From an exclusive LERN survey of over 6,000 adults in the workplace, these courses are what your customers are actually willing to spend time and dollars on. From the February-April session of UGotClass, here are the top ten. If you want to make sure your community has the top ten skills, plus get 50% of

In a stunning development,  Ed2Go and its parent Cengage appear to be offering the same Ed2Go classes free to the public through public libraries. The move is shocking a number of LERN members across the United States and Canada who offer Ed2Go courses and see this is as direct competition. It is a bizarre situation

Beekeeping is the hottest course right now at the nationally famous Chicago Botanic Gardens, according to gardens educators Beth Pinargote and Christina Swets. They report chicken keeping now on the downside after several years of being their hottest class.  But pruning classes are their bread and butter, remaining popular year in and year out, Ms.

New hot topics in community programming, and how they are named, appear to be framed by their target audience generations, according to LERN leaders meeting this spring. Three emerging areas of community programming: 1.Adulting classes. For Gen Y, assuming adult roles and activities is more complicated than it was for previous generations, say LERN Leaders. 

More good news about teenagers these days, with a positive implication for your lifelong learning program. But if you are a grumpy older person trying to find more reasons why “kids these days” are resulting in a massive decline in civilization, you won’t be happy. Here’s the news: Crime among teens today is down compared

Brochures get even more visual. Captions finally appear, including a new caption technique created by Debbie Sagen of the lifelong learning program in Colorado Springs, CO. Facebook ads begin to work. Several LERN members report good ROI and success with Facebook ads, for both local in-person classes and with online courses. Kyle Harkness of the

Our coverage of the big LERN conference continues in the LERN Club this month. It’s another chance for you to make big money on all the great advanced, practical, how-to tips, techniques and strategies that premiered at the conference. Overall, the best brochures are more visual, LERN’s Julie Coates says, a response to Gen Y,

Make experiments to improve your program last no longer than 1 hour and cost no more than $100,  keynoter and CEO advisor Rhona Berengut told a packed audience at the big LERN annual conference in Baltimore.   In this century, one of the new organizational skills is to create bite-sized experiments and tests instead of

Just 11 months after they became the largest generation in the workforce, Gen Y interests and needs are now dominating the field of lifelong learning.  From the big LERN annual conference in Baltimore, here are some of the ways the change is evident now: New Customer Base    Gen Y is now the focus of

Integrated marketing has taken a big jump forward this year, as seen in the tips, presentations and awards at the big LERN conference in Baltimore. It is one of the top three stories coming out of the conference.    Here are some of the things going on in the field: -Brochure – Web one-two punch.

LERN’s annual fall registration survey of member programs has not been this positive in over a decade.  Some 76% of you are either Up or the Same.  Just 23% of programs are Down. That’s a huge improvement, and actually back to the good old days.  Registrations had been stuck in a 10-year funk, with too

The next LERN Best Practices Summit will take place in Chicago on April 5-7, 2017 and will be limited to 50 people.

The first advanced, practical how-to information from the big LERN Conference in Baltimore is in.  Exclusive to you as a LERN Member. Check it out in the LERN Club.  Whether you were there or not, get tips worth thousands of dollars to your program. Forgot your password?  Just email us at info@lern.org  or call us

We are delighted to present our Program Management and Marketing Institutes in Chicago on April 3-6, 2017.

The first new advanced practical how-to tips are already coming in from presenters at the big LERN Annual Conference in Baltimore Nov. 16-19. In a stunning revelation, direct marketing expert Paul Franklin will tell the crowd that too many, maybe even most, lifelong learning programs are putting their brochure copy in the WRONG type font.

Your classrooms and meeting rooms will look very different 10 years from now.  The new model is now taking hold.  The new model will be shown in the annual Nine Shift closing session at the big LERN Annual Conference in Baltimore Nov. 16-19. The new model was first created by Don Collins for Coburg high

by Sean Carton, Chief Strategist, idfive, Baltimore Sean Carton will be a SuperStar presenter at the big LERN annual conference in Baltimore, speaking on Integrated Marketing.  He is Chief Strategist for idfive, a company that works with colleges and universities on integrated marketing.  The website is www.idfive.com One of the most common questions I get

The 2017 International Awards in Lifelong Learning, which will be announced at the big LERN conference in Baltimore Nov 16-19, reflect a response to a changing customer base says LERN’s Julie Coates. She says more awards nominations than ever include these two activities:  1.Focus groups, and 2.Rebranding.  Coates says the field is rapidly repositioning to

Reducing your cancellation rate is one of the biggest issues and “to-do’s” in programming today. Some 28% of programs last year reported their Cancellation Rates are too high. And other programmers were probably telling a white lie.  Now, for the first time, we put together our list of 14 successful techniques for lowering your cancellation

LERN members and customers are flocking to LERN events this fall.

Online technology guru Jennifer Selke will be presenting a session on Mobile- and Web-Based Apps to Enhance Productivity at the big LERN Annual Conference in Baltimore Nov. 16-19.

Do you know what makes a good brochure cover picture?

Information specialists and customer service staff should be knowledgeable, friendly, and solutions-focused. They should also know how to drive sales. In LERN’s all new webinar, Top Notch Customer Service & How To Leverage your Front-Line Staff to Drive Registrations and Sales, you will discover: – How to turn every phone call into a no-pressure sales opportunity

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

By Craig Valentine, MBA World Champion of Public Speaking Craig Valentine will be the opening keynoter for the big LERN Annual Conference in Baltimore Nov. 16-19, 2016. There are four public speaking pitfalls that trap most presenters.  If you want to drastically improve your very next presentation, it is important to understand 4 of the

“This year is a watershed year in brochure design,”  ace brochure expert Julie Coates told a standing-room-only webinar audience this summer. “Younger adults want authentic, they want service to the community, they want passion,” she noted.  And middle-aged and older adults are just fine with those new trends too. “Gen Yers are designing brochures, and

Measure the amount of time each of your programmers spend by Division, says Evone  Vognsen, Director, Program Development Continuing Education from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  She spoke recently at a best practices conference sponsored by LERN. “Data is our world,” she told the packed room.  “And we live and breathe operating margin,” she noted. One of

“Helping your boss help you creates vertical cohesion and contributes to efficiency on both ends,” says Christina May, a LERN member with the Chicago Botanic Gardens in Glencoe, Illinois. She will be leading a Roundtable on “Managing Up for Millennials” at the big LERN conference. “Managing up is very important to the success of work

From Greg Marsello, who visits lifelong learning programs all over North America every month, here are his 3 latest tips: Standardize First. Lifelong learning programs that have successfully centralized operations have first standardized processes. This way staff can be cross-trained and all be following the same processes. Centralizing without standardizing can cause confusion and reduce

Step out of your day-to-day marketing routine and discover a slew of no- and low-cost marketing strategies proven to work. From new social media strategies and unique email techniques to out-of-the-box print promotions, this new webinar, 39 & 1/2 low- or no-cost marketing techniques guaranteed to make your program more money, will deliver more ideas than you

Here are 3 top tips from Tom Parfitt and Christina Draper on promoting UGotClass certificates and courses.   UGotClass, which is growing at 25% a year, has had its top three registration months in history all take place this spring and summer. Say ‘Online’ Not LERN or UGotClass No need to confuse your customers with a

Double Your Fun – – Bring a Friend.   Encourage your customers to register a friend for your classes, notes Tom Leaverton, head of marketing for Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He says “bring a friend” very much resonates with Gen Y, and can get more young adults to enroll in your classes.   He

Here are three of the top questions this year emerging leaders are asking in our popular UGotClass online program Certificate in Leadership Development. Q1: How can I as an emerging leader get more visibility? Answer. Yvonne, the desire for visibility is a common misconception among young emerging leaders that usually has very bad results.  What

The Inner Harbor of Baltimore, the site of the big 2016 LERN Annual Conference Nov. 16-19, delights your colleagues. We know that because our conference was there ten years ago and the 900 attendees raved about the location. So we’re going back. Museums, restaurants, shops and stores, ships, tours, boat rides and music are all

There’s a new organizational skill your organization will need to develop for success in the 21st century, says the SuperStar keynoter at LERN’s big upcoming Annual Conference in Baltimore in November.  The skill is strategic agility. “Strategic agility requires at one and the same time a dynamic organization structure and culture and the stability to keep

You may have two different lists of Best Customers, a LERN member has just discovered.  Lisa Beytien-Carlson, Communications Coordinator, Community Education, District 196, Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan, Minnesota, found this new marketing benchmark in working with LERN on an analysis of a second mailing of the print brochure to her Best Customers. Check out the full story

Here are the 5 things you and your teachers need to understand about female learning and spatial ability. Thanks to educator Susan Baranek  of Helena, Montana, for asking the question, “Have studies been done to see if higher testosterone levels in females leads to better spatial reasoning?”  She was a recent participant in our UGotClass

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.

Three proven ways to get more referrals Three proven ways to get more referrals Three proven ways to get more referrals Three proven ways to get more referrals

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