One of the most common challenges facing virtual corporate training teams is engagement and impact. In a post-pandemic world, it is rare to meet and train employees in person, and many corporate trainers are struggling to increase both participation and knowledge retention. So how can you increase engagement and measure effectiveness in a virtual environment?
Virtual instruction must be delivered at scale, but it should not lose production value or impact. Engageli allows corporate training teams to deliver high-quality education that feels personalized.
The basic structure of Engageli allows for this. Users can switch easily between browser-inspired tabs that allow each user to personalize their view. For example, while working on an Engageli Whiteboard a learner might choose to click back to the File Share in order to better understand the collaborative assignment presented. The facilitator doesn’t need to change this for the whole class, allowing the rest of the learners to continue with their whiteboard collaboration.
Engageli also allows for a hidden producer, who can pull all the bells and whistles while the facilitator focuses on the content and the learners. One tool in a producer’s toolbox might be Engageli’s Action Tags, which allows for standardized content. It also introduces new components to the classroom at the right time.
These components are all native to the Engageli platform. For example, the Engageli Video feature allows facilitators to use external video to enhance their content with very little friction. The feature works with .mp4 files or YouTube links, and streams the video to each learner individually, resulting in a high-quality and seamless viewing experience, all while maintaining control over playback.
There are many ways to increase virtual engagement with training materials and optimize training for the virtual environment. When creating your content, be sure to include activities after short periods of lecture to avoid distraction of your learners.
You should also be including peer-to-peer learning. Stanford University’s Teaching Commons recommends activities like think-pair-share and role play. When learners are broken into small groups, they are more likely to participate. Additionally, talking through problems with their peers increases knowledge retention over time. Engageli allows this to be done easily with Tables. Instead of sending learners in and out of the main room, you can simply switch the audio mode. The facilitator has the ability to see engagement at each table and for each learner using the live engagement indicators.
One Engageli customer saw the benefit of Engageli Tables when he put his class into tables regularly throughout a one-hour session. This customer had pairs working through role play activities throughout the session, and saw 20 hours of speak time overall. He was able to keep an eye on all of the pairs using the live engagement indicators, and join tables that were waning or struggling, as needed.
Lastly, add regular knowledge checks and gamification to your content. Not only does this increase engagement from your learners, it also reinforces information in the moment or shortly thereafter. Engageli has multiple ways to do this, but Sprints have the most impact. Sprints allow facilitators to run timed quizzes that foster friendly competition amongst learners.
Though studies have proven that active learning increases knowledge retention and success rates of learners, you need to measure this for your content and prove the ROI of your corporate training.
The best way to do this is to track results over time, and use real world measures to confirm. For example, one Engageli customer measured overall engagement of each learner. Engageli analytics provided statistics for each learner, including speak time, chats, reactions, notes taken and more. This customer compared the overall engagement during training to that learner’s performance in the following months and noticed a marked increase that corresponded directly to higher engagement during training.
Using granular quiz response data can help optimize content. If a quiz question is regularly stumping learners, this might indicate that your content needs improvement. With Engageli analytics, you can easily download and compare answers over time to ensure your content is reinforcing the most important aspects of your training.
Break lecture into short segments and follow each with an interactive activity. Use peer-to-peer learning in small groups, add timed quizzes for gamification, and monitor engagement indicators in real time so you can intervene when learners disengage.
Engageli Tables are persistent small groups within the virtual classroom. Instead of sending learners to separate breakout rooms, you switch the audio mode so table groups can collaborate. Facilitators see every table simultaneously and can join any table that needs support.
Track learner-level engagement metrics like speak time, chat activity, reactions, and quiz responses. Compare these training engagement scores to real-world job performance over the following weeks and months. Use quiz response data to identify where content needs improvement and which employees need to review concepts.
Sprints are timed quizzes with leaderboards inside the Engageli platform that create friendly competition among learners. They reinforce learning in the moment and give facilitators immediate insight into how well learners are absorbing the material.
Yes. Platforms purpose-built for virtual instruction allow facilitators to use browser-style tabs, hidden producers, native video, and Action Tags to deliver polished, personalized experiences to large groups. The key is a platform designed for education, not repurposed from video conferencing.
A hidden producer operates behind the scenes during a virtual training session. They manage content delivery, queue Action Tags, launch activities, and handle logistics so the facilitator can focus entirely on the learners and the content.
Stanford University’s Teaching Commons recommends peer activities like think-pair-share and role play for virtual settings. When learners work in small groups, participation rises and knowledge retention improves because learners are actively processing and verbalizing concepts.
Download quiz response data after each session and compare answers over time. If a specific question consistently stumps learners across multiple cohorts, it signals that the training content covering that topic needs to be revised, clarified, or restructured.