Tizra Posts > A Simpler Way to Provide Continuing Education

If I told you that you could build a customized, branded continuing education (CE) platform on your site without embarking on a major initiative, you might think I had some snake oil to sell. Unless you were a Tizra customer, in which case you might just say, “Yeah, that makes sense.” Tizra customers have seen the power and versatility that’s built into our resource hub platform. And when you get down to it, a continuing education program consists of just four basic elements: Incredible content (which you already have) A way to organize that content (which Tizra inherently provides) A mechanism that verifies the content has been consumed (which Tizra can help with) A receipt, certificate, or validation of some sort (which is easy to create) Anything else that you might add to the mix is often nothing more than a distraction. Learning management systems offer gamification tools, peer-to-peer interactions, and sophisticated grading — but the vast majority of continuing education programs have no need for those tools. Tizra’s resource hub platform can get your continuing education program up and running in no time. Here’s how it works. Thinking of buying an LMS? Read our LMS whitepaper first! Create Amazing Content Chances are, you’ve already done this first step. And you’re continually generating new content all the time. From webinars to tradeshows and conferences to state of the industry papers and more, you’ve already got the content your members need to further their professional development. With Tizra, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. There’s no need to create eLearning lessons or new courses from scratch. Simply take the content you’re already providing and make new use of it. Organize Your Content Next, you’ll want to make your CE content easy to discover, search, and filter. Some of your members will have specific goals they’re looking to achieve, and the easier it is for them to find the right content, the more powerful your CE platform will be.   Tizra makes it easy to take different approaches to content organization.   APWA simply tags their continuing ed content with a “CEU Eligible” tag. Any member that wants to gain professional development credit can sort the content in their resource center by that tag and select the topic that suits their needs best.   Other associations have a designated library on their site that’s specifically for continuing education. For example, TBTLA has a members-only resource library with designated areas for certain types of content. All of the CE content is organized in the CLE section of their library, so it’s easy to find and all in one spot.    Tizra also makes it easy to control the amount of access visitors have to your continuing ed content. You can make it completely accessible to anyone, offer it to members only, or allow non-members to view some content and use it as a freemium model to entice them to pay for a full membership. Provide Verification Usually, associations need a mechanism to verify that the continuing ed content has been consumed. Some organizations trust the word of their members, while others want to see that some amount of learning has actually taken place.    The honor system method is pretty straightforward — simply include a link somewhere on the page that lets your members submit a form that says they viewed the content. APWA takes this approach.   If you want something a bit more rigorous than that, you can link your CE content to an online quiz or test that evaluates members’ knowledge. OHIO ACEP provides an electronic PDF exam that members fill out and submit electronically.   Offer a Certificate A certificate might be overkill, but you should provide your members with some kind of verification that acknowledges they have consumed the content and engaged in professional development through your association. Often, employers want proof of continuing education and other times members will need to earn actual credits or certifications.    You can automate the verification step by integrating an email response. It’s completely hands-off and keeps additional work off your plate.   —   Tizra has been the premier provider of content solutions for associations and societies since 2006. We're dedicated to helping organizations use their content to generate more revenue, more engagement, and more impact.   If you're interested in buidling a beautiful resource hub and unleashing the power of your content please get in touch with one of our content strategists.