Since the wave of MOOCs in 2012, it is possible for anyone to learn online and receive lessons from an emeritus professor in the four corners of the world. While these courses initially raised high hopes by opening Pandora's box to learners from all over the world, their massive and impersonal multiplication is proof that the digital transformation of online learning is still ongoing. Faced with this, the geo-health crisis allowed us to observe two phenomena: the explosion of traffic on specialized online course sites with +150% connections in the months of April, May, June and July. And at the same time, a tension in Universities and Business Campuses, which, in addition to not being equipped to guarantee quality distance learning, are encountering difficulties in captivating learners due to a lack of adapted original content and engaging formats.

If it is difficult to transmit online today, it is because at school as in companies, the courses offered do not sufficiently invite us to put into perspective the reality of social issues. They struggle to materialize practical cases into concrete experiences that are already being played out on the ground. And if you want to put rounds into squares too much, it's not surprising to see more passivity in progress. It is therefore not surprising that online learning is “consumed” without being absorbed or transmitted. In addition to physical distance, there is cognitive and social distance.

And it is for this reason that we can no longer respond with the same tools. Because while digital technology is changing uses, it is also changing expectations. In the same way that knowledge and skills are not just downloadable attachments, we need to take into account that learners are no longer just in a meeting room or in an auditorium: they are also at home. And since we are online: a world free of academic reading grids, where concentration is swept away in a single notification and where each new tab opened is better than all the courses you are forced to take, you, the trainers, are no longer the center of attention. In this completely connected world, the codes of learning no longer belong to you. And the original defect is to think that the charisma of a teacher or an expert will be able to make up for everything. Attention mechanics are simply no longer the same and the transfer of skills cannot be done in a context reduced to several slides.

In:expeditions is frequently interviewed to form remote teams or classes. Here are our tips for creating remote engagement:

1 • The quality of the immersion is the guarantee of learners' attention.

Talking to a student about management or creativity is no longer enough; you have to immerse them online in the daily life of a professional in the sector in order to provide them, on a turnkey basis, with tangible tools for understanding: if you take the example of CSR, a definition in the strict sense of the word is now insufficient if you do not support it with a field intervention.

2 • The educational objectives are adapted to the digital exercise if they are part of a specific assessment plan.

Face-to-face with the camera on and the microphone off can no longer be the only proof of attention. You should focus your assessment on more detailed reporting that observes both the quality of the questions asked, the interactions with the expert as well as the differences observed between the theoretical statement and the field testimony of the speaker.

3 • The educational mediator is the heart of the reactor.

Its role is to prepare the sequences, the schedule and the course of each video expedition. He goes on site when possible. He is the animator who facilitates interactions, orients exchanges and reveals the collective experience as it is really lived.

4 • Trust is built, so is speaking.

While the challenge of speaking is crucial in the classroom, it is even more so online and remotely. When the format and the narrative arc are mastered, everyone can build their own reference points, express themselves freely and thus participate in collective learning.

5 • Live and spontaneous experts because they are directly present.

Spending a captivating hour in the skin and daily life of an expert is only possible in real time. In other words, live. It is the questions and the spontaneous answers that produce the systematization of the transfer of know-how. Not the other way around.

Our observation is simple: we have no more time to lose. The context reinforces digital and social inequalities. At the macro level, the environmental, geopolitical, economic and now health emergency makes us aware of the responsibility of trainers to replay reality online. It is no longer simply a question of asking ourselves whether the University, the Grandes Écoles, business seminars or training centers are in a position to respond to the challenges that await us but to question our ability to connect today, those who hold the knowledge with all those who are waiting for only one thing: to be able to train alongside them.

As we have seen, e-learning requires a practical requirement and significant logistical techniques. But one of the essential aspects remains the field ecosystem. A practical case will never again be experienced as a simple instruction at the top of an exercise: it can now be experienced in real time on a field of action alongside a committed expert. And this is where digital technology takes on all its meaning and relevance, because it opens up the perspectives of a learner, who, wherever he is, now knows where he can find his future skills.