Learning management systems (LMS) help you deliver training materials and organize skills development within your organization. These systems can be extremely useful, however they can likewise be overcomplicated. The abundance of available LMS features makes it difficult to decide which will help, and which will be a diversion.
Before looking at a specific LMS arrangements, you should list specific learning goals for your organization. These might include:
- Safety certification updates
- Regulatory compliance
- Internal extended learning opportunities
- Public education for brand awareness or e-commerce
Defining your goals will help you choose the LMS features that work best for your organization. Only one out of every odd organization will need government compliance trainings, and others might need to make their training available for subscription access.
Whatever your needs, these eight are the most important LMS features to search for. We've additionally included a few software choices in each section that include the corresponding features.
1. Course Creation
It seems like this would be included in all LMS software out there, yet the most essential definition of a LMS does not include a course creation module. Some choices require you to bring your own particular content, which means you'll need to build videos and content in a separate system and import them into the program. Finding a Online Learning that includes course creation features will help streamline your processes.
2. Skills/Certification Tracking
Skills and certification tracking is one of the most important LMS features for nearly every sort of user. It's nice to prepare your employees, yet you'll have no baseline for measuring performance and improvement in the event that you aren't tracking skills development and certifications — or at any rate, course completion. These features can increase government compliance by making your completed and pending certifications available by means of a single exportable spreadsheet. Tracking skills learned and certifications completed likewise gives you the power to report on employee progress, demonstrating the immediate return on your efforts.
3. Mobile Learning
It's astonishing to learn that some people don't have a computer at home, yet a helpful path around this entanglement is mobile-ready learning. When your LMS features mobile capabilities, including responsive design or native mobile apps, learners can participate in training from any area utilizing whatever device they do claim. This is especially helpful for certifications that require learning outside of the work day, or for distributed teams where learning can happen between calls or visits.
4. Asynchronous Learning
One of the best features for improving engagement and knowledge retention is asynchronous learning — the capacity for learners to complete course work at their own pace. This means they don't have to be present at a set time for a lecture or to converse with an instructor. Consolidating videos, online readings, messaging, and question/answer forums where students can engage with the material at their own pace and all alone timelines helps promote purchase in and improve return.
5. Gamification
Learning for learning's sake is a great idea in theory, however in reality, you'll likely need to incentivize the process. Gamification features can transform learning into a friendly competition. While it may not make your subject matter any more interesting, adding game features to your courses and training projects will engage learners, speed them through the modules, and increase compliance.
6. Video Conferencing
Students who need one-on-one attention or have complicated questions will appreciate a LMS that includes video conferencing features. While messaging boards and email may cover a large portion of your correspondence needs, video conferencing lets you have troublesome conversations. Your organization will appreciate that you don't have to pay for an outside subscription to communicate face-to-face with your students.
7. Social Learning/Message Boards
Like such a large amount of what we do everyday, learning is social, and your LMS ought to include features that help your students learn from one another. This enhances the learning process, as well as is a great approach to reduce strain on your trainers. By including messaging boards and social learning features, your students can ask and answer questions in a forum setting. The best approach to demonstrate your understanding of a subject is by teaching it, so let your students teach each other.
8. E-commerce and Subscriptions
Numerous LMS programs provide a channel for distributing your content to a wider audience, so you can monetize what you've already assembled. In this case, search for a LMS that lets you gate learning content.
To complete a course or online learning management system module, users provide their email address, make a one-time payment, or agree to a month to month subscription. Adding a subscription course to your site is a great approach to acquire recurring income utilizing your collective intelligence.