02/01/2026

Learner Feedback: Increasing Opportunities for Online Learning

By Melissa Venable

NCDA’s mission focuses on providing professional development in a variety of ways that benefit members. While supporting and advancing the field of career development, these learning opportunities often are connected to continuing education requirements. NCDA’s Credentialing Commission (2023) stated that “continuing education develops your skills, keeps you current in your field, and allows you to deliver quality services” (p. 3).

The Hub is NCDA’s online, on-demand learning platform. It launched in 2023, in part as a response to a 2021 member survey, which found that 75% of participants identified “online training modules (on-demand, self-paced)” as a preferred way to engage in continuing education (Venable, 2023). Since that time, 24 courses have been developed with a total of 57 CEs being offered. The courses range from 1 to 10 CEs each, and currently all are asynchronous (i.e., self-paced, self-directed) and include an assessment.

In 2025, a learner feedback initiative began, to:

• update NCDA’s knowledge about your motivation for online learning,
• explore your interest in specific topics and learning formats, and
• provide an opportunity for you to make overall recommendations, based on your perspective.

A Phased Initiative of Collecting Feedback

This initiative is rolling out in three phases:

Phase 1: End-of-Course Surveys – Hub learners are asked to provide general feedback about the quality of course content, their satisfaction with the technology, their experience getting assistance with the course when needed, and ways in which the course could be improved. Responses received from more than 150 completed surveys were analyzed.

Phase 2: Focus Groups – Sixteen learners were identified as “super users,” i.e., those who had enrolled in three or more Hub courses. All were invited to participate in virtual focus group sessions in the fall of 2025. These sessions were framed by the information found through the surveys in Phase 1.

Phase 3: Hub Survey – A more detailed survey was developed, based on the focus group sessions, to acquire additional input from Hub learners and potential Hub learners. This survey was sent electronically to all members via NCDA in December of 2025 and January of 2026.

Select Findings

While participant numbers in the focus group and survey have been small, several early trends are emerging:

• Hub learners are motivated by the need to earn CE credits, primarily to meet credentialing requirements.
• Many learners appreciate the convenience of taking courses on The Hub, which allows course access at the time and place of the learner’s choosing.
• Likewise, the convenience of a single platform that tracks each person’s course enrollments and completions is valued by users.
• Cost is a concern. It is not surprising that Hub learners are often working with limited resources and need to make the most of their professional development budgets, both in terms of time and money. Several learners shared their gratitude for NCDA for generously offering one course each month at a 50% discount.
• Self-paced, online options are appreciated, especially for those enrolling from outside the United States. While more interactive formats are welcome, and many innovative have been suggested, many learners need to log in and participate on their own schedules.

Share Your Thoughts!

The feedback initiative continues. If you have enrolled in a Hub course or courses in the past, NCDA needs to know how the experience was for you, ranging from the topics and technology to the registration process and final assessment. If you have never enrolled in a Hub course, we need to hear from you, too. Please consider sharing your feedback and ideas through the Hub survey, which is open now: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DGWZB6J.

What’s New in The Hub?

NCDA is already responding to some of the initial feedback. Beginning with the Winter 2025 issue of Career Developments quarterly member’s magazine, NCDA members can now earn free CEs in The Hub. Each Career Developments course earns 1 CE, for a total of 4 free CEs annually. These courses include a PDF issue of the magazine and a brief quiz. Registration for these and all Hub courses is also open to non-members for a fee. Through these courses The HUB also serves as an archive for previous issues of the magazine, allowing new members as well as non-members to access topics of high relevance anytime, rather than only when a new issue is released.

Learn More Now

Convenient, cost-effective professional development that focuses on the needs of the professional is not only possible to achieve, it is an NCDA value and ethical responsibility (Venable & Reinersman, 2023). To find out more about The Hub and all of the currently available courses, go to The Hub home page on the NCDA website and read more about the online platform, review and register for courses, download course flyers, and access your Hub Dashboard after you have enrolled.

References

National Career Development Association Credentialing Commission. (2023). NCDA Credentialing Continuing Education Manual, 5th ed. National Career Development Association. https://ncda.org/aws/NCDA/asset_manager/get_file/312355?ver=30778 

Venable, M. (2023). Introducing NCDA’s new learning platform: The HUB. Career Convergence. https://www.ncda.org/aws/NCDA/pt/sd/news_article/501280/_self/CC_layout_details/false 

Venable, M., & Reinersman, M. (2023). Keys to cost-effective professional development. Career Convergence. https://www.ncda.org/aws/NCDA/pt/sd/news_article/530845/_self/CC_layout_details/false 

Melissa A. Venable, PhD, is the Director of Professional Development for NCDA. She coordinates learning opportunities through The Hub, Career Practitioner Conversations podcast, and NCDA’s Webinar Series. Melissa has 20 years of experience in online education as an instructional designer, curriculum manager, and online instructor. Her professional background includes work in higher education career services and military outplacement counseling. She can be reached at: mvenable@ncda.org and https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissavenable/