Virtual Group Training: 5 Best Activity Examples And Tips

Virtual Group training is one of the most scalable solutions for trainers in the eLearning industry. With group training, you can make more money, save time and get more students. 

However, it all comes with certain challenges, such as - engagement. Then, what can you do to engage everyone? Well, let’s review the Top 5 Best Activities and Tips. 

If you are ready, let’s start! 

The aim of virtual group training 

Virtual group training aims to enhance the student’s learning experience, improve team working skills, and create a healthy collaborative learning atmosphere. 

It helps students engage and interact with one another and contributes to better knowledge retention due to the variety of activities that trainers can incorporate.  

It is similar to traditional classroom training, but it is hosted online. For instance, you use design software, pdf presentations, and screen sharing instead of physical equipment such as projectors.

Challenges you may encounter 

Even though virtual training makes everything easier in terms of time and flexibility, there are certain challenges that you may encounter as a virtual trainer. Let’s take a look at some. 

• Technical difficulties such as slow connection or software issues. Luckily, most technical problems have an easy and quick fix. 
• Distractions. In the online environment, students get distracter a lot easier. So, another challenge is maintaining the participants' attention in training and avoiding distractions. 
• Time zone differences. Time zone differences. Virtual training is excellent in terms of location freedom. However, challenges that come with it include time zone differences. Especially those are impactful when every participant is in a different time zone. You can organize participants and their training hours according to the time zones they come from to make management easier. 

Of course, there are many other challenges. However, we mentioned the primary ones that almost every virtual group trainer faces. 

Virtual personal VS group training 

Well, now let’s dive into the comparison part of this article. This section will compare virtual personal vs. group training regarding efficiency, costs, methods, and other aspects to determine which works best for you.

Effectiveness 

You can make both of the training programs efficient. However, there are a few differences. 

For instance, group training allows for collaborative learning activities that contribute to higher knowledge retention rates and practical implementation of learned skills. 

Meanwhile, you cannot offer a collaborative learning experience in personal training. However, it is more efficient in terms of focusing on one individual. As a trainer, your goal and focus are just that one person and their progress instead of the whole group. 

Effectiveness depends on the individuals you are working with and your ability to implement proper training methodologies to achieve good results. 

If we view effectiveness also from the trainers' perspective, you might choose group training over individual one, especially if you are an experienced trainer. It is easier to manage in terms of time. You can have two groups spending 4 hours a week on them, instead of 10 individuals working 10 hours a week. 

Costs & Expenses 

Group training costs 30% less than the individual. However, it is more scalable. 

Let’s say you have two individual students; each session costs $80. So, you made &160 spendings 2 hours a day. Well, you can offer group training with five individuals, spend the same 2 hours, while having a price for each $50 and make $250. 

In terms of expenses, you will likely have to invest a similar amount of money. In either case, you will need a microphone, camera, and training platform. So, if you are choosing between individual and group training, choose the more scalable one: group training. 

However, keep in mind that if you are a complete beginner, start with individual training to dedicate attention and time to one person and grow your expertise.

Methods and approaches 

Personal and group training indeed differ in methods and approaches. For instance, personal training automatically implies more attention to the individual and their needs, personalization, and a higher price than group training sessions. 

On the other hand, approaches for group training are built around what’s best for the group, incorporating collaborative and interactive activities into the training program, etc. 

You can always offer both types of training and enjoy the benefits of both worlds. 

Timing and personalization 

Individual training is easier to schedule than group training. Participants of your group can be from different time zones with different lifestyles, which makes it harder to plan. Meanwhile, for individual training, you must adapt your schedule to one person. 

In terms of personalization, individual training also wins. Yes, you can personalize your learning experience in group training as well. However, you can entirely focus and dedicate your attention to one client only throughout personal online training. 

Social interaction

Interaction is indeed better throughout group training. Virtual group training contributes to high interaction and helps students to develop team working and communication skills. 

Tips for training groups in VLE 

If you want to host successful group training sessions, these tips for training groups in VLE might be useful. 

• Set clear goals and expectations. Goals will help you to motivate students throughout the learning process. Meanwhile, expectations will help you maintain the attendees' attention, encourage participation and ensure there are no misunderstandings from the beginning. 
• Encourage student interaction. Ask open-ended questions that raise discussions or even debates, and encourage participation.
• Provide feedback so that students can grow and learn.
• Incorporate a variety of quizzes and assessments to measure students’ progress and keep learners motivated throughout the program. 
• Research collaborative learning practices and use those throughout the training sessions. Collaborative learning activities will greatly improve the overall quality of virtual group training sessions, resulting in higher motivation levels, better overall results, and higher productivity. 
• Personalize learning through providing individual feedback and support throughout students’ learning journey. 
• Use a proper LMS platform that will allow you to automate routine tasks, keep track of your student’s related data and expand your virtual training business further. 

These are simple tips that are easy to implement. Yet, these tips will greatly improve the quality of virtual training sessions, resulting in a higher client satisfaction rate. 

5 fun activities worth implementing 

Let’s also take a quick look at the top 5 fun activities that are definitely worth implementing throughout a group training session. 

Activity 1 - Trivia Games 

Trivia games that are possible to create with platforms such as Kahoot are amazing ways to engage learners and test their knowledge through trivia questions for kids. 

Activity 2 - Online Polls

You can easily create and incorporate random polls throughout the session. Some polls may not even have an educational purpose but rather be just for fun. 

Polls are a great way to break the ice and set the right atmosphere among students. 

Activity 3 - Virtual Pictionary

You can also use whiteboard tools to play virtual pictionary games with your students. For instance, give them a question (it can be training related) and ask them to illustrate the concept (answer) on the board, while others should guess what concert is being illustrated. 

These games are fun, easy, engaging, and, most importantly, contribute to higher knowledge retention rates among learners. 

Activity 4 - Solve the Case 

Throughout this activity, provide a real-life issue/problem a business or other organization faces. Depending on your training, ask students to find appropriate solutions. You can divide the group into smaller groups or paid students with one another, create breakout rooms and allow them to discuss the possible solutions.

For instance, if you are offering marketing training, the issue students should solve should be marketing related. If the training is about programming, then the issue must be programming-related, etc. 

Activity 5 - Virtual Mind Mapping or Brainstorming sessions 

Mind mapping and brainstorming sessions are amazing, especially for groups. They encourage participation, innovation, and creative thinking. 

A mind map is a type of process flow diagram used to visually organize information. This activity is particularly useful when you have given learners a specific piece such as an article, video, clip, or other to analyze and build a conclusion from. 

Brainstorming is a quite simple yet very fun activity. One of the ways is to throw out a problem or a question and allow each participant to come up with up to 5 ideas/solutions.

So, make sure to incorporate these activities into your program. 

Give it a start and triple your income!

Well, now it is your time to get started. 

Stop hesitation and finally get into it. Uteach is one of the most potent LMS platforms allowing you to provide world-class eLearning experiences for your trainees. It comes in handy with features such as website & course builder, marketing, and automation. 

Plus, Uteach is extremely beginner friendly and quite affordable. So, if you are searching for the best platform to start and expand your virtual group training business, this one is the perfect option.