CFMA eLearning Portal for Professional Development
Download the CFMA eLearning Portal Case Study as a PDF

The Construction Financial Management Association is the leading organization providing educational programs and a forum for managers overseeing construction financial operations. CFMA’s core purpose is to provide resources to meet the challenges of construction financial professionals. One of those resources and a key benefit for CFMA members is its professional development program. As part of this program, CFMA provides educational opportunities to its members at national conferences and other face-to-face events, local chapter meetings, and through third party distance learning programs which offer online content to members at a discount.

With the success they found in making online programs available to its members and the positive response they received, CFMA determined there was a real need for eLearning. The association then began to seek out a partner who could not only help them to create their own engaging content, but also provide the technology to deliver, manage and track it. As part of this new initiative, CFMA planned to offer live webinars and convert the recordings into self-study programs which would also be available through the learning management system (LMS).

One of CFMA’s requirements for the solution was the ability to integrate the LMS with CFMA’s association management system (AMS), Association Anywhere. Additional requirements would include an integrated course catalog, discussion forums and Live Events. Ultimately, CFMA hoped to provide a blended learning environment for its members that would incorporate live classroom training, live webinars and self-paced online study.

Additionally, CFMA sought to partner with a company who had the experience and skills necessary to help migrate initial content, including existing third party courseware into the LMS.

THE SOLUTION

CFMA found Digitec and the Knowledge Direct® learning management system (LMS) to be the ideal, turnkey solution for their needs. The LMS proved to be easy to administer and navigate, yet feature rich. Interactive features within the platform such as the ability to add threaded discussions to a course and the ability for learners to take notes and participate in self-check exercises were a real advantage of the system for CFMA. Additionally, Digitec’s award-winning instructional design team worked in collaboration with volunteer subject matter experts from CFMA to design and develop the association’s latest course offerings.

CFMA’s goal of achieving a blended learning environment was also realized through the ability to rapidly produce their own eLearning within the system and schedule Live Events. Copyrighted content licensed from third parties and integrated in the learning management system are also readily available to members and protected from being downloaded or copied.

THE RESULT

By utilizing Digitec’s Knowledge Direct LMS, CFMA is able to:

• Provide ADA Section 508 and NASBA compliant eLearning courses to its learners.

• Continue offering third party courseware through a secure portal without the risk of misuse or pirating.

• Create new courses quickly and easily from any computer using Knowledge Direct’s web-based rapid content authoring tool.

• Update or modify course content as needed – quickly and easily.

• Promote related courses to learners using the built-in “recommended courses” marketing application and integrated course catalog.

• Facilitate collaborative interaction between learners and instructors through moderated discussion boards.

• Provide for competency-based learning using “Leap-Testing”.

• Run real-time reporting on learner activity including course completions, test scores and learning gains.

For additional information and frequently asked questions about Learning Management Systems click here.

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Established in 1988, Digitec is an award-winning eLearning production company and LMS provider, developing educational products for commercial, academic and not-for-profit clients. Digitec’s mission is to combine technology and creativity to transform learning from a singular, passive event into highly adaptive and engaging learning experiences that change lives.

The Knowledge Direct® suite of software, developed by Digitec, is an integrated learning system for mobile and web-based delivered training for mid to large-size associations, medical organizations, non-profit organizations and corporations. With integrated production facilities in Orlando, Florida and San Juan, Puerto Rico, Digitec’s highly creative staff of 20+ in-house artists, Flash animators, audio and video engineers, and computer programmers are focused on developing best-in-class e-Learning technologies for the 21st century.