Corporate Training Professional Interview

1) Provide an overall retrospective on how the COVID-19 Pandemic affected corporate

training.

a. Everything shifted online

b. Priorities shifted into different topics to meet the new needs required such as

i. How to stay safe during the pandemic

ii. How to work in a remote setting

iii. How to work with clients from a distance

iv. Shift to a virtual environment for training and engagement for every

aspect of work, from training to project completion

2) How did the shift to full distance learning affect your job?

a. Not too bad, liked working remotely and felt I was more productive

b. Much easier access to leadership

c. Emphasis on flexibility in schedules and tech savviness to best do our job

d. Find a way to best work with our customers to help them

e. No added stress, felt more productive in a virtual environment

f. Added stress came from the pandemic, not from work

3) Do you feel that the companies you work with implemented distance learning

effectively?

a. No, not all

b. A lot of people assumed that if you put a webinar up that would be efficient, but

that is not the case

 c. Took a course from MIT, and even then my expectations were not met

d. People do not know how to teach to adults, both in person and an online setting

i. This problem was exacerbated due to the pandemic, but already existed

before the pandemic

4) Was Student Engagement an Issue?

a. Problem is beyond engagement

b. Issue is the general knowledge on how to arrange a course to best promote the

learning objectives

i. What should they be walking away with?

ii. Learning objectives and exercises were not thought out

5) What changes did you have to make because of the shift to distance learning?

a. Had to get a better computer

i. Online learning required additional functions which required new

technology

b. Restraints were more technological

6) What changes would you have made to the training you completed?

a. Do it as a live online class

b. Incorporate more peer to peer

c. Change up discussion posts to facilitate more conversations

7) What are 2-3 ways which COVID-19 will impact the future of distance learning?

a. It is going to force companies to modify to niches

i. Zoom may expand their learning opportunities

ii. Could Zoom include learning packages?

 b. Gamification and app-based learning which is trackable and reportable

i. Able to upload attendance and certificates to state insurance boards, for

example

c. AI Powered learning and learning management systems

i. AI forces student to learn all aspects and can branch to specific topics

where the student struggles

8) What is the future of Distance Learning?

a. Going to see a massive company get into distance learning, i.e., Amazon or

Google

i. Google may go after the training and development market

b. Building the course tailored to the clients could be automated by an AI

i. Needs analysis would be a step-by-step process and once the form is filled

in the course content topics will be created via the google algorithms

ii. Company will reach out and ask Google to build a course for them, then

the company will send customers to google to complete the course

c. People will look for convenience and competitively priced products

d. “Off the shelf” LMS where people can get easy access to a learning platform

e. How can we react to a market that is consuming information faster than we can

handle?

9) Who do you think will impact the future of distance learning:

a. Teachers

b. Students

c. Companies
 i. Companies have the most resources and the most influence

ii. Chief Learning Officers, HR Directors will have the most impact

iii. Teachers have no say in what really goes on

iv. Students will purchase what they want wherever they can find it