6 New Online Courses for Leadership Coaches and SWE Members to Use

By: Rachel Tranel & Ishita Mandhan

Did you know that the SWE Professional Programs staff has been working with the Curriculum Committee and the LCC to create new, interactive online courses?
As the LCC continues to focus on leadership consulting rather than facilitating training, these new courses on the Advance Learning Center are a fantastic tool to start using! They are a great way to share SWE knowledge with section/affiliate leaders and other SWE members to accommodate different learning styles.
The most recently released courses that cover some of the most popular topics for SWE sections are:
Building Section Membership
Fund Development and Your SWE Section
SWE Communities: Start-Up & Good Standing Requirements
Introduction to the SWE Leadership Competency Model
Managing Effective Meetings
About SWE (free for members of the public)

The online content is available for free to all SWE members. These mobile learning style courses include downloadable quick resource guides and handouts and are compatible with mobile devices.
LCC coaches can help your section or affiliate by using the content available on the Advance Learning Center in several different ways to best meet your needs:

1. Section leaders review the online course prior to an LCC session as background information. During the session, discuss the specific needs of your section. Your leadership coach will help facilitate the creation of an action plan.
   
2. Your leadership coach can walk the section leaders through the online course during the LCC session. This option works especially well if the members are not familiar with the Advance Learning Center and do not know how to access it.
   
3. Your leadership coach can share the course as a resource for your section to view or complete on your own. Coaches can always schedule a session with SWE members if you have questions or concerns that would be better suited to in-depth discussion than a brief email exchange.
   

I recently held a consulting session on recruiting and retaining SWE members. I asked the section leaders to review “Building Section Membership” ahead of time, and during the session, I showed everyone how to find the course in case they had trouble. We spent the remaining time working on the Membership Building Worksheet that was included as a downloadable resource.
 Here are some additional tips for SWE members:

• Remind your SWE section and affiliate members to log in at advancelearning.swe.org to view the courses for free.
  
• For an in-person session with your coach, come prepared in case you won’t have access to a projector or internet connection.
  
• Remember to bring your own SWE knowledge and experience to the discussion. You have ideas and insight that may not be in the online content!
  

Please share your constructive feedback and success stories about the new content with the LCC Content Lead, Ishita (imandhan@gmail.com)! This feedback is important to help us improve the SWE resources and professional development content utilized by the LCC.