make sense along with an industry-proven model.
If it does not deliver skill-focused learning, how much content is usable and how much work do you need with a subject matter expert? This goes back to the return on investment point. Some material may be re-used in this alternative format, but other times much of the face-to-face course material must be modified because when you are in an online learning delivery system, the instructor isn’t interacting with the learners as effectively.

Determine your budget and cost justification

Consider the pros and cons of course transformation into various parts, because it’s not inexpensive to transform a course. This goes back to your strategy and what you seek to deliver ultimately. The popular adage that “you get what you pay for” is absolutely true here.

Select from these course delivery options

The items below include ways to deliver online or virtual courses and learning support. Consider what your best strategy might be as you transform your face-to-face course or curriculum to an online offering.

PreWork: Self-paced instruction with activities (plus feedback in Appendix). This can be several hours in length, use to deliver a flipped classroom (learn knowledge, basic skills, and even consolidated skills first in Prework, and then do your application activities in a virtual delivery setting).
Virtual Instructor-Led (vILT): Can be an accountability tool coupled with PreWork. How many people will be training, and how scripted do you want it to be? Can have some body language observation, so some spontaneity. Good for class interaction and discussion.
Class Interaction: Using discussion boards to facilitate thoughtful interaction.
Videos: Show how to do something and talk through it at the same time.
eLearning: Simulations, Games to Practice or do Capstone Activity.
Mobile Learning: Performance support, such as knowledge & definitions practice and brief how-to videos
Virtual Reality: Life and death types of situations.
Assessment and Capstone Activities: Determine effective learning and supports accountability.
Learning Management System: System that holds course offerings, discussion capabilities, learner result tracking

Quality Matters™ checklist for evaluating your current face-to-face or in-person course:

Course Overview and Introduction: Does this provide the learner guidance on what to do and what to expect in the course?
Learning Objectives (Competencies): What do you want to see the learner do?
Assessment and Measurement: Are learners held accountable? Does the test or final activity accurately demonstrate what the learner is supposed to do?
Instructional Materials: Do the materials facilitate learning in alignment with brain research on learning and models so that learning is aligned with organizational outcomes?