LMS – One of The Important Thing Any Organisation Needs
What is LMS and who uses it?
The word itself, LMS says the whole meaning, which means Learning Management System. So, any place which requires learning and managing it, it may be an organisation or a school, government agencies etc.
Thus LMS provides a better way to provide learning solutions to the organisation and its employees where it is being used. It can be used to provide knowledge and learning solutions in schools to students, it can be used in organisations to teach a new skill, orientation for new joinees , update skill set of the employees etc.
Thus, it proves useful to any type of organisation by creating, distributing, delivering, assessing, monitoring and reviewing the content (lessons/matter).
It consists of
-
The server component which controls creates and manages the matter, controls the users etc.
-
The UI, which helps the user to get familiar with the content used by organisations, educators etc.
How a LMS should lookalike ?
Companies need something which would be easy to use and would also provide the necessary information to be shared and explained to the employees, or in schools to the students. Thus, any LMS should be scalable, cost effective and provide solutions in such a way that it increases the business performance.
Learning Management Systems are supposed to make your life easier by centralizing your data and deploying online training resources on a global scale. However, this requires finding an LMS that suits all your needs and falls within your online training budget. Do you know what you need from your next LMS, or have you left some essential LMS features off your list?
1. Data Migration
You probably have a sizable collection of Big Data stored on your existing LMS or hard drive. But are you able to move all that valuable information to your new LMS? An effective Learning Management System should support a broad range of formats. Furthermore, it should make the data migration process as simple and straightforward as possible.
2. Social Media Support
Online training courses missing that crucial social media component are doing a great disservice to their corporate learners. An LMS should give you the ability to integrate social learning tools into your online training strategy. For example, corporate eLearning blogs and social media groups that allow corporate learners to interact with their peers directly, as well as tracking tools that help you monitor learner engagement and participation.
3. Built-In Gamification Tools
Games make the world go ‘round. Well, maybe that’s overstating it a bit. However, gamification does give you the power to motivate and inspire your corporate learners. This yields a broad range of benefits, such as an increase in knowledge retention and online training ROI. A top-notch LMS should feature built-in gamification tools. For example, badges, points, and leaderboards that appeal to corporate learners’ competitive nature.
4. Brand Integration
Every piece of the puzzle must reflect your brand image in order to create cohesion. Thus, you need to look for an LMS that allows you to integrate your logo, color scheme, and other essential branding elements. This usually falls into the category of customization. Are you able to adjust the layout based your corporate learners’ needs? Can you add your own icons and watermarks? These are all things to consider if you want to accurately convey your brand image through your online training materials.
5. Customizable Reporting
Most LMS platforms come with pre-built reports that cover a variety of metrics, from learner engagement to completion rates. However, the LMS you ultimately choose should have customizable reporting features. This allows you to focus on online training initiatives that matter most to your organization. For example, social or informal learning activities that enrich the online training experience or specific compliance online training courses that may be crucial in the event of an audit. Of course, the LMS should also be equipped with the most common LMS reports and analytics, such as learner performance and progress tracking.
6. Collaborative Learning Tools
Some of the most beneficial learning opportunities come from peer-based resources, such as online discussions, social media groups, group collaboration projects, and other collaborative activities. But can your new LMS handle these peer-to-peer interactions? Do they provide corporate learners with the video conferencing or Project Management tools they need to communicate with ease?
Some of The Best LMS We've Pick for You
-
Talent LMS
It is one of the most super convenient and user friendly cloud based software already being employed by many organisations. It also offers a free trial which helps to know its working and its suitability to us. The features which have made it popular among all are-
-
Customisation to a great extent- adding themes, custom logo, can add external domain to personalize it.
-
Extensible user profiles, gamification, video-conferencing, course selling, notifications etc.
-
Support for SCORM & TinCan.
-
Compatible on Android and iPhone/iPad devices.
2. Docebo
A very resourceful Saas based application trusted by organisations such as Thomson Reuters, Bloomberg and Sharp. It also offers a 14 day trial for better experience and understanding. Its features that make it stand it out are-
-
A unique Coach & Share feature allows learners to ask queries and get solutions from experts. This also indicates the extensive use of sharing functions in the software.
-
Integration with CRM, HRM, web conferencing tools and social media channels.
-
Multiple admin features.
-
Integration with Salesforce.
-
E-Commerce feature: it allows selling online courses or repurposing content to other users.
3. Schoology
It is one of the famous one of the useful LMS tools in the educational sector. The uniqueness about schoology is
It helps in designing course and lessons, organises tests, grades them and evaluates overall student performance. It consists of multiple classroom tools and a very flexible digital learning tool.
Personalize learning for each student- It helps in customising the time of learning for each student and helps them learn at their own pace.
It offers Instructor tools, curriculum management and analysis of data so as to improve the quality of learning.
4. Litmos LMS
SAP Litmos is powerful tool that helps in engaging and delivering the content in an efficient manner.
-
Used by a number of organizations owing to its zero-setup fee, customer support and price
-
It works on desktop or mobile systems making it easier for the learner.
-
It has tools for tests and video assessments, with gamification and leaderboards to engage more learners.
-
Makes it easy to sell the course content to E-Commerce sites like Shopify.
5. Mindflash
Mindflash is very useful for both, small and large scale businesses. It is also cloud based.
Allows you to create any number of online courses using its user-friendly interface and templates, along with a unique feature-live course editing and uploading.
Courses can be converted from existing PowerPoint presentations, YouTube videos, SCORM, MP3 and many more ones.
Data storage is free which allows user data, course content and student details of any size.
6. eFront
It is powerful software for any organisation with advanced security features and extensive customization.
-
Sync with the existing data and infrastructure, thus allowing adaptability.
-
Customizations available.
-
Trainer led courses can be done online or on video feeds.
-
Reusing of content available.
Conclusion
Learning Management Systems (LMSs) have become powerful tools for educational institutions, as well as many other organizations who face a difficult task to continuously train and develop their employees. These days, there are over 600 different LMSs available on the market, each often being quite unique and possessing a different feature set to meet the requirements of its users.
This abundance of options makes it rather difficult for many companies to invest in the right LMS, and they often end up buying a system that is way more expensive than what the company can comfortably afford, and one that offers features that sound cool but in reality, bring little to no value to the business. Various LMS vendors typically up-sell and overcharge for features that sound useful and interesting, but are rarely used by most customers.