In times when every person and organization is making a shift towards online learning, many must have heard and become relative to the term Learning Management System. This is due to the fact that it’s one of the most essential ingredients of e-learning, upon which all online courses and training modules are built.
E-Learning doesn’t just happen! It requires careful planning and implementation.
Online learning demands certain software for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, delivery of educational courses and training programs. All this is done by a Learning Management System (LMS). A Learning Management System helps to automate student or employee training. It delivers online courses to its users and provides them with fresh data when it’s not possible to gather in one place. It can be used by schools, colleges, institutes, or even corporate companies.
The Top Learning Management System Benefits
Learning Management Systems are an integral part of the e-learning design and development process, especially if you have a large audience and a great deal of subject matter to deliver.
Online learning is not the next big thing, it is the now big thing.
Implementing LMS will be essential after COVID-19 because of social distancing and other protocols which would be in place to take preventive measures from keeping the other waves of corona to rise. Apart from that, here are just a few convincing reasons why every institute, organization, and learning professionals should implement a Learning Management System.
1. Provide continuity in education
A study by UNESCO says that almost 1.2 billion students in 143 countries are affected by the pandemic. World’s educational institutions were shut down schools in the hopes of minimizing harm to their students, teachers, and staff. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean that the academic year should be put on hold. With technology nowadays, online is where learners should be. LMS serves as an online classroom. Physical distance and location wouldn’t be an issue to continue learning online.
2. Ensures Health and Safety
In this era of the new normal, safety and health are the number one priority of educational institutes. With LMS, no one has to worry about the threats of being exposed to the virus. No mass gatherings or visits to schools or colleges. This also ensures social distancing and LMS provides a way of interaction as if classes were being conducted in the normal traditional setting.
3. Organizes learning content in one location
Instead of visiting different websites, channels or hard drives and devices, an LMS helps you store all the data and materials in one place. This reduces the risk of losing the information and also helps you access the data in a simpler manner. Every member of the e-learning team can also access information if you’re using a cloud-based Learning Management System. Data is stored on remote servers and that is why LMS is a natural fit for online collaboration.
4. Monitor and track student progress and performance
LMS helps monitor student progress and performance in the course. Every LMS has an in-built feature that keeps track of their records, grades, submissions, and engagement with the course. Likewise, it collates important files and documents shared by the students in the platform. These, in turn, will measure their progress in the course.
5. Parental access to class schedule, outlines and assessment
Parents and guardians can have access to their child’s calendar, class timetable, outline and assessment dates. This creates opportunities for conversation to meaningfully occur outside of class time and parents or guardians can actively engage in their child’s learning.
6. Reduce costs and money spent on learning
No travel costs, no costs for printing of learning materials or books. Training is done online which means you can save a sizable sum on your budget. All the information which is needed is present in the LMS.
7. Choice to opt for more courses
Online learners study at their own pace which gives them more time to look for more educational material. Students expand their knowledge and get a better idea of the course. They just need to log in to the LMS and make necessary modifications without redoing their whole course because all the content is in one place and is accessible to everyone.
The future remains uncertain while the pandemic is still looming overhead. Since everyone has started to adapt to the new normal, times are bound to change. With the right tools like LMS, COVID-19 paves the way to a different form of learning. LMS gives a sense of normalcy in these tough times. Choose an LMS for yourself which not only recognizes all of the above features but also comes with supports and examples of how these can be implemented. Selecting the right LMS is the most important factor of e-learning, it can make or break the impression on the user so be wise while finding the right fit for your purpose.
