Build Learning and Certification Courses for Year-Round Education and Engagement
Are you ready for year-round engagement, learning and certifications?
Creating learning and certification environments with JUNO’s 365 community platform is easy and can keep your community members informed and up-to-date whenever there is a need.
Digital learning has been around for the last few decades and it continues to innovate, finding ways to increase value from an individualized learning atmosphere. Even some college degrees and other certifications can be earned from a full online setting. Benefits to online learning can include flexible scheduling (students can complete courses on their own time), lower costs, and seamless advancements in individuals’ career and certifications.
What are some best practices for creating certification or learning programs within JUNO’s 365 community platform?
- Understand Your Community
- Involve and Understand the Learner
- Structure, Structure, Structure your Presentation
- Keep People Excited
Your online learning strategy needs to address a few key components before launching course material. It is important to have a clear vision for the learning environment so the organization and your community members understand the value of online learning.
The first step when strategizing for online learning is to reconsider your organizational vision: what do you do, and more importantly, why do you do what you do? Although vision leaks in and out as progress is made, understanding your vision will help you maintain focus to create beneficial content that can help your community members make greater progress in their lives and learning. Whatever the reason your company is in business, there should be a clear understanding of that vision so you can then dive deeper into what learning or certification courses are a best fit for your membership.
Maybe that learning course is walking people through how to use a management tool, or maybe there are certifications that allow community members to strengthen their role or obtain licensure. However you shape your learning content, make sure it reflects the vision and allows people to grow as individuals alongside the vision.
When it comes to involving and understanding the learner, it all comes back to learning your community and its members. This too starts with vision, because vision lives inside and out of your community, but it's even more critical to understand the people in your community and how they impact the vision. When you understand what people contribute, you can create an objective-based learning curriculum that you know will impact how they work towards the vision.
Also, it is important to understand that this is an online learning environment. Just like any virtual event, the ways in which people learn and connect are very different from the in-person environment, so you must design your courses with a digital-first mindset.
This leads to: structure, structure, structure! Online courses for some are an easy transition and some people generally enjoy taking courses in an online setting. However, there are some tried and true ways to create successful learning environments for all types of learners. Consistency with your learning structure should be simple, but it has to be inviting. The design and layout of modules should be consistent with all of your learning courses so people aren’t confused when they take multiple courses. You should also consider creating a one or two minute video that explains how to work around the modules so you don’t have long periods of transition. This can then be used as an introduction video for each course.
How is the content being presented? Micro learning is a recent trend that has been proven to keep people engaged and increase retention. As a generation of digital-first learners emerge and social media has learners grown accustomed to shorter content pieces and video, longform pieces are out. Identify what needs to be learned and highlight that information in short, but effective, to the point presentations. Incorporate videos and quizzes, and make it clear what objectives will be learned as well as user progress.
Lastly, with everything set in place, how can you keep people excited for what’s next?
This is where the association can get a little creative. Just like some video games players will “level up” as they make progress, think about incorporating different levels to your certifications so people will come back. Create different types of certifications or learning courses and even consider bundling courses together to create mastery-level certifications.
Most importantly, you can not forget about the rewards. Offer unique certificates, company swag, prizes, and even bonuses for community members when they complete course work; their gained knowledge will make them more valuable! Another simple and effective reward is completion recognition from leaders; there is no better feeling for community members to get a personal shout-out from team leaders or governing officials when they earn a certification.
Whatever learning content you create for community members digitally, it always comes back to the vision. With additional support from a 365 community platform like JUNO, certifications and learning courses can empower and be designed and built for your organization's success beyond tomorrow.
Want to learn more? JUNO makes it easy for you to connect and educate your people in a virtual environment year-round. Check out our latest product update all about CE & CME Accreditation here.