What Is a Live Virtual Classroom?

The live virtual classroom (LVC) is an online learning experience in which the instructor and learners work together in real time. Working together, the instructor and students have live audio dialog while sharing slides, viewing a software application, surfing the Internet, working in virtual breakout rooms, conducting polls, and taking assessments. Live virtual classroom technology was one of the early e-learning delivery modes that caught everyone’s attention for the gee-whiz factor. For a while, it looked like it might fade. However, what people quickly realized was that, of all the e-learning technology out there, live virtual classroom programs are the fastest and easiest to develop. In addition, LVC technology is an easy first step for instructors and learners and a simple sell to management. In some cases there is no need to sell management on LVC technology.

Organizations are installing live virtual classroom and e-meeting software on their internal networks or purchasing services from external providers who sell access to virtual classrooms by the hour and by the year. IDC, a leading technology consulting company, reports, “Worldwide, live e-learning is growing at an impressive rate, and IDC forecasts a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 50 percent between 2001 and 2006” (Anderson, Mahowald, & Brennan, 2002). This rapid growth means that in the next two to three years more organizations will have access to live virtual classrooms. These compelling facts ensure that LVC is here to stay. And an essential skill for educators will be a repertoire of strategies that make the most of this medium.

Why Use a Live Virtual Classroom?

The question can be answered from two angles: the economic perspective or the educational perspective—and the answers differ greatly.

The reasons for using live virtual classrooms are often rooted in the economics of this medium. The live virtual classroom has been championed by people who compare its economic advantages to traditional classroom programs and self-paced learning. The list below provides a summary of the economic reasons to adopt e-learning through LVC.

• LVC content is faster and less expensive to develop than self-paced instruction. The majority of live virtual classrooms programs are simply Power- Point presentations with a lecture. In many cases subject-matter experts (SMEs) deliver the lecture, eliminating the need to capture the SME’s knowledge in speakers’ notes or the need to transform that knowledge into a self-paced program. Compared to the traditional metrics for hours of development work needed to produce an hour of self-paced video, instructor-led classroom materials, and self-paced e-learning, LVC is faster and less expensive.

• LVC programs provide group learning without the travel and expense of traditional classroom programs.

• LVC programs unlock and capture knowledge by creating an opportunity for SMEs to share skills and knowledge and to capture that knowledge. Many of the virtual classroom programs offer the option of recording a session and editing it for later viewing. This is a simplistic form of knowledge management and knowledge capture.

There is nothing wrong with these economic justifications, but it is important to understand that these are not educational reasons for choosing the virtual classroom as an instructional medium. As any instructional designer knows, the place to start is with a clear understanding of the skill or knowledge gap you are trying to fill and a profile of the learners and then choose a strategy best suited to fill the gap. Although this may seem obvious, it is not uncommon for organizations to select the medium and then define their learning needs.

About a year ago I received a call from an instructional designer who had attended a presentation I gave on designing lessons for the live virtual classroom. She was facing a challenge the lecture had not addressed and she needed some advice. Her manager had purchased a live virtual classroom application for a project. The project was to train two thousand new employees acquired as the result of a merger. The employees were located in six East Coast states. The newly acquired employees had to learn how to use the phone system of their new parent company and learn the policies for processing calls. Despite the clear economic advantage of not having these employees travel, the instructional designer was struggling with creating a solution. The manager who had purchased the solution had made a business case that the software would eliminate the need to have employees travel, the training program could be rolled out quickly because it would not require the typical hundreds of hours of development, and it could be delivered by anyone in the parent company who knew the phone system and call handling process. The dilemma for this instructional designer was that she was locked into a delivery medium without regard for what her needs assessment determined. In this case, short-term economics were used as the basis for decision making and not educational criterion.

In dealing with the dilemma of having the medium chosen before understanding the educational needs, this instructional designer did a great job. She was able to create a blended solution that used the LVC to deliver the key concepts and then followed-up with job aids, site-based local mentors, and a playback session of the LVC that could be viewed on demand.

The real strengths of a virtual classroom are its collaborative features and the ability to conduct group learning.