Learning and Development

The mission of Learning and Development is to provide financial services practitioners with relevant and high-quality education to better serve their clients. We do this through the delivery of our designation and certificate programs as well as advanced learning content through the continuing education platform.

2021 was a very active period within the Learning and Development area in which we focused on infrastructure, program delivery and program development.

Infrastructure

Continuing education modules, designation and certificate education programs were centralized within our secure online education hub, the Advocis Learning Environment (ALE). The learner population size is significant within the ALE hub, with 8,000 users at the end of 2021. A centralized infrastructure provides the opportunity to develop and increase learner engagement and retention and to support their professional development goals and pathways.

Delivery

Today, more than ever, financial advisors and planners work and connect with clients digitally. Concurrently, that has increased or enhanced the demand to deliver digitally enabled programs as a learner choice. We are digitally strengthening our full suite of tools and resources as well as providing opportunities to connect and learn in facilitated study sessions, either through live virtual sessions or tapping our recorded sessions library.

During the year, investments in technology were also made to introduce exam management tools such as remote proctoring, curated video sessions, automated / tailored messaging to support the learner journey and centralized registrations. Substantial reporting tools were introduced in Q4 2021 to support our data and trend analysis on learner progress, retention and behaviour patterns. This capability is expected to enhance our understanding of learner choices and engagement, enabling more effective program development and delivery.

13