Get Quality Education With The Best Learning Management Systems
Learning management systems (LMS or learning platforms) have been around for around 20 years. They have become indispensable in universities and many vocational schools, and they are becoming more and more popular in general schools.
LMS enables digital communication between learners and teachers. All learning management systems offer functions for filing and organizing documents and for working together on these documents. In most LMS you can:
- Create learning units (so-called courses),
- Assign materials (e.g. PDFs, videos or links) to the learning units
- And then share them with a defined group of students.
Some LMS also has functions for keeping a shared calendar, creating and evaluating interactive tasks, creating tests, communicating with one another in a forum, via e-mail or chat or assigning homework.
Table of Content
- Choosing the right learning management system
- Simple and complex learning management systems
- Good LMSs have a few common characteristics
- Examples of LMS uses
- Conclusion
Choosing the right learning management system
Do not make light decisions about an LMS. It is best to consult with the media advisor responsible for you. Inquire with other schools about experiences with their LMS and let them show you the solution in practice. There are many testimonials from teachers on the net.
Have multiple teachers been involved in the selection of the LMS? Involve technically savvy colleagues as well as skeptical members of your staff and maybe even student representatives so that “your” LMS finds the necessary acceptance and is used well and happily by all those involved.
Simple and complex learning management systems
The transitions to the learning management systems or educational clouds are fluid. You should therefore think carefully about what you already have at your school and what you need beyond that. If you only want to manage and exchange documents, you need a rather simple LMS. If, on the other hand, you want all teachers to accompany the students’ learning and work process via the learning platform with material and feedback, then look for an LMS with a wide range of functions.
Free LMS
The best known and most widespread free open-source learning platform is Docebo. The learning platform is very flexible but requires know-how in order to adapt it well to the needs of the respective school or class.
Paid LMS
Learning management systems that your school pays per user and year or that your school authority can purchase a license for are, for example, itslearning or WebWeaver. There are solutions specially developed for schools that are easy and safe to use.
Good LMSs have a few common characteristics:
Responsive Design
Whether the device (PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone), the LMS displays the most suitable version. Additionally, LMS must allow users to download content for later offline use.
Friendly User Interface
The user interface (UI) should allow students to easily navigate the LMS. It must also be able to consider the capabilities and objectives of both the user and the organization. If the interface leaves something to be desired, it may be confusing or distracting and impair the effectiveness of the LMS.
Reports and Analytics
An LMS provides reporting tools. Trainers and administrators should be able to view and monitor training activities to assess their effectiveness or make some changes.
Course and catalog management
The LMS gathers all the courses and teaching material. Administrators and trainers should be able to create and manage these catalogs in a way that provides the most focused training experience possible.
Interoperability and integration of content
Content created and stored in an LMS must be aggregated according to standards that ensure its interoperability.
Certification and Compliance
LMS that offers compliance training to validate certifications, should allow trainers to assess and keep track of student skills and identify gaps. These functions will also make it possible to use the data from the LMS in the context of an audit.
Social learning
Many LMS are starting to include enterprise social networking type tools. Users can thus interact with their counterparts, collaborate and share their training experiences.
Gamification
Some LMS use the usual in-game springs and mechanics to allow trainers and administrators to create lessons that stimulate user motivation and engagement. Improving the ranking, awarding points or obtaining a medal can strengthen student motivation.
Automation
LMS must allow administrators to automate some tedious and repetitive tasks: grouping users, new user population, deactivation of users and collective arrival of employees, etc.
Localization
It is essential that LMS support multiple languages for learning and training content. Some LMS integrate geolocation functions in order to automatically display the correct version of the course.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence helps LMS personalize training experiences by delivering courses in the format that suits their needs, and suggesting topics that may be of interest to them based on courses already taken.
Examples of LMS Use
A common use case of LMS is onboarding and employees training. Another typical example: training salespeople with online seminars to promote a new product, explaining how to improve customer interactions or even presenting customer testimonials.
An LMS also makes it possible to offer students mixed training: traditional classroom teaching combined with online training tools. This method is more effective than face-to-face teaching, as it enriches the classroom experience with digital content that can be personalized according to a student’s specific needs.
In addition, in some specific business cases that require practical training — vehicle control, handling a machine or a dangerous product — LMS can offer immersive experiences with virtual reality, augmented reality or mixed reality via a VR headset or 3D.
Conclusion
You should consult experts when deciding on the right learning management system for you. There are many LMS that offer exciting options where the interaction between teachers and the students can be greatly enhanced. This will invariably lead to efficient learning. If you consider developing an LMS, you should contact us today.
