Useful Online Tools

For training and other collaborative online events

The Digital working environment brings many opportunities such as online volunteering, work from home and online education. Online training courses remove the constraints of in-person sessions, such as room capacity and physical distance. Additionally, offering online courses on-demand eliminates the need to identify workable time slots for large numbers of attendees. By using the recording feature it also allows each session to be played repeatedly, both as a refresher for previous participants and as fresh training for new participants.

But unlike in-person training sessions, the online environment doesn’t lend itself to interaction and engagement. Even with live online sessions, participants are more likely to only partially listen to the trainer or multitask by doing other work during the training. Participants might also ask fewer questions in online formats than in live settings, reducing both the participant-to-trainer interaction and the cross-participant discussion that can improve the collective comprehension of and appreciation for the training material. Many facilitators have learned to use a number of interactive tools and methods to assist greater participation and learner engagement.

For the purpose of boosting presence and learning experience, we create a collection of

Online Tools for Blended Learning and Training

Some are made for real-time online interaction and collaboration, creating learning quizzes and various types of questionnaires, e-learning tools and online training platforms. The Online Tools list is in the constant refreshing mode so feel free to add new ones immediately when you find it useful for increasing engagement and participation. 



Some additional tips for online engagement:
  • When using these tools try to focus on a good presentation supported by the quality of video, images, and sound to interactive features which will keep the focus of the audience. 
  • You can keep attention also through provocations where the audience’s behaviours and beliefs are challenged. 
  • Even being online, trainers should work on engaging presentation style, including body language, hand gestures, and voice inflection. 
  • Regular feedback of the audience should be evoked through different channels and should stimulate a two-way discussion. 
  • Usage of prompts can verify participants presence. This includes entering codes provided by the presenter, break out rooms at certain intervals and short assignments that must be completed in order to verify presence.

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