Case Study
I worked on the Professional Learning Space (PLS) during my time at Resch Strategies. The PLS was created within the Michigan Community College Association’s website to offer free structured, self-paced learning modules for staff and faculty professional development. Utilizing email marketing and organic social media, this effort increased program participation and won a 2024 PACE Award.
Research
The creation of the Professional Learning Space (PLS) within the Michigan Community College Association (MCCA) website was spurred by a need to offer easily accessible, free professional development opportunities to MCCA faculty and staff. Research for this project was initiated by participant feedback from past in-person professional development classes, requesting an option for self-paced online learning within a centralized learning platform. At the beginning of Q3 in 2023, MCCA came to Resch Strategies with this request and the two teams worked together to devise a free, online system that would work for MCCA faculty and staff professional development, ultimately enhancing engagement and participation in the program.
Original Professional Learning Space
Planning
The plans for developing the PLS on the MCCA website were tailored to meet the identified needs and preferences of MCCA staff and faculty seeking professional development. Key stakeholders included MCCA staff, who with the Resch Strategies team, planned and contributed to content creation, web design, and technical implementation of the PLS, establishing a comprehensive professional learning space with a user-friendly interface. Materials used included video content, worksheets, and a webpage with interactive elements like drop down menus for easy guidance, and accessibility features for use as needed.
No additional budget was provided to promote this effort outside of the monthly retainer between Resch Strategies and MCCA, of which Resch Strategies spent less than $1,000 of MCCA’s retainer time developing and promoting this project over the course of six months. Activities were planned to flow sequentially from conceptualization through research, content creation, technical development, and marketing, with continuous refinements based on feedback between Resch Strategies and MCCA.
Execution
The execution of plans for the PLS rollout followed a phased approach, with components such as gradual development of training videos and written modules, landing page design and layout, and earned media promotional efforts planned with a soft launch scheduled for Q4 2023. The Resch Strategies team worked in partnership with MCCA’s web developer to design and implement the PLS webpage from scratch, first designing a mockup of the page to incorporate the five learning modules, each with drop-down menus including video content, worksheets, and a downloadable certificate. Milestones for each element of the plan were set to ensure timely progress, and common challenges arose along the way including technical issues and content delays and were addressed through effective communication and resource reallocation. To keep costs low, promotional strategies included organic social media and email marketing directed to current MCCA faculty and staff beginning in December 2023. Overall, the structured execution, adaptation to feedback, and strategic PR tactics facilitated increased awareness and participation in the training modules within the PLS program.
Original mock-up of the PLS website
Social Media Promos
Email Announcement
Course Material Example
Certificate Example
Evaluation
The evaluation methods used for the PLS primarily involved Google Analytics, which tracked website traffic and user engagement, and showed web visits increase by 23% from 18 users to 421 on average since its launch date. These analytics results directly correlated with research findings, showing increased site traffic and users, indicating progress towards the program’s objective of enhancing module participation and addressing the identified need for online, self-paced professional development resources within the community college system.
The increased site traffic and engagement demonstrated the program's ability to attract users with earned media and engage them with easily accessible content, aligning with strategic objectives of increasing awareness and participation in the training modules.
Overall, the data from Google Analytics validated the success of the PLS program in meeting its strategic objectives and fulfilling the identified need for comprehensive, online professional development resources within the community college system.
Analytics at Launch of the New Website
Analytics After 4 Months