It’s been a great week in Dayton, Ohio as I wrap up my time at the 2015 Ohio Association of Association Executives Annual Conference. And while there wasn’t a specific session on Learning Management Systems, I heard from a number of association executives asking questions about LMS’s and what they need do be doing for their associations regarding this technology.
There is very little doubt that many associations will be faced with having to make the decision of when and how to implement an eLearning program for their organization. Trends in adult learning all point to online learning as preferred choice for continuing education and certification for professionals. This is just one more area signaling that associations will need to transform their organizations into 24/7 on demand service providers to retain their relevance with current and future members.
We just held our Monthly Thought Leadership webinar entitled 5 Must Haves for Your Association’s eLearning Efforts. Present by Tina Turner, VP Client Strategy & Product Development, YM Learning, we took a look at some of the advances in technology that have made implementing a Learning Management System (LMS) more affordable for associations than ever before.
While it is true that the cost to implement and maintain an LMS has decreased, every dollar still counts. And like with most technologies, those costs can be substantially impacted by not being prepared. Probably the most common problem many associations run into getting caught up in the technical specs and details in a RFP for an LMS, and forgetting to bring to the table the most important item – a content strategy.
During the webinar Tina shared some excellent ideas and tips on how to take those first steps to select and implement an LMS for your association. These included cost and time savers that could prove extremely valuable when you are ready to being the selection process. If you were unable to attend the webinar you can view a recording by clicking here.
In addition, Tina and I will be doing meeting once more for Episode 18 of Ask the Thought Leader, where we will delve deeper into some of the aspects of implementing an LMS and also answer a number of the questions asked by our webinar participants. Be sure and check back this Thursday.
By now I’m sure you have heard about LinkedIn’s acquisition of online learning provider Lynda.com earlier this year for over $1 billion, and you may be wondering what that potentially means for your organization. Online learning is the next frontier in professional development and if you are just now becoming aware of this incredibly fast growing market, you are already behind.
LinkedIn spent over $1 billion to acquire Lynda.com and you can bet they have big plans to change the landscape of e-Learning as we know it today. If you recall I mentioned earlier that associations will need to transform their organizations into 24/7 on demand service providers to remain relevant to members, prospects and in some cases, the general public.
I run into more and more association professionals who are just now realizing that LinkedIn, among others, is real competition for the association industry. Their aggressive move into the job board market in 2014 and now e-Learning with the purchase of Lynda.com should now have your attention. Standing pat is no longer an option.
There are other disruptive innovations should be aware of as you make strategic decisions about where you will lead your association in this fast changing, tech driven environment we work in today. If you would like to learn more, please join us on August 19th for our Monthly Thought Leadership Webinar, Big Bang Disruption: 5 Technologies That Should Be On Your Radar. We will be joined by Kathie Pugaczewski, CAE, CMP, Vice President of Professional Development for Ewald Consulting, as she presents her take on the disruptive technologies every association should be aware of and have a plan to address. I hope you can join us.
