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What is an LMS?

Organizational leaders have realized that in order to sustain a more knowledgeable and productive workforce, employee learning must be an ongoing focus.

Choosing the right learning management system (LMS) can help achieve this goal. There are certain benefits and features that an LMS can offer that will make corporate learning more effective.

Think of a learning management system as technology that can improve learning, make it faster, productive, cost-effective, and what is more important – trackable.

The most basic LMS contains a core functional platform that enables administrators to upload learning content, deliver lessons to students, serving notifications, and share data with authorized users.

An LMS most often operates inside of a web-browser, behind a secure sign-on process. This gives all students and instructors easy access to courses on-the-go, while administrators and leaders can monitor student progress and make improvements.

Types of Learning Management Systems (LMS)

There are several types of learning management systems that organizations can choose from, check the comparison list:

  • 1: Enterprise vs. Individual

Enterprise grade learning solution

At the highest level, an enterprise learning solution is generally customized for a large company of 500 or more employees.

It’s highly scalable and can be designed to grow with the company and as new courses are added. Oftentimes, an enterprise LMS has a huge list of built-in features to fulfill any needs that may be required.

Individual LMS

An individual or small organizational LMS may offer few or all the features available, but limits them to what an individual course producer may need.

However, this can serve the small organization or individual person to produce various learning materials.

Often LMS providers offer different subscription plans to fulfill different needs, so a small organization can utilize the LMS for its needs, and for an appropriate price.

2: Free vs. Commercial

Free LMS

There are also dozens of free, open-source elearning products for individuals to build courses for their learners. Anyone who has knowledge can deploy it and create a course that can be accessed via an e-learning environment.

Many free LMS also offer advanced levels and a big list of available features. The main problem of a free LMS is that they don’t have the level of support that some users are accustomed to.

You need to know how to deploy it or hire a specialist for that. Platform updates will require your attention and time, and do not always go smoothly.

Commercial

A commercial product is designed to be used by any organization, a college or university, or another educational primary organization.

It’s generally easy to deploy and it has 24/7 support. It also comes with a price tag depending on the level of required features.

Mostly commercial platforms need frequent updating, but they also provide an increasing list of available features, so you always will be using the most modern hi-tech e-learning solution.

3: SaaS vs. Licensed Product

SaaS LMS

Perhaps the most popular model for an LMS, is the service as a software (SaaS) model.

It’s a ready-out-of-the- box solution that’s easy to deploy. Usually its Cloud-based, and includes frequent free upgrades.

While it can be somewhat limited in customization, an SaaS LMS is perfect for the organization that’s growing because it’s scalable over time.

Technical support is generally included for the entire use period.

Licensed Product

A licensed learning management system can offer the ultimate in customization, customer support, and reliability for users.

It is more flexible and built to each customer’s specifications, which may take some time. It can be installed on a cloud server or on-premise.

Implementation can happen when the organization chooses, but updates may take more time.

The largest cost is the user license, however, licensed products win in a long distance, especially if they are implemented as a cloud-based solution. This makes the cost of ownership and cost per user significantly lower as compared to SaaS solutions. Support can be limited by time or included as a premium paid add-on.

4: Cloud-based vs. On-premise

Cloud-based LMS

A cloud-based LMS is hosted on a secure off-site server and allows users to access the product using a variety of computers and mobile devices, even offline using an app.

It can include many of the most popular features that learners expect.

A cloud-based LMS is much more scalable as compared to an installed version.

On-premise LMS

Built as a stand-alone product, the on-premise LMS is a licensed product built and installed to the organization’s specifications on the server of their choice.

It can be limiting, on a big scale you have to use several servers.

A cloud-based installation can be more cost-effective in some cases.

On-premise installation maintains user and corporate data on a highly secure basis.

5: Integrated

Modern LMS takes into consideration the existing software and systems that the organization has in place, then blends in with them for a seamless user experience.

Integration involves connecting the LMS with other compatible products to enhance the learner experience.

Of course, the organization may choose to keep the learning management system completely separate from all other systems and products.

However, this disables some of the opportunities that this integration can involve.

#6: Built-in Authoring Tools or Pre-Written CMS

Built-in Authoring Tools

Most modern LMS includes  or supports The Experience API/x API (or SCORM) standard and allows developers to upload already created courses and lessons from authoring tools or LCMS/CMS.

In general, courseware developers prefer having access to built-in authoring tools that enable full course creation and revisions.

In most cases, even pre-authored content can be included and new modules, exercises, learning documents, assessments, and more can be integrated.

Pre-Written CMS

Often confused with LMS, a content management system (CMS) is a different product.

However, a CMS can be used to house some learning materials and project documentation.

It can also be a good place for L&D teams to work out course design well ahead of the roll out of real courses.

However, it is no substitute for an LMS. Pre-written course lessons can be developed here and imported into the LMS at a later date.

What Does an LMS Do?

In most cases, organizations use an LMS system to facilitate access to learning materials that range from written materials and presentations to videos and interactive lessons.

The LMS should be able to:

  • Provide learning experiences that are adapted to individual learners
  • Make it easy for instructors to make notes and changes
  • Give instructors and students the opportunity for online collaboration
  • Integrate common tools such as calendars, word processors, and more
  • Create a corporate culture-sensitive, branded presence for learners
  • Include insights into user progress through built-in analytics
  • Be able to scale globally as the organization grows

The modern learning management system often has built-in tools and resources that help administrators to develop course lessons, activities, and assessments. Administrators can assign new user credentials and schedule courses to be completed. They can also track learner progress with reporting features.

A good LMS helps to make learning interesting, engaging learners so they take a more active role in their own development. An LMS should be simple to access and use in order to encourage learners to participate. The design of the LMS should be friendly in appearance and functionality — based on user requirements.