Instructor Led Training vs. Self-Paced Learning. Which one works better for your company?

The ways of approaching educational processes directly influence the way knowledge are both understood and retained. Depending on the area, the type of skill, the kind of training required, the complexity of the topics to develop or the type and number of users it is possible to adopt different methods of approaching the contents. In this blog, we will see between Instructor Led Training vs. Self Paced Learning which method works best for your educational needs.

Each of these two methods of education has different benefits and disadvantages that vary according to factors such as the type of company and training that is needed, the number and type of users that will take the courses or the type of knowledge that will be taught.

We have developed a series of differences between what you can find in Instructor Led Training vs. Self-Paced learning:

• Self-Paced training can be delivered easy and quick to large groups of students, even if they are in different locations, while Instructor Led Training depends both on the costs and the availability of the students.
• Time plays a big part in every learning process. Sometimes users have busy schedules that don’t let them much time left to take their eLearning lessons. Instructor Led Training needs a face to face attendance while Self-Paced Learning gives the chance to take contents at any time, anywhere they want.

• When it comes to training, practice is a very important matter to ensure the acknowledgement of the contents taught. Self-Paced learning carried out in the Learning Management System, allows learning and practicing on the go. Learners get the chance to take the lessons and bring the acquired knowledge into practice at the same time. Instructor Led Training can slow down this process since it may take weeks to be put in practice and may cause the loss of the previous knowledge with the passing of time.

• On the other hand, Self-Paced Learning fights the levels of engagement desertion and the barrier of distance that in many cases fails to provide prompt responses in what concerns to reviews, evaluations, checking the real understanding ratio on the side of the student, among other situations that Self-Paced Learning still cannot overcome, while Virtual Instructor Led Training software has solved.
• The way Self-Paced Learning is structured allows a more constant flow of information and its backed up, different from Instructor Led Training method, making of Self-Paced Learning the most flexible between them thanks to pre-recorded tutorials accessible at any time during the training.

Instructor Led Training vs. Self-Paced Learning. Which one fits better your organization?

There are, as we have seen, many differences between Instructor Led Training and Self-Paced Learning, having both of them benefits, advantages and different approaches. They also will fit specific types of training affecting directly the way users learn.

Instructor Led Training works by having a permanently guided training program, taught, watched and analyzed in real time by the instructor, allowing him to give a live response to any doubt and immediately changing the learning method if necessary and if the advanced reports feature suggests so. It works better for compliance training for example or types of learning programs more focused on exact sciences.

Self-Paced Learning on its side generates a more collaborative environment, where learners share their thoughts through social learning, doubts and ideas to make the learning flow between users instead of having just one person holding the knowledge and passing it to the rest.

Get in contact with our team of experts to have a wide view of the multiple benefits that can come when implementing different methods in your training programs by sending an email with your inquiry to [email protected]