CARTA principles of
remote training delivery

Remote training programs creators may guide themselves by the following principles:

#1 Focus on the participant

The state of openness to the course participants’ needs is essential to the learning process. The course participants are responsible for their educational progress, but it is mainly the trainer’s responsibility to transfer the knowledge and ensure skill growth. The learning process is also supported by the sponsors of the learning initiatives, co-trainers, and fellow co-trainees. Whenever you put the participant in the centre of the experience you have a great chance of achieving openness to learning.

#2 Positive mood and low tension

Reduced psychological tension yields learning opportunities. To promote states of low tension the course participants need to get to know one another as well as their trainer and productively relate to the subject matter.

#3 Compensation principle

When kinesthetic elements are few or absent, they will be compensated by audio and visual elements (for a diverse and amplified experience).

#4 Interchangeability

Beyond the specifics of each kind of content, there is a set of reusable activities that can be included in various online courses after being minimally adapted. The designers of learning activities will invest time and creativity to conceive them in generic and reusable forms.

#5 Content minimization

The remote delivery of courses needs the content transmitted in “presentation” or “lecture” format to be minimized and the content to be converted for usage in practical activities. These practical activities must represent a significant percentage (65-75%, if not more) of the total duration of a course.
Content minimization is the first step in turning traditional content into remotely deliverable content.

#6 Individual engagement

To compensate for the participants’ initially reserved attitude, which naturally narrows their engagement, the trainer will allot time to involve each of them in course activities.

#7 Tolerance

Although we encourage trainers and course participants to interact freely, even spontaneously, we understand that one or more participants may ask others to respect their boundaries (i.e., in terms of privacy and public exposure).
Trainers should be open to the unfolding of training activities even in situations where course participants wish minimal visual interaction (e.g., if webcams are turned off).
We openly accept and respect the occurrence of these cases.

#8 Complete content

The content created by the participants can be disseminated through a variety of software tools. This content is complete only when the results of the participants’ activities are readily available for consultation by the participants.

#9 Value realization

The participants will seldom spontaneously understand the value received through the remote training course. The session leader must set up activities that enhance the understanding of this value among all the participants.
Activity debriefing supports this principle. (For instance: how is this course going to help me? What are its valuable components in my view? How do I prioritize my preferences?)

#10 Structured process

The usage of a structured delivery process yields results that are significantly better than those mediated by the trainer’s charisma only.
It is easier to learn by following a clear method than by immersion in an environment imbued with the trainer’s personality.