Chapter 1 - Introduction

Welcome to your online "Train the Trainer: How To Design And Structure An Online Training Course". This course is designed for you to easily create and deliver an online training course.

For over 20 years our trainers at Total Success Training have taught thousands of our delegates to become more effective by teaching them practical tips and techniques that can be used immediately.  

We’ve designed all of our courses to be both practical and easy to follow and have included topics that we feel will help you to learn quickly and easily.  

To get the best out of this on-line training course please complete all of the topics but go through each one at the pace you feel comfortable with. You may decide to do it in one go or in stages. It’s all up to you.

We have included lots of exercises and quizzes to get you thinking, planning and using the course information in the most practical way. You are allowed to complete the course within 30 days of booking. During this time you can take as many attempts as you like. Please note, after 30 days your booking will expire and you will have to repurchase the training course.

This online course or any portion thereof may be copied, reproduced or used in any manner. Permission granted to reproduce for personal, educational or commercial use.

Chapter 2 - Structuring Your Online Course

In this chapter you will:

1. Consider the contents – what needs to be included to achieve your objective
2. Structure the contents to achieve a flowing narrative that makes sense

At this stage you have a focus and a direction about what you need to achieve and this is essential when you have to structure the contents of the session to achieve these aims.

You will use your aims and objectives to create an outline for your course. This can be something as simple as a bulleted topical outline, or as detailed as a storyboard.

To do this as efficiently you can use the follow structure:

1. Identify possible topic areas – main topic headings
2. Identify related topic areas – ideas within each topic heading
3. Identify key stages – ensuring your content matches your timeframe
4. Create a logical sequence – having a smooth narrative flow of your topic

Let’s look at each one in more detail in the next few pages. Please try to complete each exercise as stated with each item. This will help you to start building your structure.

Chapter 3 - Writing the Contents

Writing the training and adding interest to the topics.

In this chapter you will learn how to:

• Write your trainer’s notes and create a training narrative
• How to create a storyboard for your course

You now have a skeleton structure and know what contents will achieve the training aims and objectives and this is a great stage to accomplish because now it gives you a map of what to put into your course and allows you to start writing the contents.

Chapter 4 - Engaging and Memorable Training

Training is not just simply about showing trainees what to do or giving them information on a PowerPoint slide, but about getting them to achieve a higher level of competence or knowledge of the subject.

A successful training course recognises this fact and will consider the appropriate use of a combination channels - sight, sound, touch and emotional engagement - to create a presentation which will be interesting, understood and remembered.

These are just a few of the ways to make your training more engaging and interesting. Bloom’s Taxonomy as an approach to balancing your course activities while also engaging your trainees.

In the taxonomy, learners start at the base layer, or the “Remember” step, and work their way up as they master the content in the increasingly complex layers. While the base layer is considered the lowest level of learning, no other learning can take place until a student has the prerequisite knowledge acquired there.

The graphic already includes a few suggested activities that apply to the experience of learning online, but there are many more applicable activities out there. You’ll likely discover several of them through individual research, through learner suggestions or even accidentally.

If you’re using Bloom’s as a framework for online course creation, it’s worth noting that everything in the learning experience column is active instead of passive. Learners must DO something to learn. It is not enough to just record dozens of videos of yourself speaking into the camera, unless you’re giving learners opportunities to apply the content they’re learning about – which should align well with the actionable learning aims and objectives you laid out at the start.

Fostering engagement

Interactive elements is a great way to turn passive learners into active learners. Elements such as simulations, games, discussion boards, surveys or quizzes help keep learners engaged. Let’s take a deeper dive into some content strategies that drive engagement.

Let’s examine some simple strategies for making your presentations more interesting in the next pages.