More Measurement

A few association-related blogs recently have been discussing whether membership retention is the best measure of progress and success, and I’ll leave that to the membership experts to wrangle over.  But measurement for success in the corporate world has been around for a long, long time, and will eventually arrive on our doorsteps because where the corporate world goes, the world of higher education follows, with associations eventually falling in line. 

Talking Strategy and Measurement

On a day too rainy to hike some of Acadia National Park’s mountains, I spent some time instead following an interesting blog thread on association growth strategies that even led me to some blogs I didn’t know about (interestingly, only one I found had to do with online learning in associations specifically, but the latest entry was more than a year old).

Things being as they are in blogs, finding the original post is a challenge, but the entry that caused me to pause longest was Scott Briscoe’s Acronym posting “Why does growth always seem to be a strategy?” on September 6, 2007.

In it he writes: “I think too many associations get caught up in designing products and services for the purpose of attracting people. It would be better to design those products and services so that they provide meaningful experiences for people. It’s a subtle difference, but I think an important one.”

I agree.

When it comes to online learning — in any shape or format — we’re challenged to demonstrate the value of what can be a steep initial investment. 

Square One

Dear Ellen — I’ve been told our association needs to get into online learning, but I have no idea where to start.  My specialty is [insert: membership, legal, marketing/publications, or anything else not related to an online learning expertise], so it’s all new to me.  Help!!  — Exasperated in D.C.

Dear Exasperated,

Don’t despair!  Feeling overwhelmed and underprepared is natural. 
Elearning is not only a specialty, it covers a lot of ground. 

Ready, Set, Go!

A few entries ago I promised some quick assist when you’re suddenly thrown the task of staring an online learning program.  I haven’t forgotten that promise!

As I started to formulate my response, a slew of ideas came raining down on me like hail: “Oh! I need to remember to tell everyone about strategy…. No, wait! They’ll need to start with a needs assessment!…. Forget needs assessment — what if they’ve just been handed the first course or topic and told to make it happen?!?….”

The fact is that we all start at different places in the process.  And because people to me with questions and problems, that’s probably the best way to tackle it here.  Lots of Web and hard copy resources exist, and I’ll steer you to those rather than repeat here what you can find elsewhere.  If you follow links but don’t find what you’re looking for there, let me know.  And of course if you have resources that answer these questions and address these problems with better or different solutions, share what you’ve learned through the comment section.

Watch for the next entry with the first question I usually get when my phone rings or my e-mail Inbox signal goes off….