Senior LERN Leaders, meeting this year in Tucson, are moving the field forward and transitioning continuing education into a new era.
The 30 top leaders identified three emerging areas of integral importance to the success of lifelong learning programs in the 21st century:
Adopting new learning models
The field stands now on the frontier of new learning models. That includes:
-Hybrid or blended courses
-The Flipped Classroom
-Assessment of online courses
-New eTools
In all, this means a dramatic and positive change in the way your participants will learn, and the way your instructors will teach, moving forward.
Creating Takeaway Tools
LERN leaders are recommending LERN develop new software tools to help your program run more efficiently and profitably. New tools were suggested for:
-Analyzing your course pricing
-Developing a run:no-run tool to determine what courses should, and should not, be cancelled
-Evaluation of courses tool
Moving forward, software becomes ever more integrated into the way you do business. With LERN on the cutting edge in developing new techniques to improve your program, integrating LERN knowledge into LERN software tools will be central to your program’s success.
Developing Internal Talent
Retaining and developing excellence in staffing is an ever greater priority and urgent issue for the field’s future success.
LERN leaders identified these specific areas of developing internal talent:
-Creating competency standards for staff in the field of lifelong learning
-Benchmarking organizational structures for lifelong learning programs
-Identifying skill levels and reasonable expectations for professional staff
-Creating retention, including recruitment values, succession planning, career pathways, and recognition and awards for staff.