As organizations continue to focus on new and innovative ways to implement and enhance digital learning, statistics are showing that Instructor-Led Training (ILT) is still not only viable, but profitable.
In fact, according to the 2019 Brandon Hall Study, ILT remains the primary form of learning delivery in a whopping 94% of organizations, compared to 77% primarily using eLearning.
With new and innovative technology emerging such as augmented reality, adaptive learning and virtual reality, content experts have been predicting that ILT will eventually phase out. So why is ILT still used so prominently in organizations today?
ILT is Valued by Younger Generations
Contrary to what most of us have been led to believe, when done effectively, instructor-led training is not old-fashioned or out of date. Recent studies have shown ILT to be highly valued by Millennials and Gen Z generations. A Wainhouse Research study found that, “Younger workers (aged between 21 and 32) rate live ILT, short-clip videos, coaching or mentoring and conversations with SMEs as their top preferences.”
This study squashes the stereotype that younger generations exclusively prefer eLearning. Younger generations clearly value the personalization, engagement and collaboration that comes with an instructor-led experience.
ILT Facilitates Practice and Personalization
Along with fostering a more engaging experience, ILT also creates opportunities for learners to practice skills. With hands-on instruction and the ability to interact with peers, an instructor is able to gauge reactions and feedback to adapt their delivery. This is especially helpful when translating complex subjects, where potential learning barriers may exist. A student can ask questions in a lecture or demonstration, and are provided immediate answers as well as the opportunity to share valuable experiences.
An instructor can extend time on a certain topic, provide on-the-spot job knowledge, or deviate from a structured lesson in order to ensure the concept is fully understood. Opportunities such as role-playing and personalized instruction allow learners to apply new-found knowledge by practicing newly-acquired skills.
ILT is Collaborative and Engaging
ILT fosters an engaging environment that provides opportunities for hands-on engagement, which can be much harder to achieve with eLearning. eLearning often lends itself to distractions, such as an email popping up on screen or a phone call, while ILT demands a learner’s full attention.
With Instructor-Led Training, participation and focus are required, inherently minimizing distractions. This type of personal interaction also lends itself to a higher level of collaboration. Peer-to-peer job sharing helps facilitate dialogue and build personal relationships, allowing students to share some of the challenges they have overcome and the solutions they have implemented.
ILT is Still Viable, But it Can be a Maintenance Nightmare
ILT is still one of the most widely used training delivery methods, but creating and maintaining ILT outputs such as instructor guides, student guides, PowerPoint files and lab materials in proprietary tools can take a lot of time and effort. Duplication often occurs from one output to another, which requires substantial manual effort, creates inconsistencies in content, and an inevitably leads to extraneous amounts of time spent fidgeting with formatting and layouts.
A Learning Content Management System (LCMS) can help optimize the production of ILT outputs
- Update content in one place — keep instructor guides, student guides and PowerPoint files in sync while reducing effort
- Link shared content — automatically include slide thumbnails in guides without copying and pasting
- Separate content from presentation — apply standardized layouts and styles across deliverables to eliminate time spent fussing over formatting
- Streamline the review process — consolidate changes and feedback in a centralized web-based session to save time and manage review history
- Leverage template-driven content — ensure branding compliance and consistency across outputs while eliminating QA checks on every deliverable
- Save on language translation — eliminate desktop publishing fees and optimize savings from translation memory
Xyleme customers save 30-60% on ILT maintenance
Xyleme understands the needs of instructor-led training. 80% of our customers use Xyleme to save time creating ILT materials. Xyleme’s industry-leading LCMS helps major multinational organizations create and manage learning content across all formats, including print outputs for Instructor-Led Training, digital outputs for eLearning, and mobile outputs for just-in-time performance support.
With Xyleme’s LCMS, our users successfully reduce content development and maintenance time, easily reuse content and publish to multiple output types, effectively personalize content at scale, and objectively assess content and learner performance with robust, built-in analytics dashboards.
