Wednesday, May 8, 2013
The need for lifelong learning has grown dramatically over the past decade, and along with it competition and consumer expectations. On May 10, continuing education market expert Jeff Cobb will offer his perspectives on these changes as part of a Wiley Blackwell Executive Seminar at the National Press Club.
"The tried and true "conference and catalog" approaches of the past don't pull their weight as well in the current market," said Cobb. "Successful education businesses are leveraging a variety of data to be more strategic and act more rapidly. They are also very focused on moving the dial with their educational programming."
Successful organizations are increasingly relying upon feedback from their member and customer communities, social media interactions, and Web analytics to make decisions about new educational product offerings. They are also acting rapidly to put new products - from Webinars to full virtual conferences - into the market.
Cobb is also seeing a shift to more focus on educational impact. "Our research suggests that practices like the use of professional instructional designers or measuring the educational impact of events have been lacking in the trade and professional association education market," said Cobb." We are seeing organizations put much more emphasis on those area."
Jeff Cobb is founder and managing director of Tagoras, a firm that provides expert strategy, marketing, and technology guidance to organizations in the lifelong learning and knowledge business. He is also author of Leading the Learning Revolution: The Expert's Guide to Capitalizing on the Exploding Lifelong Education Market (AMACOM, 2013). Cobb speaks and writes frequently on how new technologies and business models are transforming the global market for lifelong learning.