When the event occurs in a classroom, the instructor is a person. When the event occurs on-line, the computer becomes the instructor. At least two types of training are considered to be on-line. Online classrooms are classroom-like events in which students and instructors are separated by geography, but working together at the same time. At the most, the event includes an Internet broadcast of the instructor, a simultaneous presentation of a related visual, perhaps a whiteboard where instructors can write notes much like on a blackboard and all participants can see.
Students respond with oral or written questions.
Because the instructor and learners are online at the same time, the instruction is called synchronous. Online training refers to a structured learning experience presented on a computer and in which the instructor and learner are separated by both time and geography. Materials are organized into courses, and include a combination of formal teaching sequences and exercises, such as simulations. Individual learners directly interact with the computer to proceed through the courses. Ideally, these courses engage students through meaningful interaction and let students direct their own learning.