Forj has acquired Mobilize, a community engagement technology provider, to expand its Member Experience Platform for associations and professional networks. Building upon its recent merger with Web Courseworks, this investment accelerates Forj’s innovation to reimagine community-driven learning.
Just as companies have used personas to better connect with and engage customers, associations are uncovering opportunities to model experiences around their members. Member personas are helping professional organizations gain insights into the specific traits and characteristics that influence members' wants, needs, and decision-making.
The first customer personas were introduced in the 1980s by Alan Cooper, a pioneering software developer. Frustrated by the lack of knowledge software developers had about their users, he created personas to help them better understand them—and improve their experiences.
In the earlier part of this century, I gained experience in corporate online learning and later shifted my focus to digital transformation for association education. I believe that corporate education design innovations are slightly ahead of association trends, I intermittently attend corporate training conferences put on by ATD, Learning Guild, and Training Magazine to stay current. I recently attended and spoke at Training Magazine's conference in Orlando, which is a quasi-community of practice for corporate L&D departments. Here's what I learned at the conference that is relevant for member-driven learning.
In a world where consumer expectations shift daily, it's become harder and harder for organizations to keep up. For associations, the challenge is compounded by changes in the world of work that have prompted needs for learning and connections that far exceed those of professionals just a decade ago.
Professional associations promise members access to knowledge, resources, and community to help them learn, grow, and connect—and technology empowers them to fulfill that commitment.
The average professional can dedicate just 24 minutes per week to formal learning. With so much competition for members’ time and attention, associations are challenged to reimagine traditional learning—and their offerings.
Members’ experiences with their professional association ultimately define its success. So, it stands to reason that association executives are committed to creating an MX movement that radiates from the board to the leadership team and throughout the entire staff.
Each year, we examine trends to explore how learning has evolved and predict where it's likely to go in the future. The Learning Hype Curve is a visual representation of what's trending, built using the Gartner Hype Cycle theory. The theory holds that technologies emerge with little initial recognition and grow in familiarity until they reach their maximum "hype" at five points: Innovation Trigger, Peak of Inflated Expectations, Trough of Disillusionment, Slope of Enlightenment, and Plateau of Productivity.
I have been involved with online education efforts for national associations for over 20 years. My interest began when I was tasked with moving hundreds of Credit Union National Association (CUNA) correspondence courses to an online format in 1998. CUNA is a community of practice, and one of their missions is to provide education for their members. My effort to transition their courses involved building software to rapidly create online courses and a platform to deliver and manage that learning. Since then, we have come a long way with regard to what is good content and what is a friendly delivery experience.
