Tom Bunzel stops by today to discuss the changing face of learning and the growth of online training . Tom is a writer, consultant and trainer in Los Angeles and the author of "Tools of Engagement:  Presenting and Training in a World of Social Media" and can be reached through his website.

For a long time "training" was in the province of a Human Resources department or considered an extra cost element of customer service.

Today, however, knowing how to use a product or service has become critical not only for internal members of an organization, but a much wider audience, particularly online. The advent of social media in particular has created a generation of active learners who want to grow their skills and reach their full potential in areas from personal growth to using technology.

This has really blurred the distinction between marketing and training--because providing training has expanded from merely learning technical skills to empowering customers, clients, associates and even vendors on a wide spectrum of knowledge.

More important perhaps, the availability of broadband has made it possible to take training anywhere and everywhere, so that the "classroom" can be in your home office, easy chair, couch or coffee shop.

When the web began this extended classroom was limited to online courseware, but now with remote training tools, live interactive events can be experienced by large scale audiences. The enables organizations or individuals to reach out and provide significant value across continents and time zones, to build a brand, engage end users, and build a loyal following.

Besides the obvious feature of being able to extend a training session to remote learners online, the use of a good remote training tool can provide several additional significant benefits for organizations, individuals or entrepreneurs with educational content of value to an audience:

• Provide an interactive platform for users to experience your product or service.
  
  
• Provide a central repository for content to be used and reused with minimal redevelopment.
  
  
• Provide reporting and follow-up capabilities that let you evaluate and stay connected to an audience.
  
  
• Provide an archived video file of the training that can be used on a hosted video site and in social media campaigns.
  
  
• Provide a database of contacts and feedback through a registration process that tracks attendees and connects them to content through social media sites like Facebook events or email campaigns.
  
  
• Develop and maintain a library of content that can be accessed by learners and potentially monetized.

The barriers to entry into the remote learning space are getting lower all the time, and a wide variety of tools exist from podcasts to enterprise programs--but significant benefits can be achieved with tools that offer the foregoing features at a relatively low cost in terms of reaching an audience and (re)developing content. And with the implementation of a complementary social media strategy, value can be provided across an array of platforms to a scalable audience, with accountability and interactivity through blogs, social networks and the features of the actual remote training tool itself.

What are your thoughts on taking learning and training online? Are you using it within your organization?

Photo Credit: doctorious