Web training or online training for groups of 10 to 30 people is likely the most widespread application since the year 2000. It has attemped to reproduce the traditional classroom with a trainer and students in order to solve the problem of overcrowding in training sessions or to simply offset the physical distance between the participants. These unidirectional and hardly dynamic training sessions attracted very few clients.
Over the years, the term online training remained, but the practices and technology has evolved to increase interactivity between the participants. We now speak of online meetings and telecollaboration, which marks an important change in practices:
- The products are now more user-friendly and some do not require installation (Via eLearning & eMeeting is one of them), which makes them available to all, without rollout or training;
- This type of technology is requested by the users themselves who then save time and money while improving their professional situation (no travelling time or expenses, easy revision of content, immediate access to tutors, review courses on demand, etc.);
- The savings generated by using these technologies are considerable for corporations and institutions (travelling and hotel expenses, more time between events, less targeted than when they are organized online, etc.).
Today, except for large conferences and presentations, the number of participants in the same Web conference tends to diminish in order to increase the number of exchanges and interactions between the participants. Synchronous training also tends to include a hybrid training strategy that combines different types of training and coaching (asychronous self-training, aynchronous meetings, online plenaries in sub-groups, paper documents, games, etc.).