How can you ensure face-to-face instruction is interactive and engaging?

1 Know your audience

Before you plan your face-to-face session, you need to know who your learners are, what their needs and expectations are, and how they prefer to learn. You can use various methods to gather this information, such as surveys, interviews, or pre-tests. Knowing your audience will help you tailor your content, activities, and delivery style to suit their preferences and goals.

3 Encourage participation

One of the main advantages of face-to-face instruction is the opportunity to interact with your learners and create a collaborative learning environment. You can encourage participation by asking open-ended questions, soliciting feedback, inviting comments, or facilitating group work. You can also use techniques such as icebreakers, energizers, or rewards to create a positive and fun atmosphere. Encouraging participation will help you build rapport with your learners, assess their understanding, and foster their motivation and confidence.

4 Provide support

Face-to-face instruction also allows you to provide support to your learners and address their challenges and concerns. You can provide support by clarifying doubts, giving examples, offering tips, or providing feedback. You can also use tools such as handouts, worksheets, or checklists to help your learners organize and apply their learning. Providing support will help you ensure that your learners are on track, achieve their learning objectives, and feel valued and respected.

5 Adapt to the situation

Face-to-face instruction is not a rigid or predictable process. You may encounter unexpected situations, such as technical issues, disruptions, or changes in learners' needs or interests. You need to be flexible and adaptable to deal with these situations and adjust your plan accordingly. You can adapt to the situation by monitoring your learners' reactions, asking for their input, or making modifications to your content, pace, or methods. Adapting to the situation will help you maintain your learners' engagement, satisfaction, and learning outcomes.

6 Evaluate and improve

The last tip to ensure that your face-to-face instruction is interactive and engaging is to evaluate and improve your performance and effectiveness. You can evaluate your face-to-face session by collecting feedback from your learners, observing their behavior and results, or reviewing your own delivery. You can use the evaluation data to identify your strengths and weaknesses, and make improvements for future sessions. Evaluating and improving will help you enhance your skills, credibility, and impact as a face-to-face instructor.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?