This is how the Dutch Association of Labor Experts deploys online training

The NVvA (Dutch Association of Labor Experts) is a professional association that focuses on the professionalization and profiling of Labor Experts. They do this in part by sharing knowledge online through SkillsTown's platform. Jeroen Leenstra, association manager, and Eli Van Den Heuvel, board member and secretary, talk about the association and the AD Academy.

"We are an association with over 3,300 members; all labor experts. One of our goals is to share as much knowledge as possible and thus allow our members to further professionalize," Jeroen says. Two years ago, they started SkillsTown's online knowledge platform under the name "the AD Academy," which has since grown into a broad-based Academy. "In the beginning we used SkillsTown's course offerings, but now about 80% is our own material. In doing so, we create a lot of our own essentials and webinars," explains Eli, who is responsible for content and manages the AD Academy together with Jeroen.

"We see that the AD Academy is a strong vehicle for knowledge transfer and thus supports the personal development of our members."

Eli: "We enjoy working with SkillsTown. When we just started it was of course searching, also within the technology and possibilities. But SkillsTown works and thinks along with us. We can now add our own podcasts. We have also jointly developed an e-learning and several webinars."

Jeroen: "We also have a lot of options in the background, for example we can see which parts are visited more or less. You can then work with that in turn. Right now we are really in the middle of development: what works and what doesn't."

The ALV online

Even in this age of working from home and online, the AD Academy is an advantage. Eli explains how they use this even more: "We regularly host webinars, where we get to use SkillsTown's studio. We are very happy with that, because it allows us to deliver good quality training." She talks about the General Assembly that takes place annually. "It is an important moment within our association. Normally we combine it with a congress, but that was not possible last year. To still allow interaction with members, we broadcast this AGM from the webinar studio. This allowed members to attend digitally and, with online voting, we were able to host our meeting!"

Online is the future

"Since the last year, of course, we see that more and more is happening online. As a result, we automatically make more use of the platform. We therefore see that it is a strong tool for knowledge transfer and thus supports the personal development of our members."

Whereas for many companies SkillsTown's offerings are the main focus, the NVvA really focuses on its own field. "We use a small part of SkillsTown's content, but mainly use the technology of the platform. Not only is it very well put together, but it offers us a lot of technical possibilities and freedom. With the AD Academy, this is how we share information and knowledge with our members."