Shaping a Successful Virtual Learning Environment

The key to cultivating a successful learning environment is the virtual facilitator. This is because the synchronous facilitator—in partnership with the producer—is responsible for nurturing the environment that enables learners to blossom. Through their actions, tone, and words—whether they realize it or not—they can shape a positive, inclusive, and productive environment for virtual learning. The opposite is also true. Virtual facilitators and producers can inadvertently create environments that feel content-centric, sterile, apathetic, routine, intimidating, non-supportive, or even critical. Not only can this be a toxic environment, but it could create disengagement and hinder learning.

Although we tend to focus more on what happens inside an environment, we should realize that what happens within is influenced by the wrapper around it. In the context of virtual training, how learners and facilitators interact is shaped by the environment. For example, the degree to which learners choose to participate, whether they feel unwelcomed or undervalued, how safe they feel about speaking up even when they disagree, and how they are treated when they make mistakes during skill practices are all influenced by their surrounding environment.

Functional and healthy environments can be the foundation for building positive working relationships, learner-to-learner and instructor-to-learner, as established in chapter 2. “Participants need to feel like they have developed personal rapport with the instructor. It is even more important in an online environment than the traditional approach” (Hofmann 2004). When we successfully connect with learners and they connect with us, it can make all the difference for learning.

Virtual training technology platforms also play a role. The technology influences design decisions and facilitator behavior. Facilitators, in turn, shape the learning environment based on their decisions and actions. Then this learning environment shapes learners and their overall experience. So, technological platforms kickstart a domino effect of sorts by influencing a string of elements. According to the 2021 Educause Horizon Report, Teaching and Learning Edition, “As the adoption of blended or hybrid learning models has accelerated, so too has the adoption of new learning technologies and tools that support and even shape the implementation of those models” (Pelletier et al. 2021).

This leads us to the next capability, environment shaping. Virtual trainers need to know how to skillfully create positive, productive environments. But how should a virtual facilitator do this? Ideally, learning environments support all four dimensions of learning (cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioral) to combat learner disengagement and reduce the temptation to multitask. Overall, this chapter answers the question: What can facilitators do to ensure virtual learners are comfortable and connected in their learning environment so they can actively contribute in meaningful ways?

What Is a Learning Environment?

The live online learning environment is a living ecosystem. It projects a feel, tone, and energy where cultural norms dictate acceptable and unacceptable behavior. These surroundings also dictate whether the space will be collaborative or competitive, welcoming or distant, conversational or rote, led with credible professionalism or fraught with technical chaos.

Environment shaping, then, includes everything a virtual trainer or online educator does to influence this ecosystem. Shaping an environment encompasses all the little and big things facilitators, as leaders of the environment, say or don’t say, do or don’t do, react to or don’t react to. These are the established norms that lay the foundation for how the virtual training session will go and how all the interdependent parts will interact within it.

In this chapter, we specifically look at ways facilitators can develop their capability in environment shaping. We explore the 5 Cs Pyramid to understand the learner experience, lay out the welcome mat with activities before class, lead live sessions with enthusiasm and personalization, and foster psychological safety for learners. Regardless of how shiny the training technology’s bells and whistles might be, at the end of the day, it’s always still about people and learning.

The 5 Cs Pyramid: Staged Progression for Virtual Learners

The heart of this book is learner-centered experiences, as discussed in chapter 2. After 20 years of training online, I’ve noticed that many virtual learners experience a progression of mental stages when they join a virtual training session. Sometimes, they appear to fully progress through all these stages in only seconds, while for others, it may be much slower. I call these different stages the 5 Cs Pyramid (Figure 3-1). The usefulness of this pyramid is that it reminds you to be empathic toward the learner experience.

Figure 3-1. The Virtual Learner’s 5 Cs Pyramid

The goal, of course, is to move learners through all the stages as soon as possible without getting stuck in any one phase. It is important to note that much of this movement usually remains subconscious. For example, a learner may not actively think, “Is it safe for me to say something here?” Instead, they might think “I don’t want to look stupid” or “I don’t want to embarrass myself” without articulating those feelings aloud. Let’s examine each of the 5 Cs more closely.

1. Cautious

This is the first stage, when learners log into a platform and internally ask themselves any number of questions reflecting early caution. For example, they may ask themselves, “Did I click the right link?” “Am I in the right class?” “Is my tech working?” “Can everyone hear me and see me?” “Can I hear and see others?” “Should I be on camera because everyone else is?” “If I click this, will I lose my chat?”

Being cautious about entering a new space makes sense. This might be analogous to your first day at a new job where you need to report to a building to pick up your computer and meet your manager. “Is this the right building?” “Did I find the right reception area?” “What do I need to show for security?” “Am I parked in the right lot?” You remain cautious until you collect more information. Once you ascertain answers to these pressing questions, you begin to settle in. The same is true for virtual learners. Being cautious as they log into virtual training is natural because it’s a new class. In this chapter, we’ll explore several strategies to move learners from caution to higher levels in the pyramid.

2. Curious

After moving past caution, learners realize they can be seen and heard and are in the right place. Next, they’re curious. Their subconscious thoughts might be “Who else is here?” “Have my colleagues joined yet?” “Anyone I know?” “What do I think of them?” “Which one is the trainer?” Keep in mind these thoughts may remain subconscious and may not even be articulated.

Human beings are naturally curious. It’s normal and perfectly acceptable. Again, our goal is not to force learners to skip this stage, but instead help them move through it. This stage might be analogous to a graduate attending a graduation ceremony. Because you’re curious as a graduate first walking into the ceremony, you might be looking around to check who’s there. You might scan the crowd for people you know because you’re more comfortable around those people. Additionally, you might be curious about who’s going to hand you your diploma, who’s speaking at the lectern, and the path you’ll take to get to the stage.

Notice how the emotional dimension is the underpinning of this stage as well. And likeability—whether we like it or not—also comes into play. In this stage, learners may ask “Do I like my facilitator?” “Is my facilitator credible?” “Are they professional?” “Will they just cover stuff I already know?” “Who else is on camera?” “Does my hair really look like that?”

As learners are looking for answers to their curious questions, they may miss things you are saying when you begin your virtual training class. Curious thoughts take priority and capture initial attention. So, rather than diving in immediately when you begin your virtual training session, you might just reference the kinds of questions they’re already thinking and acknowledge them aloud. For example, you might say, “It’s great to have 15 of us here today from 10 different companies across Europe.” Or you can make sure that if you have critical opening comments, you signal their importance by slowing down your delivery for emphasis, and repeating them: “This is so important I’ll say it again,” or leading with a verbal signpost like “One of the most important things you’ll hear today is …” We’ll explore techniques like these more in chapters 4 and 6. These are ways to ensure you can redirect learners’ curiosity back to what you’re saying.

3. Comfortable

Imagine you were invited to attend a dinner party at someone else’s house for the first time. As you arrive and they invite you inside, the space is new to you, and they direct you where to place your shoes and offer to take your coat. They may ask you if you would like a drink, and perhaps show you to the living room. They may even offer you a tour of their home. How welcomed and safe you feel in the space dictates your comfort. This comfort level then influences whether and how you participate and share in the space that is not yours. You are very aware that you are the guest in this scenario.

In virtual training, learners may feel like guests in a virtual space because they are not hosting. They did not invite others, they were invited. Initially, learners understand that they surrender some amount of power to the host or leader of the event when they enter a space. However, throughout the course of the session you can and should give learners more voice, more challenge, and more power. This means they do more, and you do less. For them to spread their wings, take initiative, and speak up more, you need to ensure they feel comfortable in the space and eventually transition from comfortable guest to empowered contributor in the final stage.

4. Connecting

Let’s say you were recently hired for a new job and will be working on-site two days a week and then remote for the remainder. There are likely some questions you have that are more pressing than others. For example, on day one, you may care more about where your office or workspace is when you work on-site, how close you are to the restroom, where the cafeteria is and how to get there, what computer, monitors, and equipment you’ll be using, where to go to get your security badge, and how to locate your manager if they also work on-site a few days per week. Getting answers to these questions can take priority as you settle in. However, after you have found the answers, you will feel ready to meet people, learn their names and what they do at the company, and form relationships.

In a similar way, once learners acclimate to the virtual learning environment and have moved through the stages of caution and curiosity and become more comfortable, they are ready to start testing the waters and connecting with others. Connecting is about finding commonality, building positive work relationships, developing give and take, interacting socially, and learning about each other. This C clearly ties into the social dimension of learning discussed in chapter 2.

We know that connecting with people in productive ways is an important part of acclimating. Even brief introductions or sharing where you’re connecting from in chat can inspire receptiveness and a willingness to broaden one’s connections. As the facilitator, you can provide brief opportunities to spark interpersonal connection by leading exercises on whiteboards where learners can select an image or identify a word that most describes them.

One of the best ways to conduct introductions is through small breakouts near the beginning of class. People will feel more comfortable sharing and connecting in small groups at first, which warms them up for large group discussion later. (We’ll talk more about this in chapter 7.) You can provide brief instructions like “Share your name, organization, role, and favorite type of pet.” This way, in small groups of three to four people, participants can each take approximately a minute to introduce themselves, so it takes less time collectively. The pet prompt also sparks some fun and is an inroad to help people form bonds as they perhaps discover with delight that they both like dogs best, or hamsters, or perhaps, on a rare occasion, a pot-bellied pig. They may respond in kind by saying “Hey, horses are my favorite too!” Social connection has begun.

5. Contributing

The final stage is a learner’s interest and readiness to actively contribute in meaningful ways. Once a learner knows they are in the right place, have figured out who else is there and who they know, are beginning to feel more ease and comfort and likewise have let their guard down a bit, and have begun connecting with others, they are now more likely to contribute. We discussed how the social dimension of learning was linked to connecting. Ideally, contributing actively builds on all four dimensions of learning (cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioral). Evidence-based research suggests psychological engagement is essential for learning, and the cognitive and emotional dimensions together comprise this psychological engagement that can then lead to more social interaction and related activities (Clark 2020).

Overall, the 5 Cs Pyramid reminds us to support learners as they progress through the stages from cautious all the way to contributing as soon as possible. And we do not want them to remain stuck in one along the way. Our end goal is for them to be ready to actively give and receive. By contributing, I don’t mean clicking an animated thumbs-up reaction or voting in a poll, as these are more surface-level contributions, although they can lead to more. Rather, I mean that the small opening of their contribution ideally grows throughout to the point where they share a professional experience or story that connects with the training material, build on their prior knowledge and share likewise in chat or in a breakout, talk about insights they’re having from the training content, ask thoughtful questions, fully practice skills learned in class, take part in the role plays, actively listen and share in breakout groups, or offer feedback to others during a skill practice. These are just a few of the many ways learners can engage and contribute to the overall learning experience.

Virtual facilitators need to shape virtual learning environments so they are conducive to learners progressing up the pyramid from cautious to contributing. Using the 5 Cs as our guide, let’s look next at strategies to help facilitators do this. These strategies include laying out the welcome mat, opening live sessions with enthusiasm and personalization, and cultivating psychological safety with learners. All these strategies support the environment shaping capability. The skills needed for this capability include communication skills, clarifying expectations, proactively minimizing interruptions, rapport building, facilitating learners discovering their commonality, and, ultimately, building community.

Laying Out the Welcome Mat

Nurturing a positive and welcoming virtual learning environment is the natural outcome of a learner-centric approach. When virtual trainers are empathic to the learner experience, they recognize the importance of first impressions and how the communications and lead-up to a session can set the tone for class. To be learner-centric, facilitators should greet their class in such a way that learners immediately feel welcomed, seen, and heard. In other words, you want to lay out the welcome mat.

Laying out the welcome mat is everything we do beforehand to set the right tone for class. Notably, it reminds us to set expectations for productive and positive learning. Participants should also immediately feel they have entered a supportive space with positive energy. It only takes minutes to create a favorable or unfavorable impression, and sometimes even less.

As we’ve established, our goal is to help learners move from cautious to contributing. Of course, you would also welcome them in real time on class day. In this section, we’ll focus specifically on three things you can do to welcome them through multiple touchpoints before they come to a live online session. First, you can send learners a pre-session communication to set expectations above and beyond the one they may receive automatically from their LMS. Second, you can send a welcome video for participants to view ahead of time. And third, you can meet for a brief tech check before class if the platform is new to them or if they are new to the venue.

Establish Expectations in Pre-Session Communication

When you plot out a learner experience map as we discussed in chapter 2, you will be able to view and improve on all the touchpoints a learner will receive, and this will help you make decisions about timing and which messaging should come when. Many learning management systems allow you to customize automatic messages as reminders sent to learners about upcoming virtual training. These automated messages communicate to learners that they’re registered, when the class or program will take place, and the technology required. This is certainly an opportunity to customize the LMS messaging by including rewritten learning objectives that are more motivational for learners (as discussed in chapter 2) along with the expectations for the training program. For example, one expectation might be that the training is interactive, and they should come ready to participate.

It’s also helpful to incorporate an email welcome communication from the trainer. LMS emails are rarely brimming with personality. So, in addition to the automated invite that comes from the LMS with necessary links, dates, and times, send a welcome email just from you to share your excitement about the class and that you are looking forward to working with them. This allows you to personalize pre-session messaging and is also an opportunity for learners to hear directly from you beforehand. When you level-set expectations in any pre-session messaging, it can be a great way to alleviate the learners’ first and second Cs of the 5 Cs pyramid. Learners may have some level of anxiety and feel cautious as well as curious about the class. Use pre-session emails to help address those questions ahead of time and showcase your excitement, which helps them look forward to it. Then when they join the live virtual training session, they’ll be able to move quicker through the 5 Cs, so you can get them to the contributing stage earlier.

It is also important in pre-session messaging to remind learners to find an area free from distractions for virtual training. You should still remind participants of this at the outset of the session, but finding a quiet area is best accomplished well before the training begins. Advise them to find a space where they can close a door if possible, and to inform those they live with or who work nearby that they’re in a training session and should not be disturbed. I sometimes post a sign on my door that reminds people to be quiet as they walk by.

Send a Welcome Video

One of the best ways to ensure your virtual training session gets off to a great start is to create an instructor welcome video (Figure 3-2). This video can help set the tone for a productive live online class and set expectations for the class. More importantly, it can also alleviate some of the caution and curiosity learners might have when they first join a virtual training session, jumpstart the relationship building between the learner and facilitator, and prepare participants to contribute sooner. If they’ve already had a chance to see you in a video, they know what you look like, which helps address their curiosity about you. Ideally, you want them to find you friendly and approachable. As a client of mine put it, “Adding a video introduction of yourself will also allow the learner to connect with you right away so once the course has started, they feel they already know you and have built some form of relationship with you. I believe this will also give the learner some form of comfort upon arrival and it’s a great way to break the ice.”

Make your video available for learners to view one week before your live online class, and require this as part of their pre-work. When I teach a program that will meet multiple times, I always include a welcome video for participants to view a week before we begin. This is not so far in advance that they will forget what I said in the video, and it’s not last-minute either. I usually include a link to my welcome video in my welcoming instructor communication; other times, my client will send out my welcome communication with the link to the video, or I’ll post the video in the LMS as pre-work for them. (A sample script of a welcome video is included in chapter 11.)

Figure 3-2. Still Image of Trainer Welcome Video

What Are the Elements of a Successful Welcome Video?

Begin with the end in mind. Identify the result or final effect you want the welcome video to have on your learners. For example, you want them to come away from the video excited about and looking forward to the course. This ties into the emotional factor of motivation that we’ll talk more about in chapter 4. As author Clark Quinn (2021) articulates, “Motivation starts before the experience really begins. We want to have learners eager for the experience.” Your pre-session welcome video message can sow the seeds of enthusiasm for learners. The video can also showcase you and your presence.

Your welcome video can be shot on a mobile device depending on the quality of your camera. Alternatively, you can record yourself speaking from your desktop or laptop computer using its camera. Be sure to follow the guidelines in chapter 5 for how to come across effectively on camera when you record. To strengthen the impact of your welcome video, consider the following best practices:

• Convey enthusiasm for the topic by genuinely being excited yourself. Smile as you talk (when appropriate to what you’re saying). You want to convey that you are approachable, likable, and friendly to develop rapport.

• Build your professional credibility by sharing a few things about yourself, such as how long you’ve been training and your years of experience with the training topic.

• Set expectations for course work. For example, if it will be a blended learning program (see chapter 11), let them know the different course components. Share that there will be both asynchronous and synchronous work. Clarify that they will need to complete pre-work assignments before each live session. If they will be expected do a final presentation or final teach-back, give them this head’s up in the welcome video as well.

• Avoid referencing specific information that would outdate your welcome video so you can re-use it for repeat runs of this program or training class. For example, say the title of the course but avoid mentioning any dates.

• Keep it brief—between one and two minutes. Video messages should be to-the-point and serve to introduce you and course expectations, enough to satisfy participants’ caution and curiosity, and also start building connections. Anything more than three minutes is too long for a welcome video.

• Consider adding text overlays to show a few words onscreen next to you while you talk about them; for example, display “Action Plans” when you talk about how everyone will complete an action plan at the end of the virtual training program to be shared with their manager. You can use products like Camtasia or other video editors to add the text overlays.

• For a nuanced professional touch, add instrumental music to the background of your welcome video. Obviously, your words and image are the feature of the video, and the music underneath should support the video’s function. Ensure the volume of the music is very low. Music should never call attention to itself, be distracting, make it difficult to understand what you’re saying, or compete with your messaging. Alternatively, you could add music to the intro and the outro to infuse energy into the opening and close. Video editing software makes it easy for you to select royalty-free music assets and sound effects that you’re free to use without copyright clearance. For example, several musical selections are available to choose from right within the Camtasia Studio Library during your video editing. To prevent an abrupt stop to the music when your video ends, use the program’s audio features to fade it out for a smoother close.

• Require learners to view the video by a deadline (like the day before the first class begins), and create a worksheet to ensure they check it off and let you know it’s complete. Or set up the training program in the LMS so that it will track completion of items; then you can run reports to track whether learners have viewed the video. One technique that works effectively is generating an automatic reminder email to follow up individually with those who have not yet completed it a day before the deadline.

Conduct a Tech Check

To mitigate and alleviate initial caution when learners are new to a platform, you might consider scheduling a tech check a few days or a week before the session. I conduct these one-on-ones with learners if I know I’m teaching employees who are new to a specific platform. They leave the tech check knowing how to do it and have the confidence they can do it again (for example, they have confirmed their platform access, functioning audio, functioning camera, and their ability to successfully view and interact with the interface). I usually plan 10-minute slots during a drop-in window of time. The benefit of a one-on-one tech check is that it not only alleviates stress about the technology issues and allows you time to resolve issues well before class begins, but also you are afforded the opportunity to get to know your learners more intimately.

Minimize Distractions

Just as you can create a welcoming in-person environment conducive to the type of interaction you hope to have, you can also create a welcoming online environment by reducing distractions and handling interruptions well. Intermediate and advanced facilitators do what they can to minimize interruptions and distractions for their learners throughout virtual training. Some preventive measures you can take with learners include pre-class messages encouraging them to find an area free from distraction or noise, and reminders when you go over netiquette at the outset of virtual training to close applications, turn off phone notifications, and find a quiet space.

But what about when interruptions occur during virtual training? If there’s feedback in the audio or you hear people talking in the background or dogs barking, you want to address that right away. If it’s allowed to continue, your learners will be distracted by it. You can ask your producer through private chat to find the person with their mic on and have them muted; if you have a seasoned producer, they may be on top of that already without you asking. As the facilitator, you could also calmly and politely say, “We’re getting some audio background noise. Again, we appreciate you muting your line as a courtesy to colleagues when you’re not speaking. Thanks, everyone.”

Learners can also be inwardly distracted. You can address this by acknowledging where they’ve been and then refocus them to be present. For example, you might say, “You may have just come from a meeting where your deadline was moved up or you just got off a video call that added items to your to-do list. But let’s set that all aside for now, and you can pick it up again after this class. Right now, let’s turn our attention to this moment and be present here for the next 90 minutes together. I encourage you to make the most of it. This professional development time is for you.”

Opening Live Sessions With Enthusiasm and Personalization

The opening of a virtual training session is where the tone is set and the environment begins to take shape. Therefore, it’s important to take several steps on the front-end to do this well. For example, to effectively shape a learning environment, you should open and lead with upbeat, positive enthusiasm. This effervescence can create a communal space that learners want to be a part of, instead of run from.

Additionally, when you open a virtual training session, remember to always explain why the training is needed. As cognitive psychologist Clark Quinn (2021) notes, “We should introduce the audience to what they’ll learn, touching on why they should care, and what it will provide for them. Opening up learners emotionally is an investment in the retention of learning.” By touching on the WIIFM (what’s in it for me?), we trigger intrinsic motivation for learners to be more present in the experience. Once they know why they should care and how a training program might benefit them, this influences their motivation to be attentive. It also serves us well to remember to engage learners with all four core dimensions of learning (in addition to emotion as part of learner motivation).

Moreover, our goal is to move learners from the cautious stage to the contributing stage as soon as possible. To do this, there are different techniques we can use when we greet participants, provide a brief platform tour, clarify netiquette, include to-the-point introductions, and elicit learner participation from the outset. Let’s explore these next.

Greet Participants With Enthusiasm

Developing capability in environment shaping helps you be mindful of the little things you can do to create a positive environment. One of those little things is projecting the energy that you want your learners to also demonstrate. Enthusiasm has always been a hallmark of great teachers, educators, and trainers. Energy is contagious, and whether it’s negative or positive, it can trickle down easily to learners.

For example, a virtual facilitator who begins a session frustrated and upset about a technical issue that just happened can unintentionally poison the energy of what could have otherwise been a positive environment. Contrast this with a facilitator who begins virtual sessions with passion and enthusiasm for the topic. Best-in-class online facilitators are genuinely excited about the training topic (for some topics, we need to dig deep and find the “nugget”), as this also helps with the emotional dimension of learning to spark the same feelings in virtual learners.

Remember, too, that energy takes a hit online. Work to project twice the level of passion, energy, and enthusiasm you would normally have because of what can be lost through the electronic transmission. As one of my colleagues in the field put it best, if the trainer is not excited, why should the learners be?

Use Learners’ Names Often

One of the best ways to engage learners with enthusiasm is to greet them by name as they first log in. Although it’s generally not feasible to do this for every learner entry, you can still do it intermittently or by greeting them in batches. Your producer may also do this for you while you attend to last-minute review of your notes or prep. For example, every few minutes you could greet different individuals you see joining, saying “Good morning, Krister, Claudia, and Ji-Ho. Great to have you with us! We’ll get started here in just a few minutes.” Or “Welcome everyone! I see Naomi and Ahmed just joined us, good morning, good afternoon, and good evening wherever you are in the world. We’ll begin in just about five minutes.”

Speaking learners’ first names aloud is effective because most people have been responding to their names since birth, and it becomes a deeply ingrained response. So, when we hear our first name called, we immediately sit up a little straighter and give the speaker our full attention. This personalization is a level of customization that is easy to do and makes it feel like you’re talking directly to participants—a personal and memorable touch!

Incorporate Learners’ Names Into Examples

You can also offer customized examples in your training topics and insert some of your participants’ names into these examples for added focus. So if you were training on negotiation skills, you might say “One of our key concepts is to recognize that when the person with whom I’m negotiating says no, it is not the end of the conversation, it is only the beginning. For example, let’s assume Austin and Travis are having this discussion, and Travis says no. So, Austin digs deeper by asking probing questions to uncover what the core premise is underneath Travis’s no response. Once Austin understands Travis’s objection, he can figure out a way to address the concern, and from there, work toward a compromise.” In this example, Austin and Travis are listening intently because they have been woven into the content, as are the other participants because they’re listening to see if their names will be used too.

Display Welcoming Messages

Welcoming learners while you’re on camera is an effective way to convey enthusiasm. By being on camera, you’ll find that others are more likely to turn on their cameras too. This means you would not project any slides but greet participants on camera to establish relationships instead. At the close of your session, you can come back on camera as you bid farewell to all. This serves as a nice bookend for kickoff and closing out the virtual training.

Another technique is to include a welcoming title slide. This slide, with correct title of program, again helps assure learners they are in the right place and accelerates them out of the cautious zone.

Additionally, you can post a welcome message in chat before learners arrive. This way, they’ll see it when they first log in. At SkillPath, when we trained in virtual sessions, we always posted a welcoming message to participants in chat on the various platforms. We were also trained to change the color of our text in chat, so the facilitator text would pop out for learners, which is something we used a lot in Adobe Connect. However, depending on your platform this could have adverse effects. In Adobe Connect, Zoom, and other platforms, I’m used to typing in my welcome in chat 30 minutes beforehand as I get set up. One time when I used Microsoft Teams, however, I typed a welcome in the chat so it would be ready to go when learners arrived. But, connected through Teams’ chat, my learners received the message in real time, and I received several messages back along the lines of, “I thought we were starting at 10 a.m.” or, “Did the training get moved up to 9:30?” Oops! I learned to not send my message early in some platforms. I chatted back letting them know they could disregard the message I was prepping for setup, and that they were correct about the start time.

Acknowledge International Attendees

If you know you have attendees from several countries or a mix of time zones, acknowledge this to all. Remember, learners want to be seen. If they’re joining in the middle of the night, they also often wish to share this extra effort with everyone. For example, you might hear them say “Very early morning here in XXX” or “Joining after hours from XXX.” So, when you begin, you might say something like, “Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening wherever you are in the world.”

Novice virtual trainers often focus solely on their own location. For example, they might say, “It’s raining and cloudy where I am.” But the training session is not about us. Better to say, “Let me know in chat what the weather is doing where you are. It’s raining here. Ahh, warm and sunny in Florida, but rainy and cold in Seattle, and dark, cold, and the middle of the night for …” You can briefly acknowledge what the weather is where you are as an example, but then shine the spotlight back on your participants. This is a way to strategically break the ice and can be used as another tactic to help learners move from cautious to contribute on the 5 Cs Pyramid.

The environment shaping capability also includes being respectful of all cultures. For international, cross-cultural classes, you should thoughtfully weigh the start times of the sessions to best accommodate learners, varying the start time if it’s a recurring class or finding the best alternate times to hold live class by collecting input from some of the actual learners. When I’ve taught international sessions, I’ve sometimes taken a night shift if it meant the class would take place during daytime for the attendees.

Take Learners on a Brief Platform Tour

Establishing where everything is located on a platform and how to find it is important to always include at the start of a virtual training session. Once learners establish where everything is, and it becomes more automated for them, their working memory is freed up to focus on the content instead of where that button is. To incorporate the doing aspect of the behavioral dimension of learning, it’s great to have them do a fun, easy warm-up using that feature or tool while you talk about it. For example, the brief tour might remind them where chat is and ask them to type what time they woke up that morning as a fun warm-up. Then show them where the hand-raising feature is and have them practice lowering and raising their hands. You can also remind them how to mute themselves and turn on their cameras, and where to locate their annotation toolbar.

Although I always recommend a brief platform tour at the outset, I also recommend reminding learners again right before you ask them to use a feature or tool (if it’s more complicated to find). Repetition, repetition, repetition. For example, when you ask them to use their annotation toolbar while you’re presenting slides or bring up a whiteboard, remind them where they can locate that feature.

Note that part of this task is to acknowledge that tools may be in a different location than other platforms they’ve used before, or they may even appear different than yours because you are logged in as host or organizer. Thus, it’s always helpful to have a separate monitor where you are also logged in as a participant, in addition to your host login. For example, in Zoom, for participants to annotate a slide while the facilitator is screen sharing, participants need to click View Options in the menu at the top of the Zoom window to see the Annotate option. However, for facilitators, when you’re screen sharing, you can click Annotate in the Floating Controls Toolbar, which then opens the annotation toolbar for you. In addition, a second monitor can help you observe firsthand any delays for learners as you advance slides. I remember using a platform years ago where there was a two-second delay after I switched my slides before learners saw what I was seeing. So, back then I had to remind myself to count “one-one thousand, two-one thousand” in my head before I started talking about the slide after I advanced it.

Establish Netiquette Guidelines

Some call them ground rules; others call them housekeeping items. I prefer to call them netiquette, a portmanteau of internet and etiquette. We use these to establish expectations for respectful interactions and how we agree to be together in the shared, virtual space. Although some guidelines should also be communicated in the pre-session messaging, you can reinforce them as you open the virtual training session.

Setting expectations like clarifying netiquette, how to minimize distractions, and how to communicate with learners and the trainer also have ties to improved performance outcomes. According to a 2021 ATD research report on virtual training, “Nearly all expectation-setting practices for learners identified for the research had significant connections to better organizational performance.” For example, muting is important unless speaking if you have a larger group of learners who are in noisy environments. However, if you have eight or fewer learners and they are in relatively quiet locations, you might want to ask them to not mute. The reason for this is because muting can kill conversation since the need to unmute creates a tiny bit of friction before participating. Removing that friction can aid in fostering richer, more fluid, and deeper discussions.

Some items to include on a netiquette slide are:

• “We want to hear from everyone. This is your class. Be prepared to fully participate.”

• “Please mute if there is distracting noise in your background.”

• “Be respectful of each other’s comments, suggestions, insights, and questions. We value inclusivity.”

• “Make sure you are in an environment free of distraction. Close your door, minimize any applications on your device, set your phone to vibrate, close your email, and so on.”

• “Ask lots of questions—there are no right or wrong questions today.”

• “Chat will be available during most of our virtual training session. We will be turning it off during focus sections. Please keep your typed responses to a few phrases or words in chat instead of multiple sentences to ensure scannable viewing for all.”

• “Let our producer know in the technical chat pod if you have any technical issues.”

In your netiquette guidelines, you might also recommend learners hide their self-view on camera after they’ve appropriately adjusted themselves in the camera frame, and offer the steps to do so. I recommend people learn how to hide their self-view because it can become a distraction. According to Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson and leadership consultant Gene Daley, “Seeing oneself on the screen can heighten self-consciousness, inhibiting psychological safety. Selecting ‘hide self-view’ can help” (Edmondson and Daley 2020). Since people are generally drawn to looking at themselves when they talk, like they’re looking in a mirror, they won’t be focusing on the other learners or the facilitator. You’ll even notice some people adjusting their hair as they look at their reflected image. Because of this popular tendency, Microsoft Teams has even moved the live camera of oneself on the platform away from the images of everyone else. This is one way to direct more attention to everyone else’s photos and live video.

You want to establish netiquette boundaries in three ways: visually, verbally, and behaviorally. These parameters guide how learners agree to meet in this space going forward. It’s also helpful to display a slide that has pictorial representations with some reminder text to illustrate what the guidelines are. These reminders are also reinforced by the facilitator and producer as leaders of the live event.

Clarifying netiquette behaviorally means that learners must be called out right away if any of the rules are not upheld. For example, if you have a group of 20 and have asked them to mute, but you hear background noise that continues for several seconds, you can look at the participant panel to see who has their mic on, ask if there’s anything they would like to contribute, and then ask them politely to mute in accordance with the agreed-upon netiquette. When there is immediate follow-up, learners quickly grasp that these guidelines are being enforced, which encourages greater cooperation.

You might also direct them to close their email, turn off email notifications, close applications they won’t be using, silence their mobile devices, or even remove their mobile devices from the immediate area unless you’ll be using them during class. And as is the case with all adult learners, always explain why. Adults need the rationale. Let them know research has found that processing takes a hit when we are task switching, and we are unable to process as deeply. Additionally, closing applications that are not needed for class conserves their bandwidth. Another important and often forgotten piece of behavior reinforcement is expert modeling. Facilitators should model good netiquette by ensuring there is no distracting audio in the background, making sure your live video is professional and you are on camera for important interactions, being respectful in words and actions when others offer comments, and welcoming all training-related questions whether they be major or minor.

Use Get-to-the-Point Introductions

Another common error for virtual trainers is the temptation to provide a lengthy introduction about themselves. Bottom line: Learners don’t care about these details. Yes, it’s important to establish credibility as a trainer and to combat distractions and multitasking. However, when a facilitator introduction turns into extensive background information, related degrees, the history of whatever, and the why behind the why, it can quickly escalate to a snooze fest.

As a best practice, keep your on-camera intro brief and to-the-point. Brevity is always better. Your producer may even introduce you or your customer or the manager of the employees with whom you’re training. If not, go ahead and introduce yourself.

Regarding participant introductions, keep these brief as well, so you don’t spend half an hour on introductions when the class is only 90 minutes. That’s a third of live class time! Instead try intros in small group breakouts or via chat by having learners share their name, their role in their organization, and another item related to the training topic. You might also address this through whiteboard activities.

Elicit Learner Participation From the Outset

When learners first log in to a virtual training, they arrive from a variety of different states and activities (some just finished a meeting, others just presented to a board, others were working independently on some writing, and so on). As we will explore further in the next chapter, to make the most out of the learning experience, participants need to move from their current resting, passive state to an active, engaged state. They need help fighting the inertia of sitting back and not getting involved.

The key is to never allow learners to remain in this passive sit-and-get state, because it becomes increasingly difficult to transition them out of it. Instead, we want to involve them from the very beginning. For example, when learners first join you might give them something to do, such as introduce themselves in the chat. Alternatively, you might display a looping slideshow that includes information about the facilitator, expectations for the course, some of the platform tools you’ll be using, and an assignment like answering a trivia question. It’s always more impactful if your trivia question can tie into your training topic as well.

When there is not a lot of change or movement, learners can also habituate to the environment and begin to pay less attention, which we will discuss further in chapter 8. In this state of lowered attentiveness, they are not giving their full attention to the information. For this reason, we want to be talking with them, calling on them, using their names in examples, demonstrating things, and actively having them do something.

However, there is a fine line; be careful not to include too many actions for learners when they first log in and as they are waiting for class to begin, which can overload learners. Remember they’re acclimating through the 5 Cs, and having to take on multiple tasks right away might cause them to remain in the cautious stage. Assigning one clear task is acceptable, but a class of novice virtual learners, for example, should not be tasked with six things to do when they first log in.

Up to this point in the chapter we’ve covered strategies for laying out the welcome mat and opening with enthusiasm. To ensure learners feel comfortable with the environment you’re shaping and with you the facilitator and their fellow learners, we can draw on findings for what makes teams click. Google set out to find what makes the most effective teams in an experiment called Project Aristotle. Over several years, after analyzing more than 180 teams, researchers determined five key characteristics of effective teams, and top of the list was psychological safety (Burnison 2019). Let’s examine this now.

Cultivating Psychological Safety

In 1999, organizational behavioral scientist and professor Amy Edmondson coined the term psychological safety. According to Edmondson (2019), “Psychological safety describes a climate where people feel safe enough to take interpersonal risks by speaking up and sharing concerns, questions, or ideas.” A psychologically safe environment is one where everyone believes they won’t be punished or embarrassed for taking risks around others. In other words, they feel safe to admit a mistake, entertain productive disagreement, ask for help, generate ideas, or share a critical comment for the sake of improvement and productivity. I have high standards for virtual trainers, and one of them is digging deep and caring. The popular axiom is true: People don’t care what you know until they know that you care.

Edmondson is also quick to point out that psychological safety does not necessarily mean squelching conflict. Learners need to know they are in a safe space to share. The opposite of psychological safety would be a learning environment where there was fear about looking bad, anxiety about perfection, fear of admitting mistakes, blame-setting when things go wrong, conformity in viewpoints, and even group-think because respectful dissident voices are not expressed.

Cultivating psychological safety could start with establishing very clear expectations for how people will behave in the virtual training environment. For example, at the outset of training, you might say something like,

This could also mean weighing leadership’s attendance in the virtual training carefully. If a senior leader, director, or manager wishes to join, it might be better for them to share how the training ties into their strategic objectives at the opening but then leave as the training moves on. Sometimes people are uncomfortable speaking and sharing freely if their supervisors are present. You can always circle back to leadership after the virtual training has ended.

Cultivating an environment where learners are not afraid of being embarrassed, judged, criticized, or singled out is an important component of establishing a productive virtual learning environment. And it is an ongoing process. As Britt Andreatta (2018) explains, “Be aware that your words and actions have an impact on others. Think about how you create psychological safety for others and how you earn their trust. These moments are easily harmed by unintentional insensitivity that does more damage than many people realize.”

Encourage Different Perspectives

How can we cultivate psychological safety in virtual training? Through our words, tone, and behavior. We want to lead the effort to create a space where we explicitly set the expectation that we want to hear from all voices and that all voices matter. We set the stage for this in writing, with our netiquette slide at the beginning; we reinforce this by saying it verbally; and when learners contribute comments, we always affirm and appreciate their efforts, demonstrating this principle with our behavior. We must not ignore comments or cut people off or dismiss a comment as irrelevant. Instead, we must listen intently to what they say and follow-up or even dig deeper into their comments to learn more and recognize their contributions. Edmonson (2020) even recommends using open-ended questions like “What are we missing?” “Who has a different perspective?” or “What might happen if … ?” These questions positively encourage different perspectives in a healthy way. This is because “disagreement and dissent are signs of healthy conflict” (Edmondson 2020). Other questions I’ve used in virtual training classes include “What might be an example of this?” “Tell me more,” and “Help me understand why …”

Leverage Virtual Tools to Foster Psychological Safety

There are specific virtual training platform tools you can use to support psychological safety, which we’ll explore in greater depth in chapter 7. For now, you can strategically use features like small breakout groups or anonymous tools to break the ice and provide a safer space to open up at first.

Learners feel more comfortable sharing in a smaller group and are more likely to voice ideas that can later be raised to the group at large during the debriefing. These ideas otherwise might go unspoken in the large group dynamic because in a larger the group, there is a smaller percentage of active participants. With smaller groups, we are more likely to hear from everyone. Working on specific assignments in small groups provides a psychologically safe space to build relationships and test out ideas first, which makes it easier for participants to share later with a large group (Edmondson and Daley 2020).

You can also leverage anonymous tools to support psychological safety. For example, I have observed that my learners participate more when we use the whiteboard if it is anonymous. I remind them of this out loud as well. Contrast this with chat and raising your virtual hand or talking out loud, where everyone can see who said and did what. (Note that many platforms, like Zoom, now reveal your names when you use the whiteboard, so turn off this feature is you want to leverage anonymity.)

Other anonymous tools include polling. Polling can be leveraged to read the room or take the temperature on a topic among learners. Afterward, people are more likely to speak up to support why they voted the way they did once they see where they range in terms of the majority and minority. There are fewer unknown variables once the poll results are broadcast, so it feels like a safer space to share why you voted how you did depending on how the group at-large voted and whether you were an outlier. As Amy Edmondson and Gene Daley (2020) report, “Anonymous polls make it easy to express an opinion without fear of being singled out.”

Model Vulnerability

Mistakes and failures are how we learn. Yet we have been conditioned by some of our cultures to always look good in front of others and especially those in higher positions of authority, such as an instructor. As virtual facilitators we are leaders and we need to set the tone that vulnerability is OK. As Britt Andreatta (2018) articulates, we need to model the characteristics that help shape psychological safety by “proactively inviting input through questions that broaden and deepen the discussion … Celebrate failures as learning.”

One way is to use vulnerable phrases that you then hope learners will reciprocate. A facilitator might say, “I need your help,” or “I’ve listed some that I could think of on this slide, but what other ones can you think of? I’d love to hear your input,” or “I want to hear about your biggest challenges when you …” This way, virtual facilitators model the tough topics and demonstrate they can be talked about. Learners, in turn, mirror that behavior.

Whether a virtual training session feels rewarding or punitive ultimately influences whether learners participate and how they interact with each other and with their facilitator. Think about a meeting where a dictatorial boss openly chastises or threatens to fire anyone who disagrees with their ideas. This hostile work environment inspires dysfunction because it creates a punitive environment for employees who share real ideas, and they are only rewarded for compliance. Although this example is harsh, it also illustrates the power of the leader. As leaders in virtual training, the facilitator and producer must own and share the responsibility of ensuring participants feel welcomed, at ease, psychologically safe, and valued in virtual training sessions.

Affirm and Reward Learners: “I See You—I Want to Hear From You”

In addition to asking probing, open-ended questions, we also want to affirm learners’ contributions. Media mogul Oprah Winfrey has shared many times through various media that after 25 years of interviewing thousands of people on the Oprah Winfrey Show, there was one important takeaway that stood out from everything else: Everyone has a need to be seen and heard; in essence, we all matter because we do. This principle resonates deeply with me as a virtual trainer and facilitator. Our learners want to be seen and heard too. We have discussed welcoming learners, calling out their responses when they are on target, seeing them as individuals, and facilitating learner-to-learner and learner-to-facilitator connections, but we also want to recognize their contributions—the last C in the 5 Cs Pyramid.

How do we recognize learners’ contributions? By what we pay attention to and what we say and do. If learners say something out loud and we say nothing afterward, they will likely not speak again. Even a “Yeah,” “That’s right,” “You’re on the right track,” or “Couldn’t have said it better myself” are verbal confirmations for affirmation and reward. Learners look to you as the authority in the virtual space and on the subject matter. It is rewarding when you authentically compliment them. As facilitators, we can elevate learners’ self-esteem and confidence to become their best selves (Biech 2017). Nonverbal communication can also go a long way to show affirmation. For example, when learners see their facilitator smiling (or other people smiling at them), it is rewarding to the brain. As you engage in discussions with them, make sure you genuinely provide a compliment when warranted (such as “That’s a really great point,” “Well said,” or “Excellent work”).

You can also work to build on learners’ contributions as a way of affirming them verbally. This demonstrates that their comment was insightful enough to spend a bit more time on it; for example, “Let’s see if we can build on that; Joe what do you think,” “Where could we take that from here?” or “That’s a really interesting point. Tell me more about how you think that might work?” Ensuring your verbal tone demonstrates how pleased you are when learners demonstrate a new skill or knowledge in what you’re training is rewarding too.

If you provide affirmation and rewards as learners begin to contribute, you will see their participation grow. However, it might not always be prudent to call out every single contribution, such as in the chat. A novice facilitator might say, “The chat is blowing up. People seem to have lots of questions about this,” and then proceed to read every comment aloud verbatim. Intermediate facilitators, on the other hand, can be mindful of how to leverage these contributions in a way that doesn’t overload participants or take too long. Remember, chat responses are visible for all to read in the session. You can sort through the chat strategically and highlight a few that are on target or that you wish to comment on later. You will experience some cognitive overload as a facilitator at some point because you are advancing slides, speaking, watching chat, reading chat, and deciding to highlight a few—all at the same time. If this becomes too much for you, enlist the help of your producer. For example, you might say “Cheryl, what are some of the posts we’re seeing in chat so far?”

It’s always helpful to learners when you affirm their contributions and participation aloud, but don’t overdo it. What gets rewarded, gets repeated.

Summary

Overall, our goal is to cultivate a welcoming environment where all learners feel seen, heard, supported, valued, and respected. As author Elaine Biech (2017) writes, “Create a learning environment of trust and respect.” To build a trusting environment, it is up to the facilitator to be authentic, genuine, and a present listener; to be respectful in comments, have your learners’ best interest at heart, and care about their journeys; and to model mutual respect. Ultimately, you shape the environment that influences the virtual learners’ experiences.

As we have explored, there are many strategies you can use to create a respectful online environment. These environments become the wrapper that influences everything that happens within. By laying out a welcome mat in a variety of ways pre-session, leading the sessions with enthusiasm and personalization, and nurturing psychological safety, you can cultivate a successful learning environment. This way learners are comfortable sharing and contributing without fear of being judged or embarrassed.

Not only is it important to build a supportive learning environment, you also need to be expertly skilled in virtual facilitation. This is because virtual learning environments require an expanded skill set from traditional classroom facilitation. In the next chapter, we’ll uncover the secrets to successful online facilitation!

Pro Tips for Practicing Your Environment Shaping Skills

TIP 10	Build community with connecting activities (even brief ones) to foster social learning and help learners discover commonality with one another.
TIP 11	Reference the 5 Cs Pyramid to guide your empathic responses to virtual learners as they first acclimate.
TIP 12	Welcome participants via multiple touchpoints in multiple ways.
TIP 13	Continually incentivize and reward active participation from learners.
TIP 14	Proactively minimize potential distractions and interruptions to promote learning.
TIP 15	Build connection with personalization, calling learners by their first names throughout and weaving their names into customized examples to grab learner attention.
TIP 16	Communicate netiquette expectations at the outset and reinforce them throughout if needed.
TIP 17	Include brief, to-the-point introductions for initial connection through chat, breakouts, whiteboard activities, or even verbal introductions when class size is small.
TIP 18	Cultivate psychological safety during virtual training by creating a safe space for learners to take interpersonal risks and make mistakes without fear of criticism, shame, or embarrassment from the facilitator or other learners.