They offer very different experiences, each with their own set of unique pros and cons, but to answer the question simply, no, a live-online class is not as effective as in-person delivery.
In-person delivery offers:
- Higher bandwidth.
- More engagement.
- More interaction between different people on the course.
That said, the live-online course is incredibly effective and offer their own unique benefits.
If you asked, which of the formats is better and which would you rather participate in, my answer would be digital delivery. Here’s why.
Different Techniques
When I train, I use many different training techniques to help the material land and transform the delegate who is attending the course into a competent, capable agile practitioner.
I use ‘training from the back of the room’ techniques, I use ‘training from liberating structures’, and my own techniques developed over years of teaching, coaching, and mentoring others. Using those techniques, you can get 90% of the way you would if you were delivering in-person classes.
Added benefits of the digital space.
After almost three years of delivering live, online classes around the world, we are getting really good at optimizing technology and leveraging the digital environment to enhance the learning experience, especially with Scrum and Agile courses.
Multicultural experiences
I like training people who come together from all over the world.
The people who attend the course receive perspectives from all over the world and they also learn that the challenges they face are not so unique after all. The team over in Mumbai, India are facing the exact same challenges as the team in Adelaide, Australia.
There’s different cultural influences, different accents, and different applications that weave together to create a unique experience. Something which wouldn’t typically be present if someone attended an in-person delivery in Glasgow, Scotland.
As the group share their experiences, their interpretations, and their challenges, I notice that the learning experience is enhanced in ways I couldn’t imagine. As I answer each of the questions or help frame the learning in the context of the problem they pitched, each member of the course is learning on a completely different level than they would in an in-person environment.
Accessibility
I like digital delivery better because it is more accessible to people and invites greater participation.
I will have 10 people in the class from Africa, 5 people from all around Europe, a few people from the US, a few from Canada, and a few from India and Asia. People who wouldn’t ordinarily have been able to afford to travel, the accommodation costs, and other costs associated with being away from home for 4 days.
Someone in the US can start their morning with a 4-hour training session and follow the afternoon with their own work for the organization they serve. They can immediately apply what they have learned in the morning session into their afternoon work experience and see the benefits of what they have learned.
They also form different questions through the application experience which they can then pose in the next morning’s training session and receive immediate help and feedback to fuel the success of what they are attempting.
It’s literally a case of switching on your computer, activating your video and microphone, and logging into the digital platforms such as MIRO that we use to illustrate core elements of the learning. That’s it. Nothing more is required to get the training that you want and need.
Tapping into how teams currently work.
Since Covid, teams have been working remotely and connecting digitally around the world.
Yes, in the days pre-Covid, Agile was a strong champion for people working together, in a single place, rather than having distributed and remote teams around the world, but everything has changed and the technology has been developed to empower teams to work remotely.
Delivering a digital course taps into how people are currently working and slots in perfectly with how they interact and engage with others, in a learning and working capacity, via technology.
In addition to the learning experience, delegates are also being exposed to new technologies and digital platforms that can enhance how they currently work. Our course uses various platforms to collaborate with others, allow people to contribute their thoughts and ideas, and map out what their concepts are for others to explore and interrogate.
I find that people are blown away by the tools and are keen to integrate them into their current array of tools. The course teaches them how to use those digital platforms effectively, and how to collaborate with others using those digital platforms, and so people walk away from the experience with a new set of skills and a greater ability to cocreate and collaborate with others.
It’s very cool.
So, in theory, an in-person is marginally more effective than a live, online delivery but there are a great deal of benefits associated with digital delivery that you don’t get with in-person training.
About NKD Agility
Naked Agility is an #agile consultancy that specializes in #scrumtraining, #agilecoaching and #agileconsulting to help teams evolve, integrate, and continuously improve.
We recognize the positive impact that a happy AND inspired workforce can have on customer experience, and we actively help organizations to tap into the power of creative, collaborative, and high-performing teams that is unique to #agile and #scrum environments.
If you are interested in #agiletraining, visit https://nkdagility.com/training/
If you have identified the need for #agilecoaching and #agileconsulting, visit https://nkdagility.com/agile-consulting-coaching/
We would love to work with you.
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