You’ve ordered CEBS® Study Materials, but your Study Guide is collecting dust. Overcome your learning inertia and boost your motivation with CEBS Online Study Groups With Instructor Support! A set schedule holds you accountable to get started and keep making progress. Collaborative learning activities, such as weekly discussion questions and live review sessions, provide you with opportunities to get constructive feedback and encouragement. Gain a new viewpoint about employee benefits by interacting with your instructor and classmates, who work in organizations in a variety of industries and sectors in different provinces/territories.
CEBS Online Study Groups are an optional educational resource designed to support the self-study approach. Offered over a 12-week session, Online Study Groups provide a timeline 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 Case to stimulate engagement and enhance learning about employee benefits
- Sharing their real-world experience about being a benefits professional
- Answering questions that students submit via the discussion forum, email and private message.
A Chat With Sheila Phillips, CEBS
Sheila Phillips, CEBS, FLMI
Consultant, Group Benefits
Instructor: GBA 1—Managing Benefit Plans Part 1
How has earning the CEBS designation enhanced your career?
I’m retired now, but I still remember that when I completed the CEBS program, I received a personal note of congratulations from the senior vice president of my division. If you’re going to get the attention of leadership, this is a really positive reason why!
What will benefits professionals learn from taking GBA 1?
GBA 1 provides such an important springboard for students. Some are already experienced in some aspects of the benefits industry but want to gain a more formal understanding of the fundamentals. It may help them directly in their own role, or in better understanding how their role interacts with others in their company. Other students are quite new to benefits, so they really want just to get their feet under them. There isn’t a better place to start.
Are there any interesting current events or regulatory updates related to concepts the GBA 1 course explores?
So many! I like to ask students to muse on how we might provide employee benefits, in a sustainable way, to the increasing numbers of workers in the gig economy. Post-pandemic, the importance of addressing employees’ mental health needs, and how to support them through benefits plans, has dramatically increased. I’m also quite interested to see how our national programs for providing dental coverage and pharmacare might impact benefits plans.
What are your best study tips for CEBS students?
There are a few things. First, make sure you have and are aware of all the Study Materials. Then, given your work and home priorities, figure out how to put some set study time into your schedule, and stick to it. Digging into the course content—and there is a lot of it—is so much easier in smaller chunks! Finally, when I was a student, I found the questions and answers for each Learning Outcome in the Content Knowledge Review section in each module of the Study Guide really streamlined and focused on the subject matter, so I used them a lot in my final exam preparation. I recommend students check that out.
What sort of success stories have you heard from your students? Why would you encourage people to earn their CEBS designation?
Since GBA 1 is usually the start of the CEBS journey, what I usually hear from students is that they’ve passed their exam, and they’re excited to carry on. I think earning the CEBS designation is an important mark of professionalism, and as I said earlier, it might get you noticed in a positive way within your organization. You never know where that could lead!
The 12-week, summer session of the Canadian Online Study Groups With Instructor Support is open through May 5-July 25, 2025. Jump in anytime and get access to materials from previous weeks.
Do you need additional guidance on your CEBS journey? Whether you’re about to take your first step or getting close to reaching your designation, we’re here to help! Give us a call at (833) 886-3749 or email [email protected].
