Meet Your CEBS Instructor – Christine Healy, CEBS

Sometimes the most difficult part about taking on a new challenge is getting started. You’re ready to begin your CEBS designation, but you might not be sure about how to create a plan for your studies. Many CEBS candidates count on CEBS Online Study Groups With Instructor Support for structure.

CEBS​​ online study groups are an optional educational resource designed to complement the self-study approach. Offered over a 12-week session, online study groups set a schedule for your study efforts and are facilitated by established and experienced CEBS professionals.

What does an online instructor do?

Your online instructor has many roles, including:

• Designing all content and activities in your class to help you retain knowledge and study for your CEBS exam
• Facilitating live review sessions
• Monitoring the discussion forum to provide clarification and guidance to learners
• Creating discussion questions for each module and Benefits in Action Mini Cases to stimulate engagement and enhance learning about employee benefits
• Sharing his/her real world experience about being a benefits professional
• Answering questions that students submit via the discussion forum, email and private message.

A Chat with Christine Healy, CEBS

Christine Healy, Ph.D., CEBS, PHR, SHRM-CP
Assistant Director of HR, Southern Utah University
Instructor for GBA 1—Directing Benefits Programs Part 1

How have the knowledge and skills you gained by earning your CEBS designation helped you most in your career?

“Since obtaining my CEBS designation, I tend to use the tacit knowledge built around facts from the content the most. Understanding how benefits intersect and impact an organization’s ability to compete from a financial perspective and a human capital perspective dependent on the strategies employed has proven very valuable to my employers.”

What will benefits professionals learn from the GBA 1 course?

“GBA 1 offers a solid foundation to the world of employee benefits. I appreciate the overview of popular benefits options along with the integration of how they operate for both business and employee viability. The material provides good foundational details on the considerations for setting up, operating and monitoring benefits programs. It is a preliminary course to the more complex world of benefits that is covered in GBA 2.”

How has the GBA curriculum evolved in recent years?

“This course explores legal issues that are implicated by the ever-changing regulatory and legal environment including the IRS, the Treasury Department and DOL regulations. The PPACA is a very interesting and ongoing piece of regulation that has been engaging to follow through the GBA curriculum.”

What are your studying tips for CEBS students in online study groups?

“There are a couple of tips I have for students in online study groups. First, set up a study plan that includes the day of the week you will read the Assigned Reading, the days you will respond to the discussion questions and a system for taking the interactive games and quizzes. Take advantage of all the materials.

With discussion posts, don’t just respond to the instructor’s initial questions; rather, go back and see what other students have posted, too. It is through the experiences of others that we can learn more robustly. Use stories about the concepts to help you learn—even if you are not a benefits professional yet, you can tap into your experience using benefits as an employee. These stories will help you to remember the concepts by giving them a ‘grounded-in reality’ perspective.”

Learn more about CEBS and the CEBS Online Study Groups With Instructor Support.

Do you need guidance on your CEBS journey?  Whether you’re about to take your first step or you’re getting close to reaching your designation, we’re here to help!  Give us a call at (800) 449-2327, option 3 or e-mail cebs@ifebp.org.