Table of Contents
» What is an LMS?
LMS is an AI-developed application that accommodates updating and managing the content for training and learning development programs. The corporate and non-corporate organizations use LMS for official purposes like office administration, course documentation, tracking the performance of the learners, and supporting online and offline learning.
» What Can You Do With a Learning Management Software (LMS)?
Compared to the earlier times, the Learning Management System Software (LMS) has changed. The corporate sector and education industry use LMS according to their needs. With up-to-date Learning Management Software (LMS), you can avoid unnecessary labor like:
• Preparing manuals
• PowerPoint slides
• Spreadsheets in learning administration.
The following are the things you can do with an LMS.
• Reduce your cost - Are you in a tight situation because of COVID-19? Well, that could be one of the passing phases of your life. Unlike traditional teaching classroom methods, Learning & Development Software is cheaper. Even though the application needs an initial investment, it is a one-time investment. You can reuse the app to train the students and staff and conduct online training. You can use valuable resources according to your allocated budget for better coaching.
• Monitor and assess the progress - Designed to track and monitor the student’s and the tutor’s progress at any given time, the Learning Management System Software ensures that both faculties and students show a drastic improvement in their performances. Furthermore, LMS education also allows you to track learner’s progress and see whether their performance reaches the expected milestones. The students don’t have the time constraints to ask questions or doubts to their instructors as they can get the answers from the faculties once they read their messages. Even in corporate companies, the employers can gauge the employees whether they are at home, office, or even at the client’s place.
• Get time flexibility - The students can study the subjects online with the help of Learning Management Systems at their pace through desktops, laptops, or tablets as long as they have access to the internet. It also helps the companies to harness the technology, which enhances your efficiency. The LMS also helps you to meet the demand for payroll or HR systems as it automatically adds or removes employees across systems.
• Saves your time - The e-learning system saves time for teachers, students, and companies. From the teachers’ perspective, they can create content from the student’s viewpoint, automate the assignment, and perform an incredible analysis of students’ performance. All these features make learning enjoyable and increase the students’ enthusiasm to perform better. In an organization, the employees can learn new things so they can increase productivity with uncompromised quality.
• Maintain social distancing while learning and working - The LMS makes your learning and productivity unstoppable despite the economic slowdown, owing to reasons like COVID-19 or others. The online learning & remote working helps you gain more knowledge & earn a steady income while maintaining social distancing.
• E-Commerce - Many learning centers now develop e-commerce websites via LMS Software. It enables the students to place an order for the study materials online & start studying after receiving them at their doorstep. The companies can generate revenue with the help of cross-selling, which gives an incentive to the users after making a purchase.
• Easy upgrades - As the Learning Management System (LMS) uses a centralized location for the content, you can easily upgrade the information according to the specification of new trends. The end users get continuous updates from time-to-time.
› Who Uses LMS?
1. Students - The students of the educational institute can easily study and solve the assignments allocated by their instructors.
2. Teachers - The LMS enables the teachers to give the students additional information once they prepare the content.
Educational Institutions - Make use of LMS to reduce the cost & generate income from students. They use the software to gauge their employees by collecting the students’ feedback on teaching methods, study materials, etc.
3. Corporates - There is a slight difference between educational institutes & corporate companies. Though both use LMS to monitor the employees, the corporate LMS helps corporates to keep track of their staff productivity after undergoing the training and getting selected for a particular process.
4. Non-Profit Organizations - The other non-profit organizations are clubs, fitness centers, salons, healthcare centers, and others. They use Non-Profit LMS for the following reasons:
a. In-house talent development
b. Save training costs
c. Reduce training time
d. Safe and centralized storage
e. And others
› Salient Features of LMS
The LMS platform features you with:
• Easy content creation
• Effortless management of content
• Assessment Creation
• Building the courses
• Conducting examinations
• Creating quizzes
• LMS Label and branding
» Why Do You Need Learning Management Software?
Learning Management Software is one of the most powerful applications used for corporate and educational purposes. Do you know that over 83% of companies across the globe are using LMS? With the increasing demand for learning management platforms in the market, the forecasted net worth has a projection to attain $23.21 billion by 2023. The Learning Management System Software makes your life easier through content delivery and helps you handle onboarding, compliance, and skills gap analysis.
› Benefits of Learning Management Systems
• Cost Savings - The Learning Management Application helps in online teaching & training. It reduces conveyance charges to the employees, optimizes training costs, and minimizes the usage of facilities. You only need to pay the salary to the instructors. The LMS can perform more tasks than you can imagine.
• Makes driving compliance easier - The compliance rules and regulations keep changing. However, when it comes to updating the traditional online course, it would consume much time. The Learning Management System already has readymade content. Hence, you can easily upgrade the content through modification. Adding the latest news and eliminating outdated information ensures that people are on the same page. The LMS enables you to unlearn and relearn the content according to the new compliance standards within a short time.
• Gives you a more engaging experience - Gone are those days when the employees had to undergo rigorous product training for long hours with their trainers in the conference room.
• Easy access to information – The Learning Management Software comprises a well-organized structure. The users can access the information irrespective of geographical location. The LMS helps the users to view and access the following in a single click.
♦ Courses
♦ Calendars
♦ Multimedia content
♦ Achieves
♦ Evaluations
The LMS offers the time flexibility to open the learning content and materials at your own pace. You can learn a subject in whichever location you reside.
• Personalization – The LMS provides you a learning platform that helps in personalizing your brand completely. It further helps you to incorporate the corporate image, and brand, into the platform. You can now tailor different elements and features according to your company’s taste, which can be multilingual or monolingual. The LMS does not need additional installation for creating various portals and user IDs. Also, the application can function simultaneously with web access.
• Updated and Immediate Content – The administrators can use the Learning Management Systems to update the course content instantly. They can also add materials & provide the students with immediate access to valuable resources.
• Advanced Reporting – The LMS allows you to download the detailed performance reports of the students and staff through after streamlining.
• Multimedia Learning – Are you looking for an application that will enable you to create multimedia learning content? The LMS is advanced software that helps an organization to develop the content. The corporates use the material for training the selected candidates in project training. The hospitals use the Learning Management Software to provide primary medical education to the students. The LMS helps in presenting the materials using video, images, audio, and text. Hence the Learning Management System serves as a great tool in learning new skills or information. Furthermore, the system enables learners to communicate with their trainers and their colleagues through live chat platforms & online forums. The software also promotes a collaborative, interactive, attractive, and personal learning environment.
• Sales and commercialization – The LMS also helps organizations to generate substantial sales revenue. E-commerce is a renowned way of selling your products and services. It helps you to manage and automate the platform through supporting payment modes like credit cards or bank transfers. The students can make an online payment, signing up for the course of their choice. Even corporates can get unlimited benefits, by using Learning Management Software.
» Projecting the Future of Learning Management System
In the present world, many organizations and institutes rely on the Learning Management System (LMS). In earlier times, people were making use of books and libraries. The students could only bank upon the teachers to attain knowledge. However, with the Internet, students and workers can get more information from different sources.
You can gain plenty of information using devices like smartphones, social media, computers, MOOCs, and others.
› Does the Learning Management System have a future?
Yes, the LMS does have a scope in the upcoming days. In this pandemic situation, educational institutions have stopped running. But the employees are operating at home and are providing online training to the students.
The corporates are also suffering owing to COVID-19 setbacks. The employees are working remotely to maintain social distancing.
The COVID-19 cases are increasing across the globe and have resulted in a standstill. Furthermore, no one knows when the situation will come back to normalcy. However, most of the organizations are still running the show with the help of Learning Management Software.
The Learning Management System Software has helped in steady growth at the university level. Lately, the education scenario has witnessed drastic changes. The fortune companies aim to provide their employees with the best orientation to reach great heights. Hence, they invest in the Learning Management System that benefits them the most. The present and the future of LMS trends are:
• Enhanced communication – Communication plays a critical role in the business world. The Learning Management Software provides the platform to employees to share their ideas with their coworkers.
• Crowd-Sourced Content – The companies, educational institutions, and other non-profit organizations must ensure they arrange the content that meets the user requirements.
• Gamification – It lets the learners understand concepts in an entertaining, interactive, and engaging manner. Gone are the days when the employees were in a toxic environment. Today, companies employ gamification technology to make their employees feel at ease. The LMS makes it possible for the employees to learn efficiently and deliver the right results to the organization.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) changed LMS to competitive Intelligence –Artificial Intelligence plays various roles in our lives. For example, the virtual assistants give the news updates & weather reports before you retire to bed or wake up in the morning. Also, you get timely updates when the TV sets are on. The current generation has become addicted to technology to the extent of using Artificial Intelligence. The LMS makes AI, which helps in personalized and relevant learning. You also get insights according to the data and content on users’ behavior and requirements. The AI, in combination with LMS, helps you to update the content according to the latest requirements. It simplifies the task of L & D for the administrators and helps in smart work to deliver the newest enterprise learning.
• Impact of Artificial Intelligence on LMS – Has already begun. In the coming days, Artificial Intelligence has more expectations to build an effect on LMS space. The AI skips the automatic evaluation of:
1. How much the learner has understood the concept?
2. The adjustment of the learning pathway according to their understanding level.
Artificial Intelligence ensures an automated version of LMS that does the work of a great teacher. It gauges the mastery level of all individuals and provides them with relevant content. The LMS with AI makes learning easy for all students.
However, the LMS would have to maintain its competency as a lot would be expected from its platform.
» LMS Types
› Choosing the right LMS
Are you planning to go for LMS for the efficient functioning of an organization? It's understandable that, like any other business, you would like to generate quick revenue for your business.
However, when it comes to purchasing the right Learning Management System, there are tons of things that you should ponder.
If you are good at developing the application according to your needs, then you wouldn't shell a single pie. You have three options to get the right LMS
1. Buy an LMS best suited to your requirements.
2. Hire a developer with your Learning Management Software requirements.
3. As a developer, you can customize the off-the-shelf LMS application to fulfill your needs.
The budget also plays an important role when you make a decision. If you are running a startup company, then buying the software is the solution. However, if your budget allows for customized LMS, then you should hire a developer to get your application ready. If you are looking for the LMS type with a low budget and high functionality, the organization will buy and modify the software to its expectations.
› Types of Learning Management System Software
Here is the list of Learning Management System Software.
1. Open Source – An open source is a platform in which you get the readymade source code for modification. The developers try these codes and finally selects the one which meets the project criteria. If you are not tech-savvy, it would be tough for you to grasp the implications of the coding. The Open Source LMS Software allows freedom, peer review, and knowledge sharing.
2. Cloud LMS – Are you looking for LMS software that does not require any hardware installation? Well, you can achieve it through Cloud-based LMS. The procedure is simple. You only need to log on to get access to the cloud-based LMS features. The Cloud LMS benefits you in some of the following ways.
a. Affordable – If you are looking for an LMS at a low cost, you can get a cloud-based LMS. You need not have substantial capital to invest in that application. Whether you opt for short-term or long-term, you keep getting free upgrades.
b. Free Trial – The other benefit that you get is the 30-day free trial. It enables you to assess the software before you make a final decision to go for it.
c. Implementation Time – You can easily install a cloud-based LMS within less time, avoiding lengthy meetings. The Cloud-LMS also helps you to create and brand the portal, create courses, and manage enrollments.
d. User-friendly – You can use the cloud LMS in any web application. Cloud LMS helps you to do the following.
• Catch up with your Facebook friends
• Add your documents to Google Drive
• You can get noticed on Twitter.
You can do the same, even with the usage of commercial software. The Learning Management System makes adoption easier for frequent users. It provides you with a dashboard to the users of the hand-held devices which they can access.
e. Easy Configuration – Are you looking for a highly customized LMS solution? Find the right solution in Cloud LMS that makes a high level of configuration work for you.
f. Mobile-friendly – The Cloud LMS enables you to use the application on any device and location. The Cloud LMS with responsive designs allows you to access the web portals anywhere in the globe. It ensures that the user interface responds to your device size.
g. Security and scalability – If you are looking for a high level of data security and scalability, you can rely on Cloud LMS. You need to ensure that the app should provide you with the following.
• Secure code and processes
• Adherence to industry standards
• It undergoes regular and independent tests.
• Data encryption in transit
If your application meets the above criteria, then your data would always be safe. Also, the cloud-based applications should exploit the infrastructural advantages to meet the users' needs. If your LMS fulfills the criteria, then it is a safe platform for your data.
h. Low maintenance – It is the vendor's responsibility to take care of your cloud-based LMS. Most of the cloud-based LMS solutions would need constant uptime. The teams provide you with the timely updates which you need to implement from time to time. The vendor would not charge you for updating your application.
3. SaaS LMS – The Software as a Service or SaaS LMS offers you a subscription model. When you pay a certain amount, you gain access to that LMS Software.
There are many other Learning Management systems software that you can use for commercial or educational purposes.
» LMS Requirements Checklist
Today, you can find thousands of Learning Management Software in the market. However, when you check each LMS application, it would take much time for you to arrive at a decision. When you perform an LMS Requirement Checklist, you need to prepare a list of common aspects that meets your system requirements.
› Steps for selecting the right LMS
While you select an LMS, you need to prepare an LMS Checklist to check out for the following.
1. Functional Requirements – An LMS must meet the operational requirements as they are essential for the learners and the officials. The LMS that you select must have the following features by default.
> Management of courses and users – Firstly, you need to decide in which way you want to work with the users and groups in the LMS. Depending on your operations, you need to decide on the following factors.
• Is it for the administrators or the users to register the employees?
• LMS Management – Should the system assign separate roles to administrators and other users?
• Do you intend to create individual training programs for employees and companies?
> Learning models – The next thing is you decide which type of learning model you want for your business requirements. The different types of models are:
• Pure eLearning – Employees only get online training consisting of courses and tests. They have to read only the books and articles recommended to them.
• Blended Learning – Blended learning comprises prerequisite courses through eLearning as well as personal training.
• Instructor-led training – It allows the learners and the trainers to discuss the training material on an individual or in a group. The instructors can deliver training either in classroom format or virtual training via video conferencing Software like Skype, Zoom, and others.
While you select an LMS, you also need to consider other things like
2. Webinar Hosting – If you are planning to host webinars, what the features you are searching in an LMS are?
• In the case of instructor-led training, which LMS will accommodate you in managing
• The classroom schedules & locations
• Monitor the attendance and performance
• Assign learners and trainers to offline sessions
3. Support and create the learning content – Creating learning content plays a critical role. Hence, you need to decide what kind of training materials you should provide the employees. Your articles should be useful to the employees concerning the following.
• Use of content and technology – Whichever format you choose for the content and technology, the LMS should support them.
• Does your company need a course editor?
Now, you can also get the Learning Management Software with an in-built editor where you can create simple tests and courses. Also, you can find a bundled, powerful authoring tool to create interactive course materials, quizzes, and conversational simulations for faster learning and delivery.
4. Make an analysis and generate reports – The purpose of training the employees is to get the right results. So, you need to select the LMS that reduces your load in working with Excel spreadsheets and process the data manually. While choosing a report, consider the below factors.
• Type of report - Is it a simple report or a detailed report? If you choose to go for detailed descriptions, it should contain the report on material quality, group, and user performance.
5. Other options – Your LMS can also provide you with additional features depending on your business. Some of them are:
• Social learning
• Talent Management
• Mobile learning
• E-Commerce
• White labeling & Customizing
• Gamification
• Certificates
6. Technical Requirements – When it comes to technical aspects, you need to install a hosted LMS on your company’s server. An organization stores all the in-house data. But you face the challenge when you deploy a hosted LMS owing to its technical complexity. The task involves the system’s compatibility with the existing network (if any), and the software architecture. The professional requirement comprises of:
• Security – You need to find out the company’s security requirements, such as data storage and how the users should get their login details. All these get authenticated into the system and who can access the data?
• System integration – You may come across combinations like HR Software, BI Systems, CRMs, and others. Identify what type of integration suits your company's requirements.
7. Budget – You also need to keep the budget in mind while selecting a Learning Management Software. According to the sources, over 60% of the companies spend more than the average expectations on their Learning Management System.
» LMS Pricing Models
If budget is your concern for selecting an application, the LMS Pricing Model comes into the scenario. Most startup companies look for the best prices to buy the LMS without compromising with the functional and technical requirements. In this topic, you will learn various types of Pricing Models in Learning Management Systems.
› Different types of LMS Pricing Models
The LMS Pricing Models vary from vendor to vendor or developer to developer. Here you go with different types of LMS Pricing Models.
1. Pay-per-active users: In Pay-per-active LMS Pricing Models, you make the payment only for those system users on every billing cycle. It also includes the monthly subscription fee. You have an option to unsubscribe at your convenience.
2. Pay-per-learner: Once you have a fixed number of users, you would have to pay the fixed price even if the users are inactive.
3. Pay-as-you-go: Are you looking to pay only for your usage? Pay-as-you-go is one of the innovative LMS Pricing Models that allows you to run the show. It is one of the most innovative pricing models that has attained popularity across the globe. Also, if you want to host your business using an LMS, you can opt for the Pay-as-you-go LMS pricing model. The model works out cheaper only if you have few users in your company; otherwise, the pricing can be quite astronomical. It can also get out of your control if the student or the employee's strength is high. However, you have an option to leave or change the scheme.
4. License Fee/Subscription: In a License Fee/Subscription, you pay a fixed price for six months or one year. Irrespective of the number of users and training material, the price does not increase. If you have a more significant number of students, the License Fee/Subscription would be economical. If you opt for SaaS solutions, you can get them in three to four levels, having different features and students. Many LMS Pricing Models of this caliber have a fixed price with unlimited users.
5. Customized Pricing: You can find more pricing models that comprise one-off pricing models for custom work and solutions at customized pricing.
Bottomline
After coming across various LMS Pricing Models, the best LMS pricing models depend on your company's requirements and budget.
» Gamification in LMS
› What is LMS gamification?
LMS Gamification is an activity introduced to engage users in game-based mechanics, aesthetics, and game thinking. It helps in motivating action to promote learning and solve problems.
The purpose of combining learning and gaming at the same time is to make the course interesting for the learners. Gamification is not only about playing games. It is all about applying the game design concept to non-game applications.
LMS Gamification’s impact on the corporates
According to the study, employees having expertise in video games have more valuable information. Also, they have improved their skills and retained information for a longer time.
The corporates gamify the many business processes to motivate the employees to deliver better results. It frees them from robotic life and induces better ideas to market the products and raise funds.
Over 70% of the technology industries develop the LMS Gamification Software and have earned over $1000.
› 3 Steps to gamify your e-learning
Gamification helps you to engage in the learning experience. The three steps to gamify your online learning are:
• Keep your focus on engagement and motivation – Have a look at the learner-like players right from novice to master. Once you start playing, you get so engrossed that it tempts you to play more. The LMS Gamification helps you to build online learning that encourages the learners to reach the next level.
• Challenge yourself to do better – The difficulty level keeps increasing in gamification. At every level, you find many incremental changes that motivate you to improve your knowledge and skills. As a user, you complete the challenges and provide feedback in terms of navigation, relevance, and engagement.
• Set a target for yourself to accomplish – Compare your test progress and scores with other learners to win a badge. When you achieve a milestone, it unlocks the next level in your course. You can also use them in compliance training and demonstrate the organization’s competence in a specific domain.
› Pros of LMS Gamification
• Helps in fun activities – LMS Gamification with fun activities promotes fast learning. It motivates the learners and helps in student engagement.
• Instant Feedback – The users get immediate feedback on where they have gone wrong. The outcome helps you to correct your answers and improves your score.
• Rewarding – Everyone in this world would like to get rewarded. The rewards motivate the users to finish the game quickly. If you have won the required number of points, the application unlocks the next level.
• Challenging – You won’t find any competitor other than yourself. The LMS Gamification shows your results and helps you to set goals for yourself.
• Improves the learning atmosphere – The gamification enables you to create a real-life situation. It helps you to understand the abstract subjects easily. Also, learners develop empathy in a particular case.
• Variation in learning levels – The gamification also allows you to learn at your pace. If you learn fast, you reach the most difficult levels.
› Cons of LMS Gamification
• Makes you achievement-oriented – The other side of the challenges pressurizes you to overtake the other learners.
• Reduces your attention on essential aspects – Gamified learning gives you instant feedback. However, gamified learning depends on the quick teaching method. When the students start expecting more from the education system, it reduces their attention.
• Interferes with your learning curve – Excess gamification widens the gap between the course material and the games available in the market. The difference needs to get narrowed with technology advancement.
» LMS Evaluation Checklist
The Learning Management Software (LMS) plays a vital role in the learning ecosystem. Today many institutes and corporations use LMS for enhanced training, learning, and efficiency in the global market. However, each organization would have certain expectations from Learning Management Software. However, a thorough checking consumes much time. The LMS evaluation checklist helps in selecting the right software quickly.
› How does the LMS Evaluation Checklist help?
Preparing an LMS Evaluation Checklist helps in looking at the features that you have in a Learning Management Application Software. Are you in a dilemma to decide on which LMS you should buy? In such cases, the Evaluation of the LMS Checklist comes in handy. Here are the following features that you need to check in an LMS.
• Integration with your regular applications – The Learning Management Software is one of the claims in your system. Hence, you need to check for the options to integrate with other Software. Integration is one of the determinants of selecting the right LMS.
• Review & Experience – Make a thorough research on the companies that develop LMS. Every company comes out with an application with unique features. When you check for reviews from popular review sites, you get a fair idea of the users’ opinions about a company.
• SAAS installation on your server – You can either go for SaaS or readymade installation on your server. Are you looking for software at a low cost that you can use quickly? In such a case, SaaS is the right option as you don’t need a personal server. However, you can also have SaaS on your servers.
• Support offered with LMS – All enterprises assure the customers with an easy-to-use interface. However, customer support is one of the essential factors which you can’t ignore. When you opt for an LMS, you need to know the pros and cons of that brand. After all, it is you who use that software after shelling out your hard-earned money & valuable time!
• SCORM – If you are going for SCORM, you need to consider the advantages & limitations. If you buy SCORM compliant LMS, you will have to encounter certain restrictions. Hence, you need to have a piece of complete knowledge and analyze your requirements before making a final decision.
• Branding – Gives more weightage to your organization. Any customer would like to know your company brand before parting with their money. However, if you are running a training institute, you need to be careful while distracting the audience. The purpose of branding is to make your LMS attractive with different options.
• Reporting – The reporting module in an LMS is another determinant of opting for an LMS brand. You need to know what the LMS track & how quickly you can export the results in an Excel sheet.
• Creating & Managing Content – Are you looking for an LMS that exclusively supports content creation & management? If so, you may opt for an LCMS or an LMS with a course builder.
• Pricing & Pricing Models – The pricing & pricing model of an LMS differ from one vendor to another. The LMS can either be expensive or work out cheaper, depending on the selected LMS Pricing Model.
» LMS Trends
› Are you wondering what the upcoming trends to expect in an LMS are?
You are in the right direction as all individuals and organizations are in the same boat. A lot of organizational leaders are researching LMS and the latest learning trends. Keeping yourself on the current updates helps in aligning your company. It also helps you to make your training more effective for your workforce and generate more ROI.
› What are the impactful trends you can watch at present?
Currently, the market is undergoing an economic slowdown owing to the pandemic situation. However, the companies are allowing the employees to work remotely to generate revenue. Here are some of the impactful trends that you can observe.
• The education industry is experiencing rapid growth – The education industry has always promised a recession-proof career to the employees. The Learning Management System facilitates e-learning, which helps organizations to run their business. Considering the popularity of e-learning, one can expect the global e-learning market to hit $350 billion by 2025. The LMS had attained a net worth of $200 billion in 2018. In 2015 the estimated net profit was $110 billion. Hence, you can sense that the global eLearning market will experience incredible growth once the situation comes to normalcy. Also, there is a rise in technology-enabled teaching and training methods that stimulate the growth of the e-learning market.
• The eLearning content keeps updating – The designing of e-learning content was limited to compliance & regulatory tracking. Now, the focus on designing the e-learning content also covers leadership and soft skills training. Isn’t it a drastic change? The LMS trends equip the learners with verbal and non-verbal skills that add weight to their resume. Employers can mitigate the shortage of sizable skill sets and train them to meet the company requirements.
• LMS is enabling data analytics – As per the 2019 Learning Technology Awards, 82 percent of the L & D Managers are planning to add reporting analytics to LMS. Over 70% of the organizations had undergone a drastic transformation in digital marketing with the right strategies. Today, companies have become more data-driven and associated with data accountability.
• LMS are adopting the latest technologies for improved content delivery – The Learning Management System is one of the latest e-learning technologies. The LMS designers and content developers have been implementing improvement areas. Now, you get to see the LMS integrated with the technologies like:
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Learning
• Mobile Learning
• Virtual Reality
• Interactive Video
The LMS trends have already begun to promote user adaptability, engagement, knowledge retention, and skills transfer.
The new LMS trends also deliver better outcomes in training outcomes in the corporates and educational institutions. The LMS trends evolve around drastic changes that would create an impact on corporate training and the future of the LMS industry. Organizations that adapt to the ever-changing LMS trends would deliver optimal training to the employees, which results in higher productivity.
» Difference between LMS, CMS, and LCMS
LMS
• LMS helps in assigning, storing, and tracking the training materials designed for the employees.
• The software provides the materials with formatted content.
• LMS is a learner-centric application that emphasizes the way a learner uses the content to deliver on a platform.
CMS
• It creates a framework for content storage and display. The CMS specializes in designing and managing the learning content.
• The CMS helps in selling your applications and generates online revenue.
• A CMS is a data-centric storage system that gives more importance to managing and storing the content.
LCMS
• LCMS software stores and organizes the content. It stores and organizes the content like CMS and tracks the learner's and employees' performance like LMS.
• LCMS is simple math that provides the ideal experience to the employees.
• An LCMS is an application, designed from the trainers' perspective that serves the concerned person who creates customized content.
» Swapping your LMS
Just as moving to your house is difficult, in the same way swapping your LMS can be a complicated affair. With the advancement of technology, your business would require drastic changes to meet market demands. In such circumstances, the situation would differ in the Learning Management System. Also, you may feel the need for the swapping when your organization outgrows the existing LMS or when you are spending a hefty amount of resources only on its maintenance. However, you would need proper planning before you opt for migration.
› Reasons for switching to a New Learning Management System
1. Lack of a single platform for all types of learning – Though you have the authoring tools like a knowledge base, corporate intranet, social media, services for conducting quizzes, the LMS that you have may not provide you with a single platform to meet these demands. If you are looking to club these requirements in a single platform, switching to the latest LMS would be the right solution.
2. Outdated LMS – If you are using customized software, it has every possibility to get outdated within a short time. To enhance your business, you would need an updated LMS that covers designing eLearning content format, mobile learning, and removal of irrelevant collection and reporting of non-relevant metrics. If you have hands-on experience as a developer with sufficient time, it will save your resources. The other two options are to hire a developer to customize your LMS or buy the LMS application from a third-party vendor. Hence, you need to consider the factors before selecting an option.
3. High cost & complex – Are the users struggling to use the LMS and asking the administrators overwhelming questions? If so, you can avail someone’s help to support the users by giving instructions and video tutorials regarding the use of LMS. The other alternative for you is to shift to a user-friendly platform.
4. The growth of your organization is quicker than your LMS – If your strategy for increasing your business revenue works out quickly, then you would upgrade your LMS. However, if you are handling multiple clients and generating quick revenue, then you would keep yourself updated on the latest version of your LMS.
› Planning for LMS Migration
If you have decided to upgrade or switch to the New LMS, below are the steps that you should follow:
1. Take the Backup of your data – It’s always good to have a backup of your data, especially when you are migrating to new LMS. It comes handy if in case you lose the data after switching to new Learning Management Software.
2. Revision – Secondly, you need to make sure that you don’t miss out on the critical data while taking a copy to your external drive. It is also essential to analyze whether you require the information according to the latest trends. Here is the list of materials & data for which you should prepare a list.
a. Users: It includes the list of users, employers, trainers, and the administrators who are the part of the organization.
b. Content: Comprises the files on training programs, course materials, and external libraries. The system can also have different content for which you can access the materials & convert them according to the format of your choice.
c. Statistics: Records the results about courses, test scores, past activities, achievements, and certificates. You need to determine the data that you can export to your Excel sheet or CSV files, which you can transfer to new Learning Management Software.
3. Assess the difficulty level of new LMS – Is your system designed only for technically sound people? If you are technically sound, then you may either create a customized LMS all by yourself. Else, you can make out the simplicity according to look and feel without any hassles.
4. Budget – Each business enterprise would prepare the budget for all their purchases and the salary hikes for the employees. The budget also would depend on the Return on Investment that you earn in your business. However, it is one of the most important aspects when you go for a migration plan.
5. Reviews – The reviews give you a fair idea of which would help you to make a final decision when you purchase a new LMS.
» Induction Training using LMS
› Introduction to Induction training
The Human Resources Department uses the term Induction training. They start with the introduction of the selected candidates who have entered the board as employees. After the self-introduction, HR collects the credentials from the new hires.
› Salient Features of the Induction Training System
• The management creates awareness about the organization’s policies, aims, and objectives.
• HR Manager designs the training strategy for shaping the employees’ approach and development.
• Draft the presentation on the company’s way of working.
› Aims and objectives of induction training
The induction program welcomes the recruits with open arms into the organization. The HRD provides them with confidential information before they begin to work. The goals and objectives of induction training are:
• Make the employees feel at ease – The recruits would be in a honeymoon period with the organization. The team leader or manager would be mentoring the recruits about the project. In some cases, the company hires the trainer through the internal job posting to reduce the load of a team lead or manager.
• Create a friendly, positive, and cordial atmosphere – The management expects the desired results from the employees. The employees, in turn, would expect a decent pay package and a good work culture from their employers. Hence, HR’s duty to ensure that employees get a friendly, positive, and cordial atmosphere.
• Create a feeling of being a part of the company’s family - The HR department and the management provide all the facilities to the employees like perks, breaks, recreation, transportation, gym, and others. In some of the organizations, the employees would also find a big LCD in the cafeteria, so they become aware of the incidents taking place in the nation.
• Build the employees aware of the organization’s policies and procedures – The primary purpose is to make the employees adhere to the company’s guidelines if the employees are aware of the possible threats if they fail to adhere to the rules and regulations.
• Share company values with the employees – The recruits have the right to know the company values, so they give due respect to the organization.
• Sharing the work-related information – The project supervisor makes the new employees sit beside their seniors to observe how they work. It would give them an idea on how to tackle the real-time problems they are going to encounter. Hence, they find the appropriate solution according to the information acquired during the training period.
› The intervention of LMS in induction training
Are you looking for an LMS that helps in the induction training? Corporate LMS is the answer. The HR Manager presents the following during the induction training through LMS in the following ways.
• New Hire Orientation – When you think about LMS in induction training, a corporate LMS would be the best application for the said program. All you need to do is to design the core training program and provide them with the new onboard employees. The HR Manager would share the following company details.
• Company’s history
• Mission Vision & Values
• Corporate Policies
• Corporate culture
• Structure of the organization
• Leadership team
• Products & Services
• Key Partners & Clients
• Pre-process training: The HR Manager conveys the pre-process training with the help of LMS & monitors their performance.
Process training: The employees get the training either from a corporate trainer, team leader, or manager.
• Performance: The performance of the employees gets evaluated from the time they start working on the floor.
• Leave policy: The employees would have to adhere to the guidelines.
› Pros and Cons of Induction Training
The HR Manager of the company conducts an induction training program for the selected candidates. When the employees join a large organization, the company would be happy to share the information with the recruits. The objective of conducting an induction program is to integrate the selected candidates. When an employee has joined the company, the HR Manager must make them understand the systems and procedures that an organization follows.
› Pros of induction training
• Saves your time and money: Induction training is the first step for new employees. The Human Resources Manager shares the company’s information with the employees, required to resume their duties. Once the employees understand the induction training, they can adjust themselves to their new roles and deliver the desired results quickly. In this way, the organization saves a lot of time and money.
• Operational efficiency: If the induction training program covers all the aspects and answers the queries satisfactorily, the employees get used to the company’s vision and work culture. It also enables the employees to understand their role in accomplishing the company’s goals. A healthy competition among the employees enhances their productivity and efficiency.
• Make the new employees feel special: An excellent induction training program welcomes the employees with open arms. It aims at clearing the employees’ doubts about the organization’s functionality. The employees would feel special as the company makes them comfortable.
• Better communication skills: Induction training programs also encourage 2-way interaction, which enhances communication skills. The introduction of the new employees is a part of induction in which they directly coordinate with their direct supervisor, team leads, managers, and directors.
› Cons of induction training
• Inclusiveness & Legitimacy: When a new manager joins the organization, the person would have to introduce themselves to other managers and peers. As a result, the recruit as a manager would learn more about the company than any other existing employees working under them. Also, it confirms that a new manager is a part of management, and it would make them feel they are superior to others and are worthy of that post.
• Forced Introduction: It depends on the way a new employee gets introduced to the staff and the managers, right from the interview process. Many organizations make use of panel interviews & include the managers and staff in the selection process. Such a process would be considered a consensus approach in the hiring process. If there is no formal agreement between the employer and the employee in the round-robin fashion, the employee’s introduction, there are possibilities that it would backfire.
» Summary
The LMS was introduced in 1990. It is an application that makes the organization work systematically to get better deliverability. Each organization selects or develops the Learning Management Software according to the requirements. It covers online and offline learning for students and corporate employees.
The LMS benefits profit and non-profit organizations in terms of induction training, and blended learning. Synchronous and asynchronous learning shares the similarity between online and face-to-face education. The LMS, if installed o the smartphone, would be more feasible as the organizations can gauge their staff closely.
