Why do we charge for membership?

MELA is a membership based learning community and depends on membership subscriptions for support. It is managed for the membership by Lifeworlds Learning which as a community interest company subsidises the running of MELA from its community interest fund. This enables us to keep the cost of membership as low as possible. Please note that we will review rates each year and the more members we have the lower we can make the rates, so spread the word and get others to join and share the cost.

 

What does membership pay for?

At its simplest level membership pays for half of the upkeep of this website including hosting, updates and content generation. It also contributes half of the costs of producing WIRE, the monthly bulletin of MELA.

 

Why should I join?

The learning communities that have come together to form MELA have all benefitted from the solidarity and inspiration that being part of a network can offer. We want to continue to offer this support across the learning communities that we support and to further the interchange of ideas and collaboration that takes place within and between them. We hope that you will join because you recognise the value of such work and want to be part of a dynamic and stimulating learning community that is redefining the way we support one another in a fast changing educational landscape. And remember that joining MELA gives you access to content from all of its constituent learning communities.

If you need an extra sweetener, then here are some other reasons to join:

Discounts on services and products

Advance notification and priority bookings

Free trial resources

Promotional opportunities and listings

 

How do I join?

We have three levels of membership at MELA and three fee bands^ based on the nature of the member. These are summarised in the table below. To join our community simply contact us and let us know what membership you want. If you are a teacher and you want to become an active member for example then you would ask for B1 membership.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We know what we mean by these, but if we haven't made it clear then please don't hesitate to contact us and tell us so! We will do our best to help you and your feedback will help us make it clearer for others too.

Informed members - this is our basic membership that will keep you informed of events, resources and opportunities via our monthly e-bulletin. You will also be entitled to short-term discounts* (typically 10%) on selected products.

Active members - all the benefits of informed members but in addition, active members receive a permanent discount* (typically 10-20%) on selected products and priority booking for courses and events.

Associate members - all the benefits of active members, but in addition, associate members will be given a free listing on the providers pages, a discount* on professional services (website hosting, resource development, bespoke CPD etc), reduced advertising rates and free trial products** ahead of their general release.

 

* Discounts are subject to change and may be witheld from premium products (i.e. study visits) or products produced in partnership with other organisations. ** Products offered for free trial are at the discretion of Lifeworlds Learning Community Interest Company and may be subject to additional conditions such as the provision of feed back for review, marketing and publicity purposes. ^These rates are based on cost recovery for the running of the MELA community and are match funded at the rate of 50% by Lifeworlds Learning Community Interest Company. The rates are set for the academic year 2011-2012 and will be revised in June 2012 to reflect changes in membership and running costs. Those joining part way through an academic year will be charged pro-rata to the nearest complete quarter.