As eLearning courses become a greater part of our education and lives, it is increasingly important to plan out ways of keeping everything in order when using them. One of the biggest problems with eLearning programs is that they have a tendency to generate or require different types of files, which in turn can be hard to keep in one place. Hence Learning Management System’s, which allow you to Learn while Managing the content in an organized System. With that in mind, here are a few key things you’ll want to look for when first searching for LMS software.
1. Clarity in its Parts
Learning Management Systems are typically comprised of an admin and user interface. The former is used for those who create the courses and learning materials, and the latter is used by those who take them. The former can include Word documents, website-specific tools, and an analytics dashboard, while the latter works with a browser interface (such as Gmail or Facebook) and is what learners will see when they take your course.
You want to make sure both of these components are clear and accessible.
2. How LMS’s Can Help
You’ll naturally want to look for Learning Management Systems that can emphasize the strengths you’re looking for in your particular learning and teaching program, including:
- The ability to track students’ progress
- The ability for students to enroll in your programs (nothing frustrates like a buggy interface!)
- The ability to send lessons, homework, and other materials to your students
- The ability to send data to any employers who may be sponsoring these courses for employees
- The ability to market your program to businesses and partners
- The ability to take advantage of tools to create lessons
3. Data Migration Capabilities
We live in the era of Big Data. You probably have a lot of data stored on your hard drive or external drive. Being able to integrate that data into your new Learning Management System into whatever format is necessary is essential.
4. Social Media and Gamification
A huge key to the success of language learning sites such as Duolingo is their ability to integrate social media and gamification components into their platform. Points, streaks, and other trackable markers of progress can make learning languages easier and more engaging, as can the ability to post your progress to social media or get updates there on new features. Both of these are key features and can boost the success of your LMS.
5. Branding, Branding, Branding
One of the most important decisions for creating and selling anything is how you brand it. You’ll want to look for a Learning Management System that offers substantial customization tools so as to allow you to keep your branding consistent in terms of colours and designs when creating your platform.
6. Personalized Learning
Different people learn different ways. The designers of the best LMS platforms understand that and integrate personalized learning paths and abilities into their programs so as to make learning as engaging and accessible as possible. This also allows companies that may wish to use your LMS software to train their employees to choose how they wish to shape their training courses.
7. Support Features
Even the best-designed platforms run into problems every now and again. The difference between good and buggy platforms is that, too often, the latter doesn’t include fixes for their problems, while the former offers support features. Offering ways to contact tech support, as well as interfaces for a tech staff to fix problems, can help avoid innumerable headaches later.
Each of these features can help ensure that the LMS you design reaches and teaches your targeted audience with the utmost efficiency.
