Associations work hard to serve the interests of their members, act as a public voice, and encourage excellence in their industry or sector. Providing valuable educational content to members meets several of these goals, including:
- Ensuring that learning activities are seen as valuable to members
- Delivering relevant, high-quality information
- Creating loyalty among members
- Generating non-dues revenue
To be effective, educators need to ensure that learning objectives are met. The right LMS for associations can deliver high-quality education as part of your strategy for engaging your members.
Six Ways That Associations Can Deliver Engaging Member Education
1. An Easy-to-Use LMS for Associations
To deliver on your goals, you should choose an easy-to-use LMS for associations. This system must be intuitive and easy to create, track, and report. You should be able to:
- Transfer data between systems to minimize manual admin work
- Manage speakers, video, audio, and presentations
- Track tasks and completions
2. Customized Experiences
Personalized learning is one of the most powerful tools that educators have to foster engagement. Whenever possible, customize the learning pathway based on roles, status, and preference. Learners can get personalized dashboards to review and track pathways and progress and should also be able to engage on any device, including smartphones and tablets.
3. Interactive Learning Tools
Interactive learning tools are ideal for both synchronous and asynchronous learning. Providing real-time interaction, quizzes, surveys, polls, simulations, and other audience response strategies can significantly increase engagement and avoid a passive experience. When you add interactive activities to lessons, learners are more likely to participate. Interactive learning also helps with the retention of information.
Other effective interactive tools enable:
- Real-time audience interaction to ask questions and get answers
- Crowd-sourced content, such as polling or upvoting answers
- Chat or commenting
- Video and audio clips
- Q&A sessions
You can also spur engagement by sharing presentation notes, providing additional resource materials, and soliciting feedback on course learnings.
4. Social Learning Tools
There are many options for adult learners online, but not all platforms or programs are created equal, especially when it comes to engagement and completion. Massive open online courses, for example, have completion rates often in the single digits. Learners cite a lack of engagement and motivation as key reasons for failing to complete coursework.
Leveraging social tools can help increase engagement and encourage learners to work toward completion. For example, social learning tools help build online communities and discussions. These interactions help learners to stay focused and involved. You can also use these tools for a cohort-learning approach. As groups of learners move through a course or series of courses, employing social tools for sharing ideas, hosting discussions, or participating in peer-to-peer exercises can help spur engagement and increase accountability.
Online discussion boards can also enable members to connect well after the education is concluded, reinforcing lessons and building relationships. Networking with fellow learners reiterates the importance of association membership and the value of educational resources.
5. Usage and Outcomes Tracking and Reporting
Associations need to track key metrics, such as usage and attendance. This helps them ensure that their members are getting value in the training and actively taking part. By monitoring engagement across programs, associations can see where interest lags. For example, if an educational program is spread over several courses and members stop after the first course, it's worth evaluating the initial course to improve retention.
Quizzes and assessments are crucial tools to assess learning outcomes and reinforce course material. Graded quizzes test learners' knowledge and help ensure that they are meeting learning objectives. They also incentivize learners to stay engaged with the material during courses and see the value of what they have learned.
While associations want to provide opportunities for members to learn and improve their skills, they also want to provide the type of training that will develop loyalty. Members who see significant value in association benefits are more likely to maintain their memberships. Tracking and reporting outcomes can play a big role in retention and keeping members active.
6. Revenue Forecast
The best LMS platforms can help you deliver non-dues and forecast revenue. Tracking and marketing tools can encourage signups and help you better understand the types of programs that your members want in the future.
With the right platform, you can test various scenarios to see which delivers the most benefit, which courses learners engage most with, and which are likely to generate the ROI that you want.
See the Leading LMS for Associations
You can use the Elevate LMS platform to your advantage to deliver exceptional professional experiences to your association members.
Elevate, the leading LMS for associations, enables professional educators to develop curricula, certifications, knowledge sharing, and social learning to help association members meet their learning objectives. Schedule a demo today to see how your association can use the platform to its advantage while delivering exceptional professional experiences.
