January is the start of a new year, and with that start comes new resolutions, changes to old habits, and different mindsets to approaching the next 12 months. The training world is no different.

During the past decade, technology has exploded with new concepts, products, and social media sites that make everything a little easier, efficient, and exciting. T+D has brought you many of those technological changes as they pertain to design and delivery of employee training.

An article by Cindy Huggett in this month's issue examines how to make virtual training a success. But her article doesn't include the ins and outs of virtual training, the technology involved, or the time it takes to deliver it. Instead, Huggett concentrates on changing the culture of an organization to accept training in a virtual classroom.

As she writes in her article, "Successful virtual training is more about changing hearts and minds about learning than it is about implementing new technology. In many cases, it's necessary to change your organization's cultural mindset about learning to have virtual success."

Virtual training is "a viable and sustainable way to learn," Huggett writes, but it's critical that trainers prepare learners for this different way of learning that requires new skills and methods so employees can accept and embrace virtual training. You must define that virtual training will be an interactive experience, and then deliver it that way.

For 2014, change your mindset to include virtual training as part of your training culture. Before you are able to change the culture of your organization, you must open your mind to the possibilities that virtual training brings. There is no better time than the present to start.

Paula Ketter

Editor, T+D

[email protected]