Sure, it’s easy to bash online training.
After all, just look at the criticisms: The quality is lower. It’s not engaging. It’s too easy to cheat. There’s no interaction with other students. It’s too difficult to learn the technology.
You might be tempted to buy into these popular misconceptions about online learning. It’s true that, just as with in-person learning, online learning can have its drawbacks. But when done correctly, online learning provides many of the same benefits as–and can even be superior to–in-person instruction.
While providing many of the same benefits as in-person instruction, online learning is also:
Less expensive: Online courses eliminate travel time and long commutes for students and instructors, and can reduce materials costs and other expenses on the provider’s end.
More equitable: Students in outlying or underserved areas have access to the same quality of instruction.
More flexible: Students can access their course from wherever they have a working internet connection, including home, school, and places like their local public library. In addition, content can be broken up into more easily consumable pieces, allowing for shorter sessions and/or breaks when needed.
More effective: Live, instructor-led online classes can support varied learning styles by providing multiple ways of accessing information; encouraging active learning through videos, games, and group discussions; and promoting creative problem solving.
Easier to monitor: Online learning platforms allow data from exams and certifications to be easily stored and managed. With a few clicks, students, regulatory agencies, and service providers are able to access student data and easily share it with others.
Training that doesn’t put you to sleep
If your only experience with online training has been flipping through PowerPoint slides or reading a required text before taking a test, you may be surprised by the breadth and depth of current online learning.
Evergreen Safety Council is a leader in providing high quality, state- and regulatory agency-compliant online education programs. Our programs increase access to in-demand certifications and renewals for people who can’t attend classes in person. Like our in-person classes, all of our online offerings have been developed by our top-notch curriculum designers, with the input of industry professionals.
Cutting class or cutting edge?
The Covid-19 crisis left schools and training programs scrambling to deliver content online overnight, with mixed results. Many offerings served as a quick fix to comply with existing requirements, but lacked structure and ease of access. The result: frustrated instructors, frustrated students, and subpar learning experiences.
Unlike many schools and training programs that have had to quickly adapt their in-person curriculum to accommodate new distance learning needs, Evergreen Safety Council’s online classes have been designed as stand-alone courses, maintaining the best parts of our popular in-person curriculum while incorporating characteristics specific to the online delivery method.
Courses built with online delivery in mind
This is an essential part of making an online course engaging, insightful, and organized. At Evergreen Safety Council, we teach with three optimized delivery methods of online training: Live streaming, self-guided and blended learning.
Live Streaming Delivery:
Our instructor-led online courses utilize video platforms to deliver an authentic and customizable learning experience to students, wherever they may be.
Our expert instructors encourage active learning with slides, short videos, and group activities, and they can listen and respond to students’ questions at any time. Advanced exam platforms and video proctoring systems ensure test-takers’ identities, monitor behavior, and prevent cheating.
Self-Guided Delivery:
Our self-guided online courses are no less rigorous, with lessons designed to meet current industry standards that students can access on their own time and complete at their own pace.
Blended Learning Delivery:
We also offer “blended” classes, featuring a hybrid model of online and in-person coursework.
In these classes, students typically progress through the online training portion at their own pace and meet in a classroom for practical, hands-on instruction and testing.
The Covid-19 crisis may have put a temporary hold on in-person gatherings, but it hasn’t diminished interest in obtaining professional certification in areas such as forklift operation, pilot car operation, and defensive driving skills. In fact, demand for these offerings in an online delivery format has only increased.
Becoming job-ready is just a click away
You can learn more about all of our cutting-edge online training courses below. To stay up to date on our latest online program offerings, consider subscribing to our mailing list, and select “online training” as your interest. We are available via chat, email, or phone and are happy to answer any questions or concerns you may have.
