Having been a speaker and trainer for so many years, it took me by surprise how difficult it was to deliver my first distance learning workshop. That s what it felt like to conduct a distance learning event for the first time. I spent about 30 minutes before the class getting used to the controls and manipulating my PowerPoint presentation, making sure I could advance and annotate slides smoothly, underline text and send and receive text messages.
Distance learning poses unique feedback challenges.
Instead of answering questions verbally, feedback to live web-based participants can be provided in the form of text messages, voice or polling. Each has its benefits and drawbacks, and all require practice for the trainer to perfect. Communicate with your hands I quickly discovered that an essential tool every distance learning instructor needs is a quality head set. I like to move my hands when I talk. Presenting while holding a phone greatly inhibited my ability to present, and after about an hour my ear was aching.