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In a recent survey of LERN Members, 25 percent of those who responded said they are considering changing their social media strategy due to the recent data issues surrounding Facebook. Of the 382 people who responded, 287 or 75 percent said they are not currently thinking about changing their social media strategy. It was recently

The only design trend that stands the test of time is simplicity. Refreshing, revamping and renovating websites can be a costly endeavor but lifelong learning and continuing education websites that hold up year after year without looking outdated are those that keep it simple. High-quality images, minimal menu options, memorable URL’s, and limited copy all

A new year is here and with it comes an opportunity to set new professional goals and intentions. Here are seven ways you can set yourself (and your program) up for success in 2018. Review 2017 We get so busy it can be difficult to find time to thoroughly and honestly assess what we’re doing

Over the next 10 years, every person on staff is a leader, influencing change. LERN has identified three new components that constitute change-oriented leadership for the next 10 years. A recent LERN consultation with a LERN member organization confirmed the three primary aspects of what constitutes change-oriented leadership for the next 10 years; and what

For the first time at the 2018 Contract Training Conference this March in Chicago, LERN will be presenting Contract Training Awards. The LERN Contract Training Awards recognize LERN member Contract Training Teams for exemplary use of contract training best practices. Although there are no specific submission categories, the following are example award submission areas: sales

From Cisco Systems to small nonprofits, organizations are still sending out press releases. And learning how to write them in our popular online UGotClass course, “Writing News Stories and Press Releases.” Here’s our latest top tips for writing press releases from the class. Headlines too long; and no verb! Headlines need to be short, and

From an analysis awards nominations submitted this year, the trend in both brochures and websites is to be more visual.  But how visuals are positioned has changed. It appears that for web sites, successful lifelong learning programs have established a model to make the home page visual and engaging.  For brochures, the strategy is quite

For programs in the United States, distribute your brochures to selected carrier routes, not blanketing all carrier routes in a zip code. The strategy continues to be validated by programs reporting higher enrollments and lower promotional costs. Awards nominations from programs continue to show that selecting only the best carrier routes for your distribution outperforms

“You know only about 50 percent of what you need to know to do your job,” Greg Marsello will tell participants at the big LERN conference in New Orleans.  Marsello travels all over Canada and the United States visiting LERN member programs every week. Staffing emerged several years ago as the top issue for lifelong

Suggest a UGotClass online course before giving a refund for an in-person class, says Christina Draper of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. LERN’s UGotClass online courses never cancel, she notes. With most programs experiencing around a 20 percent cancellation rate for face-to-face courses, suggesting an alternative online course can reduce your refunds and lost

Check out the conference session slides and handouts now, before you arrive in New Orleans. Session slides and handouts for almost all of the sessions at the big annual conference are now online.  So now you can view the handouts and better determine which sessions are best for you. The biggest “complaint” (which we view

Give us your feedback and ideas on what 21st Century competencies are now needed in the workplace. This includes the general workplace, and also your program’s workplace.  LERN leader Michael Garamoni will facilitate an online session prior to the conference on the topic. Garmoni and his task force members will also lead an open roundtable

Sometimes called “engaged learning” or “active learning,” a whole new model for learning and teaching is in the early stages of evolution for lifelong learning participants in the 21st century. The latest new teaching techniques, both for face-to-face classes and for online courses, will be showcased at the big LERN conference. The new model will

Awards submissions this year were so good you will be able to vote on your favorites with our new People’s Choice Awards activity. View the awards submissions on the poster exhibit in the Hall of Learning.  Then vote. The Peoples Awards will be in addition to the judges for the International Awards luncheon.  Let’s see

This week marks the start of our November courses for 2015, but that doesn’t mean that we’re ready to end the year!  November, December, and January are great months to work with us to update your course offerings, make sure that your contact information is up-to date in our system, and to reevaluate your UGotClass

From a survey of the most successful lifelong learning programmers in North America, here are their hot new courses right now, PLUS their predictions of their next hot new course or event. – New digital technology is a big theme this fall. Lifelong learning programs in different constituencies are all offering new courses related to

Top Partners are giving the OK for LERN to survey students, as long as it is done within the class.  LERN has been sensitive to the wishes of partners in communicating with students. Here are the chief recommendations Top Partners provided to UGotClass for new initiatives in 2016, made in a conference call this month:

Many of our UGotClass partners forget to market courses to the people who would be most excited about them!  Public school teachers in most areas are required to take continuing education courses annually to maintain their licensure.  UGotClass offers a number of unique, interesting, and educational courses for K-12 Teachers at a much lower cost

Hot new community education classes for public schools this fall focus on basic technology, food and health.  They also come with zippy titles to attract people. From a survey of our top community education programs, here’s what top community education programs report are hot right now: -Where do I start? Microsoft Office for Beginners -Fitness

A new task force meeting before, during and after the big LERN annual conference has been created to create certificate standards for the field of continuing education. The Task Force is headed by Senior LERN Leader William T. O’Brien, Vice President for Continuing Education/Off-Campus Sites, Butler County Community College, Butler, PA. Other LERN leaders who

Here are the results from our survey of hot new courses this fall in continuing education. Plus the successful CE program administrators’ predictions for the next hot new course. Leading the list are new technology courses, along with a mix of career courses, certificates, and avocational and leisure courses. Also emerging is a greater interest

Like the lunar eclipse last month, the top promotion technique for lifelong learning programs is awesome. It is also the easiest and lowest cost thing you can do. But the big reason it is #1 is that it has the biggest return – – the most registrations and income of any promotion technique you can

“A1, Second to None” customer service is expected by both external and internal lifelong learning program customers. Without the highest-level customer service, many of the other lifelong learning course programming, marketing, contract sales, and operations best practices are not as impactful. The Operations Team is where customer service or frontline staff is housed; thus, the

Here’s a LERN pricing tip that Carolyn Madzar of Marlborough, MA said made her an additional $1,800 in profit twice a year from just one class. That would be more than $10,000 over three years not just in more income, but pure profit.  Here’s what she told other LERN members this month in our online

A special International Award will be given to the first educational institution known to LERN to accept late work without penalty, part of the new grading system for the 21st century. The award will be given at the LERN Annual Conference in New Orleans, Dec. 2-5. Our field of learning and teaching continues to be

Hot new recreation classes are a mix of new tech oriented courses for children, and traditionally popular classes for both young and adults. From a survey of the most successful recreation programs, here’s what top recreation programmers reported. Minecraft Programming is one such new tech oriented class. “We offered 3 classes to elementary school age

A huge success for the Summer Camp webinar this week with presenters Danielle Bassett and Holly Harden of Howard County Parks and Recreation Department in Columbia, Maryland. Some 83 people participated. Participants kept asking questions for 20 minutes extra over the one hour scheduled time. And some 50 of the people stayed with it for

Let’s face it, we live in an ‘instant everything’ world, says Tony Rubleski, Mind Capture Group, and LERN Annual Conference opening keynote speaker in New Orleans, Dec. 3. He writes: From microwaves to cook our food, text messages and same day shipping we are an impatient society. I find this same parallel when it comes

Select what New courses and New certificates to offer in 2016. Develop a web page on your website for each of our Top 3 Certificates. Increase by two pages the space devoted to UGotClass certificates in your next print brochure. Get all our courses and certificates on your website for 2016. Link to our web

Keep Taking Registrations until Friday. Yes, October Broke A Record, surpassing October last year.  Our 13th straight month, if you are keeping score. Our Top Five Certificates are still our most popular courses to offer. In addition, here are five courses Trending Up, moving up, for October: Spanish for Medical Professionals Mastering Microsoft Excel Substitute

This month we surpassed 2,000 online classes, or offerings, for UGotClass and our online classroom. For you and your students, this means our online classroom platform is strong and viable, and has been tested – 2, 000 times.

Like the lunar eclipse this week, October registrations are ‘outa sight,’ running 25 percent ahead of October last year. The hot new certificate this fall is our Certificate in Project Management, already in our Top 10 certificates in just its first offering. Make sure you promote it for the February-April session. Keep taking October registrations

Teachers need a ‘learning design support environment,’ says international learning and teaching pioneer Diana Laurillard of the United Kingdom. Laurillard will keynote the big LERN annual conference in New Orleans, Dec. 2-5, 2015. Some 15 years ago, Laurillard introduced to Canada and the United States what 21st-century learning would look like, education that is “personalized

A recent survey of LERN members found that more than 86 percent of those responding use email to promote their classes and programs. That’s the good news. LERN members are adopting online strategies to support traditional marketing. All the news is not good; however. The survey found that of those using email from promotion, slightly

Selling contracts requires one or more staff dedicating the majority of their time to selling, instead of being responsible for finding instructors, selecting curriculum, and implementing the contracts they sell. In order to support sales people, Kirkwood Community College Continuing Education & Training Services (CETS) added a position responsible for providing product/service development support. The

Over 71 people signed up for the webinar this week launching the integration of UGotClass into the Lumens registration system. The integration means Lumens allows you to automatically: Put our courses into your print brochure. List our courses on your website. Take online registrations. Send your registrations to UGotClass, And much more… To find out

Your September UGotClass registrations smashed records. The month set a new all-time monthly record, with 631 registrations. Registrations were up 20 percent over September of last year. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Other September Stats: 115 Partners register students just for Sept Average registrations per course: 14 Certificates offered: 33

In 1869, the first price tag appeared on merchandise at the Paris department store Le Bon Marche. Consumers flocked to the store for their bargains and the idea of the discount was established. (https://www.blinkist.com/page19/this-is-your-brain-on-discounts-the-science-of-why-were-slaves-to-a-sale) Hard-wired for bargains Lifelong learning programs are no exceptions to discounts. There are frequent-participant discounts, early bird discounts, multi-person discounts, bring-a-friend

A new task force on 21st Century Competencies gives you and other LERN members a chance to provide your input and ideas on this exciting new issue. Headed by our Gen Y leader Michael Garamoni of Grayslake, Illinois, the task force will look at what new competencies people need in the 21st century. Those new

Here are 10 of the hot new information sessions you will get at the big LERN Annual Conference in New Orleans, Dec. 2-5. Each has big ROI for your program. Traction: 5 Critical Elements to New Program Development New programs are the cornerstone for growth and success. Just one tip from this session will make

It was a fireworks day yesterday. Registrations coming in the day after Labor Day pushed September registrations to another monthly record for September. More than 100 registrations came in just yesterday. We continue to take registrations through Friday at least. And if some of your customers want to join in the second week, particularly for

Call them Boomers. That is their name, and they like it. This is a common question from LERN members whose programs serve older adults. A better question would be “What should we call the population cohort traditionally referred to as senior citizens?” The appellation of “senior citizen” is a term that is almost 40 years

Outstanding experts recognized nationally in their fields will teach Hot!  New courses and certificate programs premiering in early 2016. Your new teachers include: -The top 3-D Printing authors,  according to Amazon -Game design conference speaker and teacher -Creator of Canada’s premier Wellness Coaching training program -Journalist of the Year, Public Relations Society of America UGotClass

1.Increase by two pages the space devoted to UGotClass certificates in your next print brochure. 2. Run course descriptions for UGotClass certificates and courses in your next print brochure. 3. Email your customers about our courses in October and November. 4. Email anyone who has taken a single course that is now part of a

Introduction to Game Design, 3-D Printing, and Collaborative Management are three of the nine hot new courses premiering in early 2016. Start promoting these hot new topics for the workplace now. Our new courses and certificates for 2016 were sent to UGotClass Partners this week by Leslie Kowalczyk, UGotClass Administrative and Customer Service Manager. If

Continuing to build our curriculum of the 21st century, three new certificates will premiere in February: -Certificate in Business Writing -Certificate in Google Tools -Certificate in Office Operations See all of the new UGotClass Courses for 2016.

As of today, September 2015 registrations are Up 20 percent over September last year. Keep registering people for September through Friday, Sept. 11, at least.  Last year we had 26 of your students wanting to register for September courses in the second week of classes. We’ll take them!

  Customers want the first person they connect with to be able to get them the answer they need. Instead of passing on calls and emails to other staff, the Kirkwood Community College Continuing Education & Training Services (CETS) frontline staff has been empowered to provide answers and report being able to answer 90 percent of

Email marketing was a big topic of discussion among continuing legal education providers when LERN’s Associate Vice President for Marketing Suzanne Kart presented “Marketing in the 21st Century” at the ACLEA conference in Chicago in August. ACLEA, the Association for Continuing Legal Education, serves CLE professionals worldwide. Kart reports that during her one-day preconference workshop

One of the amazing benefits you receive as a LERN member is access to free monthly webinars. Each month hundreds of LERN members participate. The next FREE webinar for members is on the topic of Pricing to Improve Profit Margins. Pricing to Improve Profit Margins Oct. 26 2 p.m. ET/ 1 p.m. CT/ Noon MT/

Plan your agenda. The brochure is out and with lots of new sessions and presenters, you’ll want to give yourself time to pick out what sessions will be best for you and your program. This is especially important if you’re attending the conference with another person from your organization. Submit your hard work for a

Creating a brand identity involves multiple components and levels of communication with your customers and prospective customers. Often; however, lifelong learning programs confuse the symbols of their brand for their brand itself. Your brand is not your logo or your brochure design or your tagline. These are communicators of your brand, but your brand is

Get the recognition your program deserves – recognition only available to LERN members – by submitting your nominations for the 2016 LERN International Awards. Your program could be one of those recognized for innovation in programming, excellence in catalog or brochure design, a marketing effort, or exemplary management practice, or a noteworthy contribution to your community.

We need to determine and describe the new 21st-century competencies and attributes for lifelong learning administrators, Senior LERN Leaders agreed in this year’s annual leadership retreat Tucson. Top questions being asked by the top 30 members in the LERN leadership included: -How do we identify 21st-century staff attribute needs? -How do we measure those 21st-century

Hundreds and hundreds of people have already registered for the big LERN Annual Conference in New Orleans Dec. 2-5, 2015. The expected 900 attendees will surpass last year’s attendance. This year participants will get access to a free pre-conference online seminar.  Plus you will get all the session handouts online in advance of the conference,

Having failed in the U.S. with K-12 and higher education, for-profit education providers are now invading the lifelong learning field.  The difference this time is they are going after your funding. Last month for-profit coding schools were on Capitol Hill looking for government funds. The for-profits, from new coding schools to online course providers to

A new LERN member level and dues for colleges and universities is being proposed to give you an option to keep your dues low, benefits high, and position LERN to remain the leading association in the world in continuing education. LERN is currently the largest continuing education association in the world, and in good financial

LERN ended another good fiscal year this summer.  This year all 10 top highlights deserved to be #1, so here are highlights in no particular order. #1 Over 500,000 people in Canada and U.S. take a class because of LERN, according to LERN members #1 Next LERN CEO Named #1 Lives are changed.  “You changed

Can your program survive without LERN? The Senior LERN leadership and Board of Directors say ‘No’. Not just another association, LERN members report 12 percent higher registrations, an ROI of 10:1 on your investment in LERN, record conference attendance, and benchmarks and information not available anywhere else. With LERN being in the first year of

“If you are responsible for programming, what is your area of focus?” was the question asked on LERN’s latest member survey A whopping 854 LERN members responded to the survey asking for your focus of programming. The results were tabulated by these institutional settings: -Parks and Recreation -Community education in Public Schools -Continuing education in

New learner competencies and attributes are so integral to your program that Senior LERN Leaders meeting in Tucson this spring are recommending LERN create a set of new learner competencies and attributes for use by your program. Those new competencies would include skills to train your teachers and staff on how to use and integrate

Here’s your Senior LERN Leadership for 2015. They are your 30 top leaders, LERN members who are also some of the top practitioners with some of the most successful lifelong learning programs in North America. The group meets twice a year. Each fall, they meet with other LERN leaders at the LERN Leader Retreat the

“If you are responsible for programming, what is your area of focus?” was the question asked on LERN’s latest member survey. A whopping 166 LERN members from Parks and Recreation Departments responded to the survey asking for your focus of programming. Members could cite more than one focus, so percentages add up to more than

“If you are responsible for programming, what is your area of focus?” was the question asked on LERN’s latest member survey. A whopping 177 LERN members from Community Education Departments in Public Schools responded to the survey asking for your focus of programming. Members could cite more than one focus, so percentages add up to

Are digital or paper planners better for increasing productivity and time management? The answer is both, it seems, according to participants in our recent UGotClass on “New 21st Century Strategies for Productivity and Time Management.” With participants from a variety of occupations and work situations, the course is one of most popular courses for LERN