QUESTION: How can I prepare low-tech learners for online learning?

Your first impulse may be to prepare a basic computer and Internet skills training session. This would be a good way to show learners how to use a computer or surf the Web, but it's not the best way to prepare them to use a computer and the Net to learn!

Think about your own experience. You may have felt absolutely terrified when you learned that your organization wanted to make the move to online learning. Would all the time you spent developing classroom training and fine-tuning face-to-face skills go to waste? Once you learned that you could transfer your instructional skills to developing online training, you felt much more confident about the new environment. New online learners, be they low-tech or not, have the same types of fears. The most important thing you can do to prepare them is to build their confidence! You need to show them that online learning is not as alien as they may think it is.

Whether you meet with the learners for a face-to-face prep session or create a written guide or electronic tutorial for distance learners, try basing your discussion on a series of explanations about how the online learning experience is both similar to and different from classroom learning.

For example, for synchronous learning with a chat facility, explain how classroom learning and online learning both allow interaction with classmates. Then explain what a chat system is and how it works by showing them what a chat session in progress looks like. If you're preparing them in person, this might be a good time to let them try chatting with each other.

To contrast synchronous learning to the classroom setting, remind learners that body language cues are absent in the online setting, so misunderstandings can sometimes result in chat or discussion communications. This is a good opening for an intro to Netiquette. Consider showing everyone what emoticons are and how to use them.

Similarly, if your company is deploying training via self-paced technology-based training modules, explain that, like an instructor in the classroom, the TBT course can request learners' input and respond to their answers. Show them how the feedback mechanism works, and let them try it.

To contrast self-contained training modules to classroom-based learning, discuss the advantages of working at one's own speed. To help learners understand their options for self-pacing, discuss bookmarking and offer tips on how to move through a course if it doesn't have a linear navigation. If pretesting is available, explain the purpose of it and how their pretest performance affects them.

Once you've helped them feel confident about the elements of the new learning environment and their new roles as digital learners, you can take care of basic computer and Internet skills. Exactly how basic is up to you to determine via a needs assessment. Typically, plan for hands-on training on browsers and plug-ins, usage of navigation devices, and the interactive element. For synchronous learning, add coverage of emailing, posting, chatting, whiteboarding, and other virtual classroom elements, as applicable. Finally, if possible, have learners practice for online test taking by taking a self-assessment test about online learning.

Before you end the training preparation, remember to provide learners with guidance on what to do if something goes wrong. Who should they call if they can't log in? Can you recommend an easy user guide to learn more about browsers? Do the self-paced TBT modules provide online help? Assure them that your training organization will be there to assist them through the transition to online learning.

Published: March 2000