A Learning Management System (LMS) is a software that offers a full suite of tools to support online learning and remote training sessions. LMS tools can be customized to a company’s training needs and contain a variety of different modules to support those needs, including:
- Creation, Automation, and Delivery of Online Training, Courses, or Certifications
- Learning and Development Programs
- Administration of Courses or Training Programs
- Documentation
- Certification
- Tracking
- Reporting
- And More...
LMS systems can be used for education at the primary, high school, and collegiate level as well as corporate training and employee performance management. But not all LMS vendors diversify into both business systems and educational systems.
- Some LMS vendors focus on online education tools (K-12 and/or collegiate) while others offer tools that are specific to the online training and employee performance management needs of businesses.
- Some vendors offer different solutions that can be tailored to the needs of an educational institution or a business.
- And some vendors, offer different, customizable solutions for both business training and online educational purposes.
The main types of LMS software are:
- LMS for Education
- Corporate Training LMS
- Open Source LMS
- SaaS LMS
- Installed LMS
- Industry-Specific LMS
The top features of LMS are:
- Certification
- Training materials library
- Data import/export
- Defined user roles
- Email integration
- Gamification
- Learning Management
- Multiple training delivery formats
- Proficiency testing and reporting
- Responsive design
- Group video training
- Content authoring
- Customization of user interface
- Custom reporting
- eCommerce integration
- Templates
- Virtual classroom
The benefits of Learning Management Systems (LMS) for Education include:
- Organizes learning content within a single platform
- Facilitates interactive learning between students
- Provide students with more options for taking classes
- Offering students multiple modes of processing course material
- Allows for increased enrollment without hiring more instructors
- Tracks student progress both in terms of completion and retention
The benefits of Learning Management Systems (LMS) for Corporate Training and Certification include:
- Offers greater flexibility in employee training
- Organizes training content within a single platform
- Facilitates interactive, online training sessions for employees
- Increases employee engagement
- Offers tools for employee performance management, training, and career building
- Provide companies with more options for creating and delivering online training
- Provides employees with different access points for training (desktop and mobile)
- Allows for increased enrollment without hiring more instructors
- Tracks employee progress both in terms of training completion and information retention
- Offers greater flexibility in employee training
- Reduce travel costs associated with flying employees out to specialized training sessions, conferences, and certifications
- Improves employee performance by training them in the skills they need to succeed
There are many LMS products available on the market, each offering an array of powerful, effective tools to support educational needs or corporate training goals. Selecting or switching to the perfect LMS for your school or company involves examination and thoughtful research and analysis of the features and system capabilities that will best suit your goals.