Online learning has grown exponentially and is only expected to continue growing over the next few years. In turn, learners are discovering more diverse educational offerings online. For professional associations, implementing an online learning platform is a no-brainer.
A learning management system (LMS) for associations makes it easy for organizations like yours to provide top-notch resources that support the career goals of your members. However, not all online learning platforms are created equal.
Choosing the right LMS technology is crucial for serving membership needs and supporting lifelong learning, which is why we’ve created this guide. This blog explores what makes an LMS well-suited for associations. Read through to learn how your association can implement an LMS that maximizes value for your organization and your members.
What Is an Association Learning Management System?
An LMS for associations caters to the educational and training requirements of membership-based organizations such as trade associations, professional associations, societies, and non-profit entities. This technology is distinct from corporate LMS solutions, as they’re purpose-built to address associations’ specific challenges and objectives.
How Is an Association Management LMS Different from Other LMS Platforms?
Because of their differing purposes, there are a few key differences between learning management systems for associations and other LMS platforms:
Learner Management & Engagement
Associations typically have a diverse membership base, including professionals, volunteers, and various member types. They may also make their online learning available to non-members to earn additional revenue.
Whereas a corporate LMS is limited to hosting employee training resources, a system built for associations is designed to effectively manage and engage members (and non-members) by making different content available to learners at varying price points, depending on who they are and where they are in the member lifecycle.
Certification & Credentialing
In many industries, learners must earn precise credits in a specified amount of time to meet requirements or advance their careers. Associations typically provide certification programs and continuing education offerings to help these professionals meet their goals.
While other organizations typically use an LMS for internal training purposes, associations need robust solutions that can track learners’ progress, issue certificates upon completion, and report learner achievements to the relevant parties. For example, legal associations must be able to report Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) credits across jurisdictions.
A learning management system for associations enables creating and managing certification courses, making it easier for members to earn credentials.
eCommerce Options
Many learning platforms include eCommerce options, but associations often have more complex needs that not every LMS can meet. While corporations primarily use their LMS for internal training management, associations need to sell content at various price points or bundle products together as a package.
For example, associations may offer different content prices to:
- Members
- Non-members
- Student members
- Retirees
Certain associations, especially trade organizations, may need to sell content in bulk so that an entire organization has access, rather than just one individual learner. The association may want all these purchases to take place on their association management system (AMS) rather than their LMS, so the ability to integrate eCommerce is vital.
Virtual Events
Associations often organize virtual events to engage members, regardless of their location or schedule. These events can be important for associations to:
- Keep members engaged throughout the year
- Reach members with virtual events when they may not be able to attend in person
- Generate additional non-dues revenue
While a corporate LMS may allow users to host events, its capabilities are limited to events tied to organizational initiatives. Instead of using generic event-planning tools, associations need a solution that seamlessly integrates with virtual event tools and provides virtual event support. This way, learners can register, attend, and, if applicable, earn credits or a certificate for attending.
Customized Reporting & Analytics
Learning management systems provide the necessary analytics and reporting features to monitor the effectiveness of educational programs. While a corporate LMS mostly tracks employee performance, an association learning management system tracks much more, including:
- Return on investment (ROI)
- Course completion rates
- Overall program success
Seeing and analyzing your metrics will allow you to make data-driven decisions about future online-learning offerings.
Integrations
LMS platform integrations have been mentioned above a few times, so it should be no surprise that they deserve their own shout-out! While a corporate LMS may integrate with your CRM or marketing platform, associations typically have different requirements.
Some standard integrations an LMS for associations may offer include:
- AMS: Many associations use an AMS, which is a database of records similar to a constituent relationship management (CRM) system. A learning management system purpose-built for associations will have single sign-on (SSO) integrations with most AMS solutions, allowing for ease of use between the two platforms for their learners.
- Activity Writeback: In addition to SSO, many LMS platforms for associations have eCommerce integrations and activity writeback, allowing learner activities to be written back to the AMS.
- ACCME PARS: Associations need dedicated tools to help learners achieve their industry-specific goals. For example, healthcare-specific LMS platforms integrate with ACCME’s PARS system, enabling medical associations to automatically submit Continuing Medical Education (CME) activity and ensuring that learners receive the correct credits.
- ABA MCLE Accreditation Services: Associations catering to legal professionals must track and report CLE activities to ensure compliance with state bar requirements. The ability to integrate with the ABA’s Minimum Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) Accreditation Services streamlines the process and helps learners earn credits automatically.
- eCommerce: eLearning courses can bring in significant non-dues revenue for associations, which is why eCommerce integrations are a critical capability that an association’s LMS should offer. With features to bundle courses, offer discounts, manage subscriptions, and more, eCommerce functionality helps associations sell courses to both members and non-members alike.
A system built for associations will also integrate with a virtual event platform and other platforms that allow for remote proctoring, badging, and reporting to credentialing bodies.
How Do You Find a Learning Management System for Associations?
Finding the perfect association LMS may seem daunting. Your association will likely have some very specific requirements that the platform and vendor must meet. Taking the time to evaluate your needs carefully will help you find the right LMS for your organization’s goals, capabilities, budget, and culture.
Here are a few tips to consider:
- Define your needs and goals. What capabilities do you need to manage courses, members, instructors, etc.? What problems are you trying to solve with an LMS? Outline your must-haves.
- Prioritize must-haves. Consider what features are absolute necessities for your association. Rank by importance. Don’t rule an LMS out if it doesn’t meet every “nice-to-have.”
- Ask for recommendations. Talk to colleagues at other associations to get advice based on first-hand experience. Professional groups and networks can also be a good source.
- Research top providers. Do some research into their features and services to ensure their functionality meets your association’s needs.
- Consider integrations. Look over the list of integrations offered by each LMS option to ensure it syncs with your AMS or other platforms you use.
- Sign up for demos. Sign up for a demo of your top LMS picks to get a hands-on feel for each platform and narrow down your options.
Examples of Associations Using an LMS
What are some use cases of associations utilizing an LMS? Here are a few examples of how member-based organizations have leveraged Path LMS™ to meet their goals:
Decorative Plumbing & Hardware Association (DPHA)
While education had always been a cornerstone of DPHA, the organization lacked ways to track usage and engagement, and its member company managers lacked a way to monitor their employees’ educational progress and performance.
DPHA chose Path LMS as the new home for its learning programs, integrated it with its AMS, and enlisted our Learning & Development team to help strategize its educational offerings. The team automated all the manual tasks they had been performing, gave managers access to tracking the team’s progress, expanded their library of educational offerings, and increased revenue from their learning programs by 63% year over year.
American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA)
AIHA members rely on their comprehensive education programming to ensure the highest level of competency and safety in both scientific and professional fields. They wanted to find a seamless way to extend their reach by selling to external organizations that were seeking to enroll multiple learners.
AIHA chose Path LMS as their new LMS, specifically interested in the Path LMS Teams feature that offers powerful, automated options for delivering content to selected external groups.
In the first year alone, the ability for these external organizations to make bulk purchases accelerated AIHA’s processing time and efficiency, allowing for 5,300 additional learners to gain access to AIHA’s content, and resulting in a 35% year-over-year increase in revenue.
These success stories speak volumes about the power of learning management solutions built specifically for associations. Consider what a specialized LMS can do for your organization and its members. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, the right LMS can drive growth, engagement, and educational excellence.
In today’s fast-paced world, online learning has become ubiquitous in members’ educational journeys. Whether they’re pursuing a degree, gaining professional certifications, or simply seeking personal development, the value of a quality LMS cannot be overstated.
As we’ve explored in this article, the LMS landscape is diverse, with specialized solutions designed to meet the unique needs of different customers. Finding the right platform for your association’s needs can transform your learning program for the better.
