What’s a principle that most successful, knowledgeable professionals tend to practice and believe in? A dedication to lifelong learning.
Members expect your association to support their efforts to continuously upskill, remain competitive in a rapidly evolving field, or meet the demands of an increasingly tech-driven workplace. However, designing learning journeys, creating and managing content, and tracking participant data can be overwhelming.
Let’s explore how to use your association management software (AMS) and learning management system (LMS) to streamline these tasks, encourage lifelong learning, and deliver more value to members.
Professional Learning Basics
Promoting lifelong professional learning allows your association to add value to its offerings, boost engagement and retention, and even increase non-dues revenue (if offering paid courses or allowing non-members to enroll).
There are several different types of professional learning programs. Depending on your field, members may pursue:
- A certificate of completion of a specific course or training program, such as a 6-week online course in digital marketing. These do not necessarily indicate mastery of the topics but confirm that the learner completed the course.
- A certification, which is a formal recognition granted by a professional organization or certifying body to indicate that an individual has met specific qualifications and demonstrated competence in a particular field or skill. For example, certified public accountants (CPAs) must pass the Uniform CPA Examination to earn their certification.
- A microcredential, which is a short, stackable, and skill-specific credential that demonstrates competency in a targeted, career-relevant area (e.g., computer programming). These programs are more accessible than standard educational degrees and often culminate in a digital badge that earners can display online.
- A credential, which encompasses any documented evidence of the professional’s qualifications, competence, and authority in a skill or subject area. This can include degrees, such as a veterinarian’s Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree, as well as licences and other formal recognitions.
3 Strategies to Promote Lifelong Learning
1. Create a digital learning launchpad.
To create streamlined experiences, you’ll need to unify learning activities and workflows on one platform. Use your tech stack to create a centralized hub to host:
- Continuing education materials to help members keep their skills and knowledge of trends and best practices up-to-date
- Training materials for specific skills or tasks
- Credentialing and exam preparation materials
- Practice tests
- Resources explaining the differences between various certifications
The best way to achieve this is by integrating your AMS with your LMS. As Fonteva explains, robust, integrated association management tools benefit members by offering consistent experiences, access to a wide range of resources, and community-building opportunities. Next, you can boost member engagement with the learning materials listed above by:
- Highlighting learning materials on member portals to boost awareness of new or popular opportunities.
- Providing members with personalized content recommendations based on their interests, membership tenure, employment status, etc.
- Auto-enrolling new members in onboarding courses or short micro-credential tracks.
- Tracking credentials and digital badges earned in member profiles, allowing members to show off their achievements.
Consider digital accessibility as you craft these experiences so that all members can benefit from your learning tools. For instance, media that features audio, like videos or podcasts, should always have captions or a transcript for users to reference. Additionally, your website, portal, and LMS should be compatible with assistive technologies like screen readers.
2. Motivate members with creative engagement strategies.
A centralized hub of learning resources will allow members to explore these opportunities, but you’ll still need to cultivate compelling experiences that keep them engaged and motivated.
Here are some creative ways to make learning more exciting and ensure members take advantage of their courses or preparation materials:
- Leverage AI-powered enhancements. Take advantage of AI advancements by automating tasks and personalizing members’ experiences. For example, AI tools can offer tailored, adaptive learning experiences based on the participant’s behaviors and performance (e.g., they might be prompted to revisit content they struggled with). Or, you might employ AI chatbots or tutors to help members navigate basic questions.
- Incorporate interactive materials. Transform a static collection of resources into an immersive learning experience simply by adding interactive elements for learners to engage with. Embed short knowledge-check quizzes, matching games, fill-in-the-blanks, interactive videos, discussion questions, and more.
- Gamify learning. Gamification is the concept of applying elements of gameplay, like points or levels, to non-game scenarios. You might inspire competition among members by awarding points for completing certain models or digital awards for scoring well on quizzes. Or, you might simply add a progress bar to the bottom of each course to show members how close they are to the next milestone. Create rewards for point tiers, such as branded merchandise or a gift card to a restaurant.
- Collect user-generated content. Ask members to create and contribute their own content to make them active learners. Tradewing’s guide to member engagement suggests collecting content like graphics, videos, written opinion pieces, research reports, and discussion prompts. This way, members can apply their knowledge, get feedback, and start conversations with fellow learners.
As you roll out these learning experiences, regularly collect member feedback on their overall opinions of them. Identify common learner drop-off points and look for ways to improve.
For example, maybe your digital marketing certification has a particularly dense section about Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations. Prevent members from abandoning the course during these particularly difficult moments by adding a few discussion prompts and more multimedia or interactive elements.
3. Diversify your content ecosystem.
To engage your members and fight member lapse, your association needs to go above and beyond to provide one-of-a-kind, valuable benefits. In the context of professional learning opportunities, this means rethinking traditional formats like slideshows or PDFs in favor of:
- Short-form videos that teach key concepts in five minutes or less.
- Podcasts or audio lectures for learning on the go, helping members pick up concepts as they commute or do chores around the house.
- Infographics and visual guides to simplify complex ideas or statistics.
- Live webinars and virtual workshops featuring experts, interactive discussions, and training to promote mastery of the topics and learning objectives.
Let’s look at an example of diversified content working to engage members. Say you offer a rigorous certification or micro-credential prep course. Some members have expressed that it can be overwhelming to fit the course into their schedules between work and personal pursuits. You might offer members a downloadable study calendar that breaks the course down into manageable, weekly tasks. These tactile, actionable resources boost adherence and learning confidence.
By aligning your membership management software, LMS, certification offerings, and content strategy, your association can support members throughout their professional journeys. Whether you help a new member pass their first exam or guide a seasoned professional toward a new certification, your association has the opportunity to make learning a core part of your membership value.
Start empowering your member’s lifelong learning journey. Book a demo to see how BenchPrep's LMS can help your association deliver impactful, continuous education experiences.
