ILT: the Endangered Species That Still Teaches Best

[seanpmcclean]

In a world of scroll, scroll, ‘click’, and speeding the video to 2.5. . . to get through it faster, Instructor Led Training (ILT) is the Unicorn 🦄 you didn’t know you needed.

And it’s becoming increasingly rare.  

To that end I’m going to share some tips to make the most out of this most precious of learning opportunities (whether it’s VILT chat or IRL):

• 🤫Shh! It’s not about the instructor - it’s about the other students!
• 👀 Look into fellow students:  Are they coming from similar industry, company, circumstance? (Pro Tip: sometimes the people with the most different perspectives can give you the best insights)
• 🎧Listen to their questions.  What are they asking, that you are not?
• Speaking of people. . . engage:
• Ask questions.  Ask for examples (from everyone, not just the instructor).  Ask “would you. . . “ (for real life examples)
• 📝Take notes on who answers.
• Examples, stories, and even tangents are gems you DON’T get from “On Demand”: take notes on those - they are gold.
• All that Listening, Looking, Paying attention is hard work:
• Pace yourself.  You may lose attention (that’s OK) - but bring yourself back to focus. . .
• Take Notes.  Things you want to investigate after.  People you want to connect with, or follow up with.
• Make Time for follow up - set appointments with yourself to review those notes, follow up with those network connections

Now, you may have seen the term “notes” a lot here.  These notes Don’t have to be complicated (And!  You can use AI to help clean them up).  If I get another chance (or there’s enough interest) I’ll post a sample you can use as a template for your notes in the comments).

Whew.  Hope that helps?  And to prove I’m not just “all about Instructor Led” let’s call this the first of a series - I’ll be trying to put together some tips and tricks for getting the most out of “On Demand” training next - with more on LinkedIn and Medium to come. . . 

Stay tuned, and “like” or comment if:

• There’s more you’d like to see
• There’s tips YOU have to add about getting the most from an instructor led class

[Adriaan van de]

1000%

[seanpmcclean]

Sample of simple notes to take about the "unofficial" class bits. . . 

[SimonDunsmoor]

Great stuff, @seanpmcclean, and I couldn't agree more!!

What I like about Instructor Led Training is the value that this live training can add in context to the course and material. In this environment, you get an organic sense of how the applications you're learning about can truly come together in the context of another learner's environment and business needs. Questions and tangents from your fellow students provide the opportunity for threads to be pulled, both in and out of class, to explore how challenges were overcome in regard to people, process, or technology, and to build relationships for sounding boards and brainstorming.

[Malik Pridgeon]

This is such a great reminder of the power of being present and engaged during Instructor-Led Training—definitely the unicorn we overlook in the fast-paced “scroll-and-skim” learning world. Looking forward to your follow-up on getting the most out of On Demand training! 🙌 Thanks for sharing this—super helpful.

[Micah Russell]

Well said my friend. I love learning from other people and having those conversations that lead us off on a tangent.

[Victor Colon]

I think that "Make Time for follow-up" is very important. If you find someone in class who gives honest feedback, follow-up with them after class and use each other as a sounding board. Different perspective will only improve the overall community. 

[Jason Grant]

I could not agree more with all of this, @seanpmcclean! At the start of every class, I tell students one of the greatest value adds you get by taking this ILT vs on demand is that we're creating a community dynamic together. And through them asking questions, we're all contributing to one another's learning. That is something you just can't get from a single attendee on-demand experience. I love your idea of the shared notes and using AI to help clean them up! I also like to send out a follow-up goodie bag email for every VILT and ILT delivery. It has link to docs/dev/community related to the course material but also a follow up section for specific questions we discussed in class. Yes, it takes time to create and sometimes, I really don't feel like doing the extra work. But it's another huge benefit and value-add for the students choosing an Instructor to help facilitate their learning experience.