TopClass LMS provides detailed tracking and reporting for third party training and financial transactions for NEA Academy, the professional development portal from NEA Member Benefits.
“Every aspect of the TopClass LMS implementation has been flawless. It has been the most effective and straightforward technology transition we have ever experienced.”
- Mark Stevens, General Manager, NEA Academy
eLearning Challenge
The National Education Association (NEA) represents approximately three million public school educators, at all levels, across the United States. The NEA Academy is part of the NEA and provides today’s busy K-12 educators with practical online courses to meet professional development and continuing education needs. to its members via an online continuing education portal.. NEA Academy offers approximately 500 online courses, the greater majority of which are provided by third party training suppliers. Having gone through a number of unsuccessful Learning Management Systems, three in six years, the NEA Academy began their search for a learning system that could do everything they needed it to do.
LMS Requirements
The NEA Academy needed a learning platform that would enable them to offer, sell and track their own training courses and those provided by third party course providers. They needed a flexible online catalogue to showcase and describe their course offerings. They also had a plan to implement an eCommerce engine in order to enable them to sell their courses online. The ability to track and report on third party course registrations and financial transactions was critical and a single login process with seamless navigation from their website to the NEA Academy portal was a must.
The Solution
NEA Academy selected TopClass LMS from WBT Systems to manage their online continuing education program. TopClass LMS provides a flexible learning platform that meets the unique needs of associations and professional bodies.
- Advanced TopClass catalog features make it easy for NEA to categorize courses, and for educators to find courses suited to their instructional requirements.
- Robust tracking and reporting features simplify the task of managing third party course suppliers.
- The eCommerce engine, which will be implemented in the near future, will support member and non-member pricing.
TopClass Results
“Our LMS now does what we want it to do and we have more control over our learning environment. We are finally happy with our LMS.”
- Mark Stevens, General Manager, NEA Academy
The NEA Academy has much greater control over their learning environment because TopClass provides them with quick, easy to navigate, access to all of their online courses. It also offers them expanded reporting capability and enables members to track their educational progress. Today over 2,000 teachers are taking online courses each month through TopClass. The NEA regard TopClass as a positive step forward to serving their membership.
Looking to the Future
NEA Academy expects the number of learners to increase from 2,000 to 10,000 per month, by next year. Currently only online courses are offered, but NEA Academy plans to also offer and manage instructor-led training courses. There are also immediate plans to roll out TopClass to other areas of the NEA business, including their own HR department, for internal up-skilling. They also plan to roll it out to the NEA Leadership Development department, to support the Association’s current and emerging new governance.
The National Education Association (NEA) represents approximately three million public school educators, at all levels, across the United States. The NEA Academy is part of the NEA and provides today’s busy K-12 educators with practical online courses to meet professional development and continuing education needs. to its members via an online continuing education portal.
