One of the most important roles associations leaders face in the new COVID landscape is the need to shift their organization's learning functions. This means providing opportunities and learning objectives that include relevant content while designing experiences that are practical and delivered in accessible ways.
Why Do You Need an E-Learning Strategy?
For many, exploring the new role that elearning now plays is a critical function in how your association will meet the learning needs of employees and association members. In addition to the learning benefits, successful elearning can open a new revenue stream and growth opportunities for associations by engaging with real professionals who contribute.
With leadership now excited about eLearning, the reality is this goal can be much more complicated than many leaders realize. Elearning is more than technology; it is all about creating new value for your organization and your association’s members. Creating a successful elearning strategy requires a strong vision and effort by your entire organization.
The Advantages of E-Learning
An elearning strategy offers new ways of reaching learners and creating new value. Advantages can include:
- Better learning outcomes
- Growing registrations for member education- Higher satisfaction with continuing education programs
- A wider audience for learning opportunities creating more dues revenue
Accessibility & Flexibility for Members
eLearning describes ways of supporting learning experiences using a broad portfolio of digital delivery methods. This often takes on the form of online courses and lessons or online training, but can also include mobile learning and other more advanced technologies such as virtual reality.
The many web-based platforms and digital learning solutions available today make elearning by nature flexible and accessible. Learning management systems (LMS) provide central hubs where online learning courses can be built and curated by staff and easily accessed by students.
The capabilities of your LMS should allow you to create online education materials and resources that can be easily modified to fit your association’s and members’ goals. It should also provide your members with excellent user experience.
Better accessibility and flexibility of elearning courses gives members a more satisfying learning experience where they feel their needs are being considered and met while they pursue their learning goals.
Social media platforms allow educators to provide an extremely accessible and effective virtual classroom. For example, by simply signing in with LinkedIn, educators and learners can find users who are real professionals that contribute and share reliable content. If educators use their LinkedIn account or other social media platforms with thought and care, it can be a useful and even priceless tool.
Creating Value for Members
Creating value for members means giving them something a little bit extra. You can do this with elearning courses. Online courses and training can utilize engaging teaching tools not available in traditional education to help students and trainees learn better in more interesting ways.
The value is in using elearning to more effectively teach so that learners are more successful in their learning and come away with a better understanding of the subject matter.
Growing Your Membership
Creating value doesn’t have to be limited to existing members. You can give your association value in the eyes of potential members too by offering elearning opportunities through different learning technologies and extended enterprises.
This can be done with goals in mind for marketing, talent acquisition, or talent development. When individuals see the quality learning experiences you offer, they will want to join or otherwise work with your association.
Partner with a Learning Designer
It’s one thing to put on paper a goal to implement elearning for your association, but it’s another to truly put it into action. That’s why creating a strategy is so important. It bridges a single idea and the action. That still doesn’t make it easy though.
What does make it easier? Working with a learning designer.
An experienced learning designer knows all the ins and outs of creating the best elearning environment for your association. They know how to use all the offerings of LMS platforms and tools to help you meet your goals of increased value and membership for your association.
The best learning outcomes come from expert strategy implementation. Learning designers curate a successful strategy for elearning through content development, smart course design, and curriculum development.
If you’re ready to get your elearning strategy going, ILED invites you to talk to us about your association’s goals and how we can make them happen.
