Increase in webinars produced with the user-friendly ON24 platform
to 1,700 people register for each webinar
of attendees report they’re very satisfied or highly satisfied with the webinars
of attendees are likely to recommend the webinars to their colleagues or friends
Product: ON24 Webcast Elite
Use Case: Customer & Product Marketing
Industry: Information Services
The New York Times is dedicated to helping people understand the world through on-the-ground, deeply reported, independent journalism. This mission is rooted in the organization’s belief that great journalism has the power to strengthen society, and make each reader’s life richer and more fulfilling.
The Learning Network’s mission is to help people teach and learn with The New York Times. The organization connects students and the classroom to the outside world through resources that promote critical and creative thinking through multimedia using articles, videos, podcasts and more from the Times.
“We’ve been around since 1998, and in our early years, we were most known for our daily lesson plans. Today, we offer teachers and students so much more,” said Michael Gonchar, Editor, The New York Times Learning Network. “Teachers tell us we help them connect their classrooms to the world.”
The Learning Network also delivers free professional development webinars to its growing community of educators, which help them understand more deeply how they can use the platform for teaching and learning.
The organization has a global audience with educators in vastly different settings. As The Learning Network ramped up its digital communication efforts this year, its goal was not only to provide quality professional development, but to leverage technology to reach as many educators as possible worldwide.
A global audience that needed support quickly
Before Manley and Flatt joined The Learning Network, the organization had only run 12 webinars in three years, and they weren’t strategically connected to its programs.
While The Learning Network recognized the value of face-to-face collaboration, the organization wanted to combine the depth of that in-person training with the wide reach of technology.
In addition, the education landscape changed rapidly with the onset of COVID-19. Schools had to make an immediate shift from in-person to online learning. While some teachers and schools were prepared to pivot, many other educators needed support.
“We wanted our audience to know that we’d be responsive to whatever they needed. We thought this would be a great opportunity to show them what we could offer, because in many ways, The Learning Network was built for online learning,” said Ross Flatt, Professional Development Manager, The New York Times Learning Network.
“We love that ON24 has follow-up emails built into its Platform. After each webinar, participants get emails with links to our resources and information about future webinars.”
Rachel Manley
Professional Development Manager
A global webinar program to create community for educators
After Flatt and Manley’s arrival, The Learning Network ramped up its webinar production with ON24 Webcast Elite.
“We started running webinars during the pandemic, and now we’ve run 12 in six months using the ON24 platform. We wanted to make sure we were offering numerous touchpoints to our participants around the globe,” Flatt said.
The webinar topics range from teaching with graphs to teaching students how to produce podcasts. The Learning Network currently runs all of its webinars live, using videos and recordings, and often bringing in guest speakers. The organization leverages ON24 features such as group chat and Q&A, using the group chat on every live webinar to build community among the educators and to share resources.
“We love that ON24 has follow-up emails built into its Platform. After each webinar, participants get emails with links to our resources and information about future webinars.” Manley said.
The Learning Network also encourages its international audience to access its webinars after they’ve run by posting every on-demand event on its website with a link to the recording available through ON24. This enables The Learning Network’s audience to rewatch webinars, read through the resource list or share the content with friends and colleagues.
“We are very thankful that ON24 has a great media player that allows for one or multiple speakers to be on camera at any time. The media player makes the educators feel like they’re connecting with our team because they get to see the people behind the scenes at The Times,” Manley said.
Today, The Learning Network’s globally available program enables the organization to extend its reach, engaging from 400 to 1,700 people to register for each webinar. An impressive 97% of the attendees have reported that they’re either very satisfied or highly satisfied with The Learning Network’s webinars, thanks to the engaging ON24 platform. In addition, 95% of the attendees are likely to recommend the webinars to their colleagues or friends.
In one post-webinar survey, a teacher responded, “I’ve attended a lot of webinars in the COVID-19 era. This was one of the best by far. It was concise, helpful and the chat moderation was exceptional.” Another teacher said, “The New York Times really stepped up to the plate to offer quality content for students and teachers and schools during this pandemic.”
These survey results demonstrate that with the ON24 platform, The Learning Network has been able to achieve its goal of providing quality professional development to educators worldwide through digital experiences, expanding the organization’s reach and growing its business.
“We’re very thankful that ON24 has a great media player that allows for one or multiple speakers to be on camera at any time. The media player makes the educators feel like they’re connecting with our team because they get to see the people behind the scenes at The Times.”
Rachel Manley
Professional Development Manager
