Associations rely on engaging members to maintain relevancy and collect membership dues, but many are finding that membership dues alone are no longer sufficient to fund their activities. Online learning and training modules are increasingly being asked to fill that gap, with 91% of associations dramatically changing their models in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Members have high expectations of course content they need to pay for, though, and choosing a poor LMS partner can doom an association.
Outstanding e-learning programs bridge the gap between learning and its practical applications, engage learners throughout the process, and inspire members to enroll in new courses when they finish one. Realizing these goals requires powerful course creation and curation tools, a sleek UI (or user interface), personalization options, data analytics and reporting capabilities, e-commerce capabilities, helpful administrative features, and ongoing support. If your LMS lacks these vital features, you won’t stand a chance in the current competitive landscape.
Can a great learning platform help my association?
A great LMS will turn your association’s education and training into a significant competitive advantage. D2L’s learning platform, Brightspace, is used by many innovative learning organizations to offer intuitive, modern, and engaging learning on any device. Association members are generally busy professionals, and allowing them to interact with training content on their terms significantly boosts engagement. Furthermore, D2L offers extensive expertise in learning design, content development, change management, and data consulting to help associations of all sizes make the most of Brightspace’s feature suite.
Below, three key Brightspace features are highlighted for their ability to help associations deliver value to their members. If you want to learn more about Brightspace and compare it head-to-head to other top vendors, create a free account on FindAnLMS.com for exclusive insight from industry veteran Craig Weiss today. Weiss is an e-learning expert who has been in the field since its inception in the 1990s, and his annual lists of the top e-learning systems are respected and heavily promoted by LMS vendors. Let’s get into those features!
Course creation and curation for associations
The days of uploading a PowerPoint slide and calling it a “course” are over. D2L gives associations the choice of uploading content from third-party providers or authoring courses through intuitive creation tools to save valuable admin time. When the average ratio of association members to employees is 51:1, efficient workflow is essential. D2L also has a “course styler” that allows admins to customize the look and feel of courses, making them an extension of the association’s messaging to better entice members. Other handy features include an accessibility checker to verify equity in training opportunities and assignments demonstrating member progress.
Personalization features
Every association member is an individual with unique needs, and D2L Brightspace facilitates personalization at scale to help each feel like a VIP. Admins can recommend courses based on a member’s performance, creating personalized learning paths through enriching or remediating content as necessary. Gamification elements like awards and badges appeal to a member’s competitive side to drive engagement, addressing one of the biggest reasons association members let their memberships lapse. Brightspace will also send friendly reminders to complete course content and supports the formation of learning groups to help members network with like-minded professionals.
e-Commerce capabilities
The experts at D2L have extensive experience in transforming member learning offerings into a monetization strategy and recently partnered with Association Analytics on using engagement scoring to accelerate non-dues revenues. Associations can market and sell learning programs with an integrated, seamless, self-serve storefront with multiple checkout options to maximize sales, all within Brightspace. The included Data Hub collects a variety of analytics to help associations discover which courses members are responding to and where improvements might be necessary to drive revenue.
Learn more about D2L Brightspace with FindAnLMS.com
While powerful, the features above only scratch the surface of what D2L Brightspace can do for associations. Weiss named D2L the top LMS for associations in 2020, and the company has ranked exceedingly well every year since. Naturally, this doesn’t mean that D2L is the ideal fit for every association. If you’d like to compare LMS vendors curated by Weiss himself based on your specific criteria, create a free account on FindAnLMS.com. It’s the easiest, most reliable way for novices to compare e-learning solutions like an expert.
