How Virtual Training Labs Help Humanize Training Experience

During a training session, maintaining the focus of a learner and improving the overall experience is a tough task. Training involves a lot of hard work that can be affected by some other factors such as scalability, flexibility, and time management. Thanks to virtual training labs, those factors are eliminated so that the learners and the instructors can focus only on one thing i.e., training.  

In this blog, we will see the points by which the virtual training labs help enhance the training experience. Before heading over to the main topic, let us have some basic information. 

What are Virtual Training Labs? 

Virtual training labs are cloud-based labs mainly focusing on availability and hands-on learning. A learner can take the help of these labs to practice learning software while accessing it from anywhere, provided an internet connection. 

These virtual training labs were created when the physical training labs were already in place. Let us see what the problems were associated with the traditional labs. 

Why were Virtual Training Labs introduced? 

Owing to the times of the pandemic, virtual labs started to gain traction as they adhered to the covid guidelines. Moreover, the traditional classroom training involved outdated procedures that hampered time and efforts of both the learner and the instructor.  

Below are some of the reasons why virtual training labs were favored over physical lab training. 

Hectic for trainees to undergo on-site learning 

Nowadays, people have a lot of tasks to do in their day-to-day lives. Learners are no exception. They have to book some time out of their busy schedule to travel long distances to the venue for on-site training. After a few days, this becomes stressful and unmanageable. This issue required an optimum solution. 

Excessive cost

There is no denying that physical labs require multiple computer systems, and those systems require constant maintenance. This can be a huge issue as more of these systems will increase the set up and maintenance costs, ultimately increasing the cost of the whole lab. 

Scalability issues 

This is one of the most common issues that physical labs face. The classrooms accommodate a particular number of members, and it becomes a problem when additional members come. All of a sudden, labs needed to scale themselves up to take everyone onboard. With virtual training labs this issue can be resolved in no time. 

Problem of troubleshooting 

Prior to training, a lab instructor has to setup all the machines available in the lab. It takes a lot of time to validate and review individual machines. The issue doesn’t stop here. 

What if a system fails at the time of training? The instructor would have to troubleshoot the machine which will take a hefty amount of time out of a training duration. Moreover, the actual content that was to be focused upon would be left out and the learner would not gain anything from the training. This big issue needed to be solved. 

Limited functionalities 

Learners will get more out of the training if more functionalities are at their disposal. Functions such as activity tracking, screen sharing, and lab instructions can give a lot of assistance to a learner, but these are absent in the case of classroom training. Not having these functionalities means downgrading the training experience. 

All these issues can be overcome by using virtual training labs to increase overall satisfaction during training. 

How Virtual Training Labs help humanize training experience 

With the pandemic covering the world, virtual training is the new way to start learning for building a new skill. For this kind of training session, virtual training labs are used. 

Let us see how these labs help improve the training experience of an individual. 

Widely accessible 

Can you imagine accessing a lab from anywhere in the world and getting all the resources that are available in a physical classroom? This is a reality now. With a device, a web browser and an internet connection, the learners can undergo training by gaining access to the lab. Due to cloud technology, no downloads are required. Learners can now experience training without visiting a physical lab in a designated place.  

Provide hands-on practice 

Learners would gain maximum knowledge from learning by doing rather than learning by seeing. Using the hands-on learning feature, trainees can practice real-life scenarios and get the exact skill that the industries require. 

Safe learning 

Virtual labs create a separate environment for the learners to work on. By doing this isolation, other data on the device does not get affected even if the learner makes a mistake. Instructors and learners can focus on their own work as they don’t need to worry about data loss or any other issue.  

Highly scalable 

Virtual labs solve the problem regarding scalability as now there is no need for a classroom, making things easier for the management. No matter how many members there are in a training, several labs can be configured and assigned to each member. 

Time and Cost reduction 

Since virtual labs solve the scalability issues, there is no use of infrastructure. It means that the costs of the infrastructure will be reduced drastically. The maintenance costs related to the machines would also be neglected. This saves the overall cost of the lab, ultimately saving time to set up the machines and looking out for maintenance.  

Increased productivity 

All the above points enhance the productivity of a trainee as well as the trainer because virtual labs provide multiple functions that make the learning process easier. A learner gets a better understanding of concepts in a much lesser amount of time. 

Why you should try CloudLabs 

CloudLabs is a virtual lab platform that provides hands-on learning to the users thanks to its seamless and easy-to-use interface. When you work on CloudLabs, your other important data on the system won’t be affected as the virtual lab isolates itself with the rest of the system so you can work without worrying about data loss. 

Some of the features of CloudLabs are given below. 

Customizable 

For CloudLabs, the satisfaction of the customers is the topmost priority. Whatever type of lab the customer wants, CloudLabs completes their request and gives them the lab that they require for their training. Multiple labs with complex configurations can be deployed in no time. 

Activity tracking 

It would have been convenient if learners could track their progress and verify themselves if they were following the procedure correctly. Well, with the help of the lab validation feature by CloudLabs, this is possible. With the lab guides as a reference, learners can follow the procedure and validate themselves. Instructors too, can check on students and assist them if needed. 

Pay-as-you-go pricing model 

Now customers don’t need to spend on the entire resources provided by CloudLabs, instead you only need to pay for what you use. If you use more resources, you pay more and if you use less resources, you pay less. This feature saves your valuable money from being spent on the resources that are not required for your work. 

Accessible from anywhere 

Thanks to cloud computing, your virtual lab environment can be accessed from any part of the world. By using a device and an internet connection, you can open a web browser and access the lab environment without any issue. It requires no hardware, and you don’t need to download or install anything which will save your storage space. 

Shadow an environment 

Instructors can support the learners in real-time by shadowing their lab environments with the help of “watch over shoulder” view. This feature provides the instructors to take control of the student’s lab environment and teach them by performing steps in it. This comes in handy when learners find themselves in trouble during a training session. 

Integration with Teams 

CloudLabs provides integration with Microsoft Teams, a collaborative platform where members can work together remotely. Members can make use of video conferencing and tools like Microsoft 365, screen share and chats to work more efficiently.  

24/7 Support 

If someone has an issue regarding the lab provided by CloudLabs, they can put forward their query in front of CloudLabs support team. The support team will provide instant assistance to make sure everything works smoothly. 

Conclusion 

In just a few years, virtual training labs have improved the training experience of thousands of learners by providing multiple benefits. The time that was once impossible to consider is now a reality. 

Feel free to visit CloudLabs and virtualize your training deliveries and humanize training experience. 

Jithin Varghese

Jithin Varghese, a Product Manager at Spektra Systems, is known to excel in automating Azure resources and migration planning. As a former Cloud Consultant turned Product Manager, he combines design thinking, analytical prowess, and empathy to drive outstanding customer experiences and facilitates collaboration among cross-functional teams.