Associations and membership organisations: Building online learning to support your members.

As online learning resources become an accepted part of the professional development landscape, we find ourselves working more and more with associations and other membership bodies looking to create high quality, self paced online learning content.

This might mean repurposing video recordings of seminars, presentations or webinars or creating bespoke learning and training programmes which are micr-credentialed. For many organisations, it’s not a matter of “if” they would like to build a rich library of interactive online learning but “how”? Most organisations lack the resources to build content internally and find externally content creative prohibitive due to cost. So how can these barriers be overcome?

However, before we address the process for creating and delivering online training, let’s look at the key benefits for members.

Driving engagement

Most associations and representative organisations will include education and professional development as part of their service stream to members. This may take the form of live seminars, annual conferences, networking, webinars or live online events. Increasingly members also expect a range of online, on demand resources, to access at a time and in a way that suits them. Micro-credentialing means members can meet compliance or regulatory training requirements via online learning resources and accessible online content fosters a continuous learning culture. Membership bodies can become much more relevant and offer a higher level of service to members if the content offered is relevant, up to date and constantly refreshed.

Repurposing existing resources

Video is now accessible to everyone. A smartphone, lapel mic and tripod means any event can be recorded. Recording is even easier with online events via Zoom or Teams on via webinars. Many organisations provide recordings as part of their learning resources. This is a great first step, but there is scope to develop raw video into interactive online learning, with a more engaging learner experience rather than a passive exercise. However, video is one of the most powerful training tools (just look at Youtube!) Content can be regularly updated and a stream of new content created anytime. There is a great opportunity to harness the power of video and ed tech software to provide great learning content to members.

A revenue stream for member bodies.

Providing high quality online content provides a way to deliver more value to members as part of annual fee structure or the opportunity to increase revenue through the sale of online modules. Content that has been delivered live can be repurposed for a longer shelf life or repackaged as part of an online training programme or resource library. The creation of online resources is highly cost effective and with a greater reach for all members, wherever they are located.

Flexible Learning Options.

Online professional development allows members to learn at their own pace and convenience. Participants can access training materials, webinars, or courses at any time and from any location, accommodating their personal and professional commitments. This flexibility increases member satisfaction and encourages continued engagement.

So let’s look at the ‘how’. What does your organisation need to consider when building online resources?

How will you build it?

There are some key questions to address before creating online learning content for members. Let’s explore each of these.

All video needs to be hosted. There are well known hosting platforms such as Vimeo and Youtube. However, consider what sort of security you need in place. Vidversity uses Amazon Web Services (Australia) as it is highly secure and stable but you will need to decide where the content you create will sit.
How will you create your online learning content? You will either need to purchase content creation software (such as Vidversity) or outsource the content creation to an external provider. Some authoring platforms require specialist skills. However other platforms are straightforward and are easy to use. At Vidversity, our approach has been to develop a simple to use platfrom that supports organisations who want to develop content in house.
How will you keep the content you create updated? If you use an external provider to create content, this means you will only be able to outsource the updating of that content using the same provider. Consider how much control and how flexible you need that content to be. This may mean building this capability in your team.
Do you need a shopping cart to enable members to purchase content or will it be available as part of an annual membership? Do you need a Learning Management System to track learner progress and completion.
How will you source new content? Do you want to make use of existing resources? Do you want to create new content by interviewing Subject Matter Experts? Perhaps you would like to create a new online programme to support the professional development of your members or offer a suite of valuable resources.

Vidversity was created as a simple to use, highly secure platform to create and deliver online video based learning and training.
The Vidversity Consulting team based in Melbourne and Sydney, regularly works with Associations and Membership bodies to develop online learning modules for their members. If you would like to explore how you can repurpose existing video resources or create new online training modules, you can get in touch anytime via the chat function on our website or via email.

Contact details.:
info@vidversity.com
www.vidversity.com

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