The Challenge: Complex content with strict compliance needs that leave no room for error.
The American Thoracic Society (ATS) is the world’s leading medical society dedicated to advancing respiratory health through collaboration, education, and advocacy. With over 30,000 members in 133 countries, ATS develops educational content across a wide spectrum of continuing medical (CME) education to non-CME programs.
As the organization’s educational initiatives expanded, the team faced challenges with balancing compliance, branding, and accessibility. CME and non-CME activities needed to be separated to meet regulatory requirements, while ATS worked to create a unified learner experience.
ATS was looking for a solution that could:
- Keep CME and non-CME education clearly separated while staying on the same LMS.
- Maintain cohesive organization branding and structure across departments and programs.
- Support deep, disease-specific learning pathways that could evolve over time.
The Solution: EthosCE Learning Groups deliver flexibility, compliance, and brand consistency.
ATS adopted EthosCE’s Learning Group feature to create distinct, branded educational environments that each operated under its own custom domain. This approach empowered the team to deliver CME and non-CME content in one centralized system, while preserving separation needed for regulatory bodies.
Each Learning Group leveraged EthosCE’s feature set, from course management and reporting to resource sharing and visual customization.
Other key improvements included:
- Compliance without compromise: Through Learning Groups, CME and non-CME can exist in parallel educational spaces within a larger educational home. The separation of non-accredited education from accredited educational education is maintained.
- Cohesive learner experience: Content is presented consistently and intuitively across all learning areas, decreasing confusion and reinforcing the ATS brand.
- Stronger collaboration: ATS’ learning and marketing teams worked together to standardize visuals, templates, and layouts for their Learning Groups.
- Engagement that Grows: Each Learning Group’s space can evolve over time, with continually refreshed content that encourages learners to return and complete their learning journeys.
The Result: ATS unified its educational strategy while simplifying management and user experience.
Launching multiple branded Learning Groups transformed how ATS structures and delivers its education. Internally, the approach improved team efficiency and collaboration, ensuring visuals and messaging remain consistent across every offering.
Learners benefit from clearer, more intuitive experiences. Once they enter a Learning Group, they are more likely to explore related activities and return for updates. Early results from the palliative care Learning Group show that users who complete an introductory course and more likely to purchase subsequent related activities, demonstrating increased engagement and content stickiness.
This model allowed the ATS to utilize its learning group structure to strengthen external partnerships, and provide new licensing opportunities to broaden audience reach, boost engagement, and breathe new life into ATS educational content. The palliative care learning group became a blueprint for integrating co-branded, licensed content all within the ATS ecosystem to enhance the organization’s educational impact on its learners.
By enabling collaboration with external partners to enhance subject matter expertise within its modules, learners were given a more robust and comprehensive educational experience that they can access anywhere, anytime.
“We spent time upfront building a design and structure for our Learning Groups that reflects our brand, and now every new initiative fits naturally within that framework. It’s made content easier to find, easier to navigate, and more engaging overall.”
- Jennifer Siegel-Gasiewski, Director of Lifelong Learning, American Thoracic Society
About the American Thoracic Society
Founded in 1905, the American Thoracic Society is the world’s leading medical society dedicated to accelerating the advancement of global respiratory health through multidisciplinary collaboration, education, and advocacy. Core activities of the Society’s more than 30,000 members in 133 countries are focused on leading scientific discoveries, advancing professional development, impacting global health, and transforming patient care. Learn more here.
About Cadmium
Cadmium empowers associations to harness the power of learning experiences by providing an integrated suite of solutions that streamline event management and continuing education. We understand that learning is about transformative moments, and we're here to help associations share those moments, create community, and drive meaningful change. For more information, visit us here.
