Right now, the state of the world demands a transition to virtual classrooms and remote work. Whether or not your organization started 2020 prepared for the rapid modernization of teams and training, the time has come to make the change.

Facilitators, instructional designers, managers, and learners all have to adapt to a new normal – a stressful process under standard change management conditions and a seemingly insurmountable task given today’s pressures.

Big News! Today, InSync Training hosts our first-ever Instructional Designer Day celebration. Moving forward, we will dedicate the third Wednesday of March to highlighting the important contributions of those who create training programs of all sizes and types. Each year, this informal holiday will include kudos and tips shared on social media using #InstructionalDesignerDay, complimentary content and events, and more. We encourage you to join the virtual party by using the social media hashtag to give shoutouts to colleagues, commenting on this blog, and extending the festivities to your organization!

Have you ever attended a learning program that helped you build new skills? Have components of a blend that captured your attention and engaged your brain? Have you walked out of a classroom and thought, “Wow! I learned something valuable today!”? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you need to thank an instructional designer!

February’s installment of the InSync 20th Anniversary Team Insight series pulls the curtain back on virtual classroom stagehands: The Producer. Read the other blogs in the series to learn about modern learning instructional design, facilitation, and implementation from the best in the business! 

You may have heard the news that the InSync Training team will spend all of 2020 celebrating an important organizational milestone: 20 years of driving digital engagement in the virtual classroom.

Innovation and thought leadership from founder Jennifer Hofmann laid the foundation for the success of the business, but she argues our longevity reflects a team effort. Over the last two decades, our team has grown to over 80 practitioners, modeling learning best practices from their home offices all across the globe. 

And as we look forward to continuing to design, deliver, and manage impactful training programs long into the future, we asked the InSync team to look back. What have they learned about learning during their careers? What do they wish organizations and learners knew about blended virtual training? What story sticks out to them as particularly memorable? 

You’ve probably heard by now that, for the first time in history, our organizations include five generations of employees. For those of us in learning & development, that means our training programs must address the skills gaps, professional development needs, and future goals of divergently different groups of people.

Before designing engaging learning environments, or facilitating content in an emotionally captivating way, or creating intellectually stimulating exercises and activities, understanding the fundamental characteristics of these five generations can set learning up for success.

Like every year before it, 2019 proved game-changing, awe-inspiring, and insightful.

With only a few weeks left until a new decade, our team felt nostalgic.

What did we learn in the last 365 days? Quite a bit, and we’re sure you did too.

Here in the U.S., many on the global InSync Training team prepare to log-off for a day of feasting and reflection. And while celebrating Thanksgiving usually includes a turkey dinner and connecting with those who mean the most to us, we wanted to stop and remember the things we love about our work. 

Wishing you and yours a great day of gratitude!

As our organizations expand, we will rarely create a training program that will only have one delivery run in one location.

The very nature of multinational corporations demand global learning initiatives. Even businesses classified as “small” now include dispersed team members (ours does – InSync’s 70 practitioners live and work on almost every continent).

Problematically, many stakeholders believe that rolling out global training just means “deliver existing content to every cohort.”

The InSync Training team has designed, delivered, produced, and managed live online training events for over 20 years. It’s hard to believe that organizations have had the virtual classroom as a learning environment option for over two decades.

Change underlies this now-commonplace technology. Virtual classrooms from the past look very little like the reality of today, which indicates a radically different future.

So what can we learn from the evolution of the virtual classroom?