Essential Tools for Trainers and Teachers
As we’ve recently talked about essential skills for trainers and teachers in our recent blogs. We wanted to discuss some essential tools for trainers and teachers. To help you facilitate any training or teaching you plan on undertaking. So what are training tools?
What are training tools?
Training/teaching tools are the programmes, platforms or templates that practitioners use to help them deliver training or teaching to their students. There are so many different varieties of training development tools that you can use. If we talked about them all, we’d be here for months! Some are more specific to training, whereas others would be specific to other sectors. But any tools that make you a better trainer are the tools you want!
So here are a few essential tools to think about.
Learning management systems
Learning management systems or LMS for short, are the best tools for trainers who want to create their own courses, as well as manage their users and track the performance of students’ online learning. Trainers need to know how to use the system, as well as use it to their advantage and without hassle. There are ways in which you can make your own system to use, or there are platforms out there that help you set it up and be able to use it within their own system. It’s completely up to you how you want to do it!
Content authoring tools
In short, authoring tools are software platforms that let you as trainers add a variety of media and multimedia files to help create engaging training. If you want to build interactive courses, an eLearning authoring tool is the best way to go.
Sometimes learning management systems come with built-in authoring tools, so you don’t have to go between different platforms. But it can also be a standalone software, it really depends again on how you want to deliver training.
Video software
Having the capacity to use and make videos is sometimes overlooked when it comes to training. Videos are becoming more in demand, so it’s helpful to make use of making videos and having editing software. Videos offer a more vivid and sometimes more engaging learning experience for the learners.
As well, the increase in new technology has made creating and sharing videos easy. Even basic videos can be made by anyone! There is plenty of software that you can use for free to make and edit videos. With the likes of PowToon, you make a variety of different videos, some in a presentation style with a voice-over. This one is especially great if you don’t want to get in front of a camera. Experiment with different types of videos, maybe you like one more than the other. Find one that fits your needs and objectives and have fun with it!
Whatever the subject matter you’re talking about in the video, whether it’s for different types of training, making sure you know how to use these video tools will enhance your learner’s experience and add an extra interactive touch to your course.
Social learning
Social learning may seem a bit vague, but having a variety of social channels is a good idea for trainers. These could be channels like group discussions, forums or game software. These channels can also be integrated into your training quite easily! Whether you want your learners to complete a short quiz, you can use a free software called Kahoot. It lets you create tailored quizzes for your learners, they only have to access it on the web. So this is a great way to see if you’re learners are taking in what you’re teaching them.
Integrating social media can sometimes be a good idea too, some students depending on age, are using social media as a search platform. As it’s becoming increasingly popular too, so engaging with them on social platforms to make learning more personalised can benefit their learning. Maybe encouraging a Facebook group for learners to go to in case they have questions or a page where they can share ideas.
Virtual classrooms
This one is going to be short and sweet. With the rise of the pandemic over the last two years, virtual classrooms became something of the norm. However, they proved themselves to be extremely beneficial not only to the students but the teacher too. Virtual classrooms make exchanging information between learners and trainers easier. You don’t have to travel between destinations and allow for travel time, they can just get on when the allotted time is and have everything they need in the virtual room. As it allows the trainer to share files and video/audio as well as have a chat function.
Keeping these tools up-to-date is extremely important, as it shows you can change with all the new and crazy technology. Maybe you want to use more presentation software, do some digging to see if there are more! Having all these different tools will start to make your training and teaching more engaging for the learner, and having engaged learners is what you want. So, we hope this was helpful for you. Did we miss any tools that you particularly use? If so then let us know! If you have any questions about becoming a trainer or teacher then please get in touch with our lovely team on 01205 805 155!