In the past, organizations placed greater emphasis on establishing processes and tools, adhering rigidly to the plan, conducting frequent contract negotiations, and producing endless documentation. In recent times, however, there has been a shift towards constant communication, adaptive plans, customer collaboration, and greater individual ownership. This is often credited to both leaders and employees adopting an Agile mindset.

So, Just What is an Agile Mindset?

Encouraging continuous interaction, adapting quickly to changes, and increasing member engagement requires associations to think differently about how projects are implemented; it requires an Agile mindset. The Agile mindset must be flexible to changes in the plan, be open to differing opinions from teammates, be constantly learning, and be focused on delivering the highest value to members. With an Agile mindset, association employees are better equipped for collaboration and for managing the many challenges that can arise during a project.

You May Ask, “Does an Agile Mindset Benefit Association Employees Who Are Non-technical?”

There are some preconceived notions that an Agile mindset is not for the “non-technically inclined”–quite the contrary! Adopting an Agile mindset can be a game-changer for any project–after all, being able to swiftly adapt to change is an important skill for any association, project, or workplace!

Associations Are Ever-Changing; an Agile Mindset is Now Critical for Success

At times, employees can be buried under paperwork and fall victim to the multiple roadblocks that can result from poor communication, outsourced problem-solving, and unorganized task scheduling. However, associations and workplaces are evolving, and changing market demands and member behavior must be accounted for if one is to stay competitive. Consequently, associations need to keep pace with the shifting sands of market changes and business conditions. An Agile mindset will prepare them for anything the ever-changing business world presents them with.

Agile Teams Can Empower Each Other

The success of an association relies heavily on the confidence of its employees.

Find any poorly run association that stifles its employees, and the result will likely be a lack of motivation, underperformance, and minimal creativity amongst the staff. Business consultant and strategist Kaihan Krippedorff stated, “Arming employees with the tools, know-how, and mindset needed to successfully innovate on a continual basis will be paramount to organizational survival.” The key to achieving this lies in empowering team members with the freedom to operate under minimal limitations.

True Empowerment Involves Changing the Culture of an Association from One That Is Ruled by an Iron Fist to One That Inspires Innovation and Thought Leaders.

Empowering a non-technical team with the Agile self-direction mindset is crucial. It allows team members to be more independent, without the need for manager direction at every turn. With self-direction, the team is able to work together to execute each of their respective responsibilities and duties at a self-designated and optimized pace–without having to constantly look over their collective shoulder!
Self-direction emphasizes the abilities and experience of each team member and combines them into an outcome greater than the sum of their parts. This establishes trust among the team members, proving that each cog in the wheel is necessary and valued when working in tandem to complete a common goal.

Does Empowering Agile Teams Render Management Obsolete? Absolutely Not!

A manager can still lead, but an empowered team means that their focus can be placed more on strategy and communication with the team than on routine duties, which leaves the door open for team input which, in turn, allows team members to feel helpful and appreciated–after all, it proves that management has faith in their abilities! An effective leader can provide mentorship using positive feedback for a good performance, as well as constructive criticism for a poor one.

Iterations and Continuous Improvement

Achieving success is one thing; sustaining it for the long term is another story. Adopting an Agile mindset can help associations improve policies and processes quickly and easily, thus maximizing their efficiency. It is important for associations to develop plans that work with existing policies and processes, while also brainstorming about how these practices can be enhanced further. The improvements can then be made to the existing policies and processes–just make sure to be prepared for unforeseen obstacles that require further development. Remember, Agile values adaptability–unexpected issues are just a stepping stone to improvement!

Once the changes have been made, make sure to thoroughly assess the new policies and processes and observe their performance. Are they better? Worse? On par? This will provide key information for further improvement.

Now that your investigation is complete, management can make the final call to officially confirm the proposed changes, or else suggest additional modifications before moving forward.

Agile Improvement Strategies

There are other improvement strategies that can elevate an association to the next level. An association can implement lean continuous improvement, where the objective is to identify and abolish all areas that fail to offer members additional benefits. This is a proactive approach that allows the association to concentrate more on the relevant benefits that their members want and accelerate towards the end goal with greater efficiency.

Value stream mapping is another vital asset to improving performance in your association; this strategy enables the association to perform a comprehensive assessment of a process in order to identify where adjustments can be made and what can be eliminated by using knowledge gained from experience to indicate what is working in a process and what is not.

Conclusion

So, fear not, the Agile mindset makes associations a better, more cohesive place for staff and members alike! Greater emphasis is placed on major priorities, while lesser priorities are shelved for later.

Interested in gaining a deep understanding of the principles and practices of Agile project management? Take this trusted Agile & Scrum Certification Course!

Agile prepares you to take on any challenge that threatens the success of your project by arming you with independence and flexibility. With an Agile mindset, association leaders and employees can be certain that greater success is just around the corner!

The post Can an Agile Mindset Benefit Association Leaders? appeared first on Online Learning Solutions | Association Management System | Vocalmeet.

While you may be fully aware of the benefits of offering continuing education programs online, in many cases, you may not have the final say in whether or not your association takes the leap. Chances are, you may need to convince board members (and even some senior decision-makers!) that the initial startup investment and time commitment will be worthwhile. 

For a detailed guide on how to increase revenue and memberships by setting up an online continuing education platform for your association, view our ebook here.

To win over the skeptics, you will need to have a firm grasp on all of the benefits an online continuing education platform can provide, as well as how the association can ensure that this initiative will be financially sustainable.

Here are five ways you can build a strong case and convince your board to invest in an online continuing education platform:

1. Be Prepared

Because you are trying to sell the benefits of online technology, you must first put your best foot forward. To do this, you must research online learning technologies and vendors so that you can collect all of the necessary data to support your case.

For research on online continuing education platforms, read our whitepaper entitled “9 Things to Consider before Offering Online Courses” here. 

It is important to know that there are many different types of learning platforms, each with its own priorities and formats. Some examples of online continuing education platforms include managed service platforms and self-service platforms. It is important to understand the differences and to outline why one approach may work better for your association than another.

In addition, board members like to hear about facts, statistics, and results. Therefore, it is good practice to do research on associations that have already invested in an online learning platform; you can use this to show how it has helped their association meet its objectives–objectives that may be similar to those of your own association! 

The best way to prove the worth of an online continuing education platform is to use real-life situations and specific case studies to demonstrate a platform’s usefulness. View our case studies here for insights into demonstrating the efficacy of online continuing education platforms.

2. Connect with Objectives

When presenting a proposal to anyone–especially a board or executive team–always remember that you are selling more than just an idea. 

Your presentation needs to demonstrate why investing in an online continuing education platform would align with the executive team’s objectives, would help achieve a better vision, or would aid in reaching their goals faster. Having a sound understanding of what is important to your association will help you connect your vendor of choice to your association’s strategy. 

Make sure to focus on the “why” instead of on the “what.”

If you spend most of your pitch talking about all of the fancy high-tech features of your online continuing education platform of choice, chances are, you may lose their attention! However, if you are able to prove to the decision-makers that these features work towards their specific objectives, they will be encouraged to view your pitch far more favorably. 

To make your presentation more visual and easy to understand, divide this information into different categories so that the decision-makers get a clear picture of the impact that learning technology will have on membership engagement, the attraction of new members, increased referrals, and the amount of positive feedback garnered.

3. Let the Numbers do the Talking

When you are building your case for the board, you need to consider how introducing a new online continuing education platform will affect the organization financially. 

With any major decision executives make, they always factor in how it will impact the organization’s bottom line. This means that it is key to make a point of saying how the learning platform will positively impact the financial goals of the organization.Include financial numbers and statistics in the eLearning industry during your presentation to show the potential increase in revenue that can be achieved when switching to a new online continuing education platform. 

If the board is focused on the cost of the platform, show how automation through an online continuing education platform can decrease manual operations. For example, automating certificate generation for online courses can decrease manual efforts and save time for staff!  Additionally, choosing a managed service vendor means association staff can focus on member engagement more while administering the learning platform less.

4. Avoiding Stagnancy

As you pitch all of the reasons why investing in the learning platform will greatly improve your association, you should also describe what could happen if they choose not to invest in this opportunity.

Explain to the board that there are risks involved when an association does not evolve and change with the times. 

By choosing not to invest in online learning technology, younger members may not be as engaged in the association’s events. In addition, staff may not be as productive and may fall short of expectations. This could lead to frustrated members since they don’t have easy access to the information they need to succeed.

Building your case in this way can help to show the board that continued stagnancy could cause the organization to be left behind by competitors. Instead, by switching to a new learning platform, they could inspire innovation rather than complacency.

5. Transparency is the Key

As you build your case and prepare your presentation to the board, it can be easy to get caught up in the sales pitch and wow-factor of flowery words. But while there is nothing wrong with highlighting all of the great reasons to invest in learning technology, make sure to always stay grounded–after all, honesty is always the best policy!.

It is important to always be transparent. 

If your presentation does not mention any potential issues with transitioning to an online learning platform, and instead only focuses on the positive aspects, it could raise red flags with the board. They may start thinking you are keeping something from them, which will hurt your credibility and could turn them off of your pitch.

Your case will be more airtight and impressive if you are thorough and state all of the pros and the cons of investing in a learning platform. You want to make sure that the board is aware of all aspects of the switch and understands what to expect. While no one likes to discuss potential challenges during a presentation, this will give you an opportunity to present solutions and alleviate your fears. This type of honesty and confidence will go a long way to impress the board and put their concerns at ease!

Remember, when it comes to convincing others of the power of online continuing education platforms, you have to focus on preparation, targets, finances, improvement, and transparency. With all of this in mind, you should be ready to face your association’s board and dazzle them with your knowledge. Go forth and make your case–your members will thank you!

The post Five Ways to Build an Airtight Business Case for an Online Learning Platform appeared first on Online Learning Solutions | Association Management System | Vocalmeet.

As more associations move their events online, and members become more comfortable with attending online sessions, the next step is for associations to focus on streamlining their online content. With only a handful of online sessions, associations could perhaps get away with posting one-off events on their website, while managing registrations and payments manually. However, with more events being offered online, associations should consider having an integrated learning management platform where members can register and access both on-demand recorded sessions and live online or in-person events.

The benefits of streamlining learning content are endless for associations. In fact, having an integrated learning management platform allows associations to better engage members and increase non-dues revenue, further setting associations up for success in the long-run as demand for online events continues to increase.

1. Ensuring a seamless user experience with one platform for on-demand and live events

Choosing the right online platform that is easy to navigate is as crucial as choosing the right venue for in-person events. Streamlining content with an integrated learning management platform means having a “one-stop-shop” for all learning sessions for members. Learning sessions can be delivered via on-demand recorded content, live webinar or webcast, and in-person events.

Additionally, having one platform to host on-demand and live events eliminates any confusion for members as they do not have to navigate through various event sites and platforms. Members can self-register, purchase, and view any of the sessions offered regardless of the delivery method. By making it easy for members to keep track of all their learning records under one system, they are more likely to keep coming back for more.

2. Monetizing content over the long-term

It is no surprise that the financial benefits of in-person events are singular and often marginal, as in-person events cannot be recreated once completed. However, with online content, associations can get a longer-lived value from the investment of time and money. For example, associations can continue to promote on-demand recorded sessions for as long as the content remains relevant, and members can access these sessions at any time. That said, be cautious of not falling into the trap of undervaluing online content, as members do see the value in convenience and not having additional expenses around travel, accommodation, and taking time off work.

Think of setting up an integrated learning management system as an investment, rather than as an expense. With the right list of programs and a solid marketing strategy in place, associations can continue to increase revenue as members are provided with incentives to keep coming back to purchase and view online sessions.

3. Gaining insight through automated reporting for associations

At the end of in-person events, associations typically evaluate the performance of the event and feedback from members. The approach for online sessions should not be any different. In fact, with one platform for both on-demand and live events, associations have access to automated reporting that shows all user activities completed on the system. This includes enrollment reports, transaction reports, attendance reports for live online sessions, and user progress reports for on-demand content. As all these reports are generated under one platform, associations can conduct an easy comparison and further gain insight into which delivery method (i.e. on-demand versus live) members prefer for the different types of learning sessions.

In conclusion, as associations start to establish a long-term online learning strategy for members, the importance of having streamlined content must not be overlooked. With an integrated learning management platform that hosts both on-demand and live events, associations and their members can easily keep track of all their learning sessions under one platform regardless of the delivery method. Such a robust platform allows associations to not only improve the online user experience, but also increase non-dues revenue as members value the ease of accessing learning sessions.

The post Why Associations Should Use One Platform for On-Demand and Live Events appeared first on Online Learning Solutions | Association Management System | Vocalmeet.

Offering continuing education courses can be a strong addition to any association’s membership offerings. Gaining access to courses and certifications gives professionals another reason to join your association and even more reasons to renew their membership. These can all lead to increases in non-dues revenue. In addition, offering continuing education courses can have many more benefits. Truth be told, by making continuing education more accessible to members and nonmembers, associations can have a significant impact on their sector by turning the association into a knowledge center and industrial hub.

Become a Thought Leader

When an association takes the time and makes the investment needed to implement quality training programs, it makes great strides toward developing a learning culture. The focus on continuous learning helps position the association at the center of a knowledge hub. Members and nonmembers alike will look to the association for suggestions on how to advance and move forward professionally. Furthermore, in times of crisis, the association will become the go-to trusted resource for factual information.

Aside from the obvious increase in revenues and web traffic, thought leader associations also see increases in sponsorship and advertising opportunities for events and online programs, as sponsors and advertisers see great value in an active and engaged membership.

Start a Cycle

By creating a culture of learning and a resulting knowledge hub, over time, professional and personal betterment becomes a way of being. For example, students could access your vast resources for school projects. Then, as they graduate and begin their careers, you are helping these students develop into professionals and leaders within their industry. This leads to members and staff who are more involved in the association and more willing to pursue education and training in the future.

A well-trained and educated group of professionals helps to create a culture of inquiry and improvement within the association, with members who continue to positively challenge each other. In addition, well-attended courses, training programs, workshops, and conferences offer a superior learning experience and opportunities for mentorship.

Support Growth and Innovation

Another benefit of a learning culture is that it creates a group of like-minded professionals looking forward together. Our world continues to evolve and with evolution comes industry, technology, and professional changes. While ongoing continuing education can lead to increased productivity and non-dues revenue, it can also better prepare individuals for a changing world. It can positively impact perceptions about new developments and change, as well as increase the capability of your members to deal with ongoing changes.

The post Never Stop Learning: Continuing Education Inside and Out appeared first on Online Learning Solutions | Association Management System | Vocalmeet.

One of the primary challenges facing lawyers and other legal professions is how to remain competitive in the face of the ever-changing legal field. While continuing legal education (CLE) has been a necessity for lawyers for many years now, the traditional delivery methods for learning can be time-consuming and difficult to complete while still serving clients. This is because standard CLE often demands that lawyers complete a set number of hours in order to satisfy the annual learning requirements. While these requirements are not mandatory in every state, they are often used as a professional standard. But, not all lawyers are at the same level and not all lawyers learn within the same timeframes. There is room to improve CLE and, thankfully, the solution is already available.

The recent advancements in technology and the improvements in continuing education delivery have made it possible to give CLE a major facelift with minimal changes. The legal field is incredibly diverse, one that is filled with professionals of different educational backgrounds, experience levels, and aptitudes. That is why CLE that additionally prioritizes practical skills, prior knowledge, and individual learning abilities can be a huge asset for every legal association.

1. Competency-Based Education

Competency-based education provides exactly what is needed in today’s world: education progress tracked by competencies. That means, rather than measure student progress by the time spent in a course, the competency-based model measures student aptitude. Within the realm of CLE, competency maps are created for each specific area of law and practice. While many competency maps are already designed, many more are currently being created by legal education professionals, such as the Institute of Continuing Legal Education (ICLE). These maps act as training guidelines or a checklist of mandatory coverage areas. They can be used for basic training or for experienced refresher courses and everything in between.

General Benefits of Competency-Based Learning

• Minimal time wasted on subjects that have already been mastered or are unnecessary for the learner
• Learning is more personalized, focused, and purposeful
• Learners progress at their own pace, no longer confined to standardized time markers
• Skill-based learning allows for quicker progress for more advanced learners
• Education is typically more affordable because learners pay only for what they require

Benefits for Continuing Legal Education: When competency-based education is combined with CLE, legal professionals stand to benefit substantially.

• Specified learning allows legal professionals to earn certifications or credentials in specific fields
• Focused learning enables quicker mastery as well as more current and applicable material
• Competencies in the legal profession are readily defined, which makes for easier course development
• Competency-specific modules double as refreshment courses and reminders for experienced lawyers
• Final outcome tests are powerful tools for measuring in-house applicant’s or trainee’s aptitude levels

2. Next Steps For Competency-Based CLE

Competency-based CLE will steadily improve. However, competency-based learning must ensure that it meets the following requirements:

• Learners must be able to absorb and apply learning
• Learning objectives must be identifiable and job-specific
• Learning must be engaging and immersive for modern learners
• Competency-based program must accurately measure prior learning and/or skills
• Learning must be current, relevant, and flexible

This is where interactive online video training comes in. Adult learners, especially those who work busy schedules like lawyers and other legal professionals, learn best when they control their learning schedule. For lawyers, some of the best learning comes at the exact time that they need it. Perhaps they are working with a new client or expanding their practice and need to develop new skills. Maybe they need to learn these new skills in the early morning while they prepare a document they are unfamiliar with, or maybe they wish to study in the evening when they come home from work. Interactive online training provides this flexibility.

Interactive Online Training

Despite being the fastest-growing form of continuing education today, interactive online video learning is still relatively new. That means that it’s still in the process of discovery. With online videos taking up about 1/3 of all internet activity, online educators are looking for the most effective ways of incorporating education into online videos. Optimal results in online video learning are found when the lessons are engaging, responsive, and, most importantly, interactive. Interactive online training often begins with a demonstration. The learner must then apply their learning into practical scenarios to demonstrate adequate understanding.

Interactive Online Training Benefits: The best way to improve the educational experience of online videos is to turn them from a passive experience into an active experience.

• Learn by practice and through the recollection of actual experience
• Learners are given real-world scenarios and situations to apply learning
• Keep learner’s engaged, attentive, and retentive, gauging comprehension levels on the go
• Multiple delivery methods, such as gamified, scenario-based, and/or story-based videos
• Intuitive videos enable learners to apply prior learning or to advance through completed sections

3. Competency-Based Online CLE and Interactive Video Training

Though interactive online CLE is still in its infancy, the relationship between these two sides is absolutely ideal. Over time, CLE programs have morphed from long on-demand videos into short modular segments that are more focused and visually enhanced. Furthermore, time waste is drastically reduced, and the study flexibility increases tenfold. Since the benefits for learners are so huge, it often reflects in higher course purchases and an increase in course attendance.

Benefits of Competency-Based Interactive Online CLE:

• Increase of course attendance and course revenue
• Realistic and challenging scenarios make learning engaging and useful
• Material learned from nano credits is gained quickly and instantly applicable
• Effective for self-assessment, training, and/or mastery of a topic
• Nano courses are quick and easy to create, allowing lawyers to earn credits in newly developed areas
• Easily created and updated videos allow for the most up-to-date and relevant information
• Enables lawyers to stay engaged while learning around very demanding schedules
• Situational-based learning and exercises helps for drafting documents, answering client questions, and many other scenarios

Interactive online video courses will eventually cover all legal areas. Right at this moment, lawyers can advance their skills in many of the areas they want, when they want, and in the order they want. With interactive online video, lawyers and legal professionals can achieve these skills in more engaging and practical ways while better retaining more applicable knowledge.

Vocalmeet’s legal education platform comes with a customizable interactive video player that creates an engaging learning experience for your members. Here are a few examples that can be used for all of the strategies outlined above:

a) Hotspots

b) Multiple Choice

c) Smart Chapters & Single Choice

d) Fill in the blanks & Slide Carousel

The post The Future of Continuing Legal Education appeared first on Online Learning Solutions | Association Management System | Vocalmeet.

The recent advancements in technology and the improvements in online education delivery, have made it possible to give those programs a major facelift with minimal change. Online programs of universities are usually incredibly diverse, they are filled with students of different educational backgrounds, experience levels, and aptitudes. This is why we have helped many educational institutions to add programs that prioritize practical skills, prior knowledge, and individual learning abilities with competency-based online programs.

1. Competency-Based Education

Competency-based education provides exactly what it suggests: education progress tracked by competencies. That means, rather than measure student progress by the time spent in a course, the competency-based model measures student aptitude.
 
General Benefits of Competency-Based Learning

• Minimal time wasted on subjects that have already been mastered or are unnecessary for the learner
• Learning is more personalized, focused, and purposeful
• Learners progress at their own pace, no longer confined to standardized time markers
• Skill-based learning allows for quicker progress for more advanced learners
• Education typically helps generate more revenue because enrollment rates are much higher due to the fact that learners get exactly what they are looking for

Benefits for online programs
When competency-based education is utilized in online programs, both universities and students stand to benefit substantially.

• Specified learning allows students to earn certifications or credentials in specific fields
• Focused learning enables quicker mastery as well as more current and applicable material
• Competencies in most professions are readily defined, which makes for easier course development
• Competency-specific modules double as refreshment courses and reminders for experienced practitioners
• Final outcome tests are powerful tools for measuring in-house applicant’s or trainee’s aptitude levels

Next Steps For Competency-Based Online Programs
As universities continue to define and build competency maps, competency-based online programs will steadily improve. However, online programs must ensure that it meets the following requirements:

• Learners must be able to absorb and apply learning
• Learning objectives must be identifiable and job-specific
• Learning must be engaging and immersive for modern learners
• Competency-based program must accurately measure prior learning and/or skills
• Learning must be current, relevant, and flexible

This is where interactive online video comes in.
 

2. Interactive Online Video Learning

Despite being the fastest-growing form of continuing education today, interactive online learning is still relatively new. That means that it’s still in the process of discovery. With online videos taking up about 1/3 of all internet activity, online educators are looking for the most effective ways of incorporating education into online videos. Optimal results in online video learning are found when the lessons are engaging, responsive, and, most importantly, interactive. Interactive online training often begins with a demonstration. The learner must then apply their learning into practical scenarios to demonstrate adequate understanding – all within the video content itself.

Benefits of Interactive Online Video Learning
The best way to improve the educational experience of online videos is to turn them from a passive experience into an active experience.

• Learn by practice and through the recollection of actual experience
• Learners are given real-world scenarios and situations to apply learning
• Keep learners engaged, attentive, and retentive, gauging comprehension levels on the go
• Multiple delivery methods, such as gamified, scenario-based, and/or story-based videos
• Intuitive videos enable learners to apply prior learning or to advance through completed sections

3. Competency-Based Interactive Online Learning for Universities

Though interactive online video learning for higher education is still new, the relationship between these two sides is absolutely ideal. Over time, online programs have morphed from long on-demand videos into short modular segments that are more focused and visually enhanced. These micro-lessons are often called nano courses or nano credits. With interactive online video added to these nano credits, students are able to earn credit for learning quicker and through the application of practical skills. Furthermore, time waste is drastically reduced, and the study flexibility increases tenfold.

Overall Benefits

• Education typically helps generate more revenue because enrollment rates a much higher due to the fact that learners get exactly what they are looking for
• Realistic and challenging scenarios make learning engaging and useful
• Material learned from nano credits is gained quickly and instantly applicable
• Effective for self-assessment, training, and/or mastery of a topic
• Nano courses are quick and easy to create, allowing lawyers to earn credits in newly developed areas
• Easily created and updated videos allow for the most up-to-date and relevant information
• Enables students to stay engaged while learning around very demanding schedules
• Situational-based learning and exercises helps for drafting documents, responding to real life questions, and many other scenarios

Adding interactive online training courses helps universities to drastically improve their reach online. Right at this moment, potential students can advance their skills in the areas they want, where they want, and in the order they want. With interactive online video, universities remain competitive while helping potential learners to achieve these skills in more engaging and practical ways while better retaining more applicable knowledge.
 
Vocalmeet’s higher education platform comes with a customizable interactive video player that creates an engaging learning experience for your members. Here are a few examples that can be used for all of the strategies outlined above:

a) Hotspots

b) Multiple Choice

c) Smart Chapters & Single Choice

d) Fill in the blanks & Slide Carousel

The post Improving University Programs Online appeared first on Online Learning Solutions | Association Management System | Vocalmeet.