Ringzer0's virtual trainings came about during the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic. We quickly needed to figure out how to deliver a world class training experience virtually. The following four requirements needed to be addressed:
- Students will participate from various timezones across the world.
- Zoom fatigue is real. One cannot sit in front of a video conferencing session for more than 4 hours in a single session.
- In addition to learning, students and instructors also need to have fun times during class.
Basically, we needed to ensure that students should have the same learning experience, if not better, as they do during an in-person training. And we succeeded.
Read on to learn how Ringzer0's virtual trainings work, and what the differences are compared to the in-person experience.
Structure of a virtual training
In general, any training, be it in-person or virtual, consists of two activities:
- Lectures and demos led by the instructor(s)
- In-class exercises and challenges to be worked upon by the students
A typical in-person training covers these activities in a span of 2 or 4 days. Students will spend the 16 or 32 hours engaged in lectures and working on the exercises and challenges.
Ringzer0's virtual trainings follow the same concept except that there is no classroom. A 16 or 32 hour training gets spread across an entire week.
- Lectures are delivered in shorter sessions compared to an in-person training. Think of it as a couple of modules every day.
- Each lecture session is of 2 to 4 hours in length, decided by the instructor.
- The rest of the time is for students to work on the exercises and challenges.
- Lectures are delivered on Zoom, and are recorded.
- A dedicated Discord channel is set up for every classroom for students to discuss exercises.
Frequently Asked Questions
When do the lectures start, and how long do they last for?
We endeavour to start lectures at 8 am Pacific Time. Lectures last for 2 to 4 hours, punctuated by breaks. Any longer, and we fall into the uncharted territory of "Zoom Fatigue".
It will be 2 am when the lectures begin for me. Is there any way I can still participate without staying awake all night?
We got you covered. Every live lecture is recorded. The recordings are made available through a private viewing link within hours of the lecture wrapping up. You can catch up with the lecture once you wake up, while you enjoy your breakfast from the comforts of your own home!
Can I download all the lecture recordings and binge watch the class?
Sadly no. Lectures are the intellectual property of the instructors. The recordings are solely meant for catching up. Downloading is not permitted. Ringzer0 shall keep the lectures available for 7 days after the last lecture ends. By this time, we hope you would have caught up with your training.
What happens if I need access to the lecture recordings after 7 days?
In most cases we can request the instructors to allow us to keep the lecture recordings for more than 7 days. Our instructors are nice folks and will be happy to entertain reasonable requests.
Your website lists a class as 32 hours, but when I add up the hours of the lectures published in the schedule they only add up to 20 hours. Can you explain why there is a difference?
The hours published for a training include two activities - the total duration of the scheduled lectures and the estimated time allocated for students to solve the exercises and challenges during non-lecture hours.
The exercise time is simply an estimate provided by the instructor. Students make take extra time to solve the exercises in the peace and comfort of their own homes, something which is ironically very difficult to provide in an in-person training!
How will hands-on labs be delivered virtually?
Every training lists specific hardware and software requirements that students need to set up ahead of time. Our class Teaching Assistants will get in touch with you a week before the training starts, onboard you on our Discord server and help you get your lab environment set up ahead of time.
Most labs are either Virtual Machines, Docker containers or Cloud instances that students can access via SSH or a browser.
How do your virtual trainings stack up to an in-person experience
Ringzer0's virtual training model was born out of necessity, designed by seasoned instructors and battle tested for over 5 years. We know what it takes to deliver a good learning experience.
And there are some comforts that simply do not exist in an in-person training, such as:
- No jet lag
- Dual monitors
- Comfortable study desk
- Ability to post memes at the instructor
- Working through the exercises at your own pace
- Playing the live lectures at 1.6x the speed
- Rewind button
- and a lot more
On an average, 50% of students have found our virtual training experience better than an in-person training experience and 30% have found it to be as good as an in-person training experience.
Still have questions?
Get in touch with us at info@ringzero.training. We are always happy to help!