What is a Learning Management System (LMS)?

Mitch Denton

More and more companies across the world are choosing to deliver their training online. In fact, the eLearning market is growing so fast that it has seen a 900% increase in the last 10 years alone. To deliver eLearning courses, companies need a user based Learning Management System (LMS).

LMS’s such as Archy Learning have been able to be completely DIY for trainers, allowing them to create unique learning pathways for their users. They can use and create material such as videos, quizzes, and games to keep the trainees engaged while being able to collect data on how much of the content they complete.

Read on to learn how and why companies build their learning programs with an LMS.

What is an LMS? 

It is the software that companies use that develop, deliver and track all online training for their clients, and employees.

It has changed the landscape of traditional in-person training and can provide helpful data to show where all trainees are in the learning process. eLearning has become incredibly popular in its convenience and effectiveness, and it looks like the demand will only increase in the future. A cloud-based LMS enables you to create, manage, and deliver eLearning courses anywhere in the world.

Let’s break this down:

Learning: Students and employees learn the content remotely and engage with quizzes, games and videos to help process the information, as well as allow trainers to assess their progress
Management: Allowing you to organise and manage user data
System: The online software or platform in which you use to operate and launch the courses

A Learning Management System generally consists of two parts:

    • Admin interface: built for training managers to access data and build the learning pathway. Here they can create and put together quizzes, attach videos, and insert games as well as monitor completion rates and scores of the users.
    • User interface: what learners see and experience while taking the course. 

What can you use an LMS for?

LMS’s can be used across a wide variety of business and training activities. When implemented properly, it can be an invaluable tool for its employees.

Below are some common uses for an LMS:
Training employees

Businesses usually have a large variety of product offerings and services, and it is inevitable that they will at one point need to train their teams on best practices. Whether it’s upskilling your employees or learning something new, using a corporate LMS can help create and manage their own unique learning pathway across the content. Employees can learn and complete courses at their own pace.

Having an enterprise LMS within a business can cut down on overall training costs as well as provide data, insight and reports to see how your employees are progressing.

Onboard new hires

An onboarding process for new hires is no doubt tedious, but you can simplify and automate much of it using an LMS. New employees can study at their own speed, and have fun engaging with content such as games and videos that will help the company introduce its culture and values. It is recommended that you use an LMS to lecture on company history, processes, and compliance policies. Remember to not only have videos and quizzes but integrate games and competitions to reward users and increase learner motivation.

Train partners and customers

LMSs aren’t only recommended for internal use, you can also create and give access to external partners as well as your customers, to ensure they are being trained into using your products. You can teach technical as well as soft skills, to ensure that all customers are fully given all the information necessary to use your products to their full extent.

Enable sales teams

Sales and customer service teams will no doubt always be needing to update their knowledge on new and updated company products and procedures. With new marketing trends and updates rolling out daily, all of your customer-facing teams will need to be up to date to stay on top of their game.

Having online training with an LMS is an efficient and fast way to inform and train them for new products, regulatory compliance, or selling techniques, as well as industry changes. Having an LMS that allows you to create training guides and learning pathways that will allow team members to be trained quickly and updated whenever is needed, so they can go back and continue being productive.

Remote Training

With globalisation growing, and a pandemic that forced millions to work from home, many companies have had to pivot to running remote or stop running completely. Multinational businesses have had to embrace online learning and online meetings. Gathering thousands of employees onto webinars to update their new processes is no easy task.

LMS’s have been a saving grace for educational systems, as well as businesses from small to large. Having an LMS integrated within your companies training programs allows all of your employees and students to be able to receive quality learning experiences. Management can help guide the process and ensure all is being completed. Teams can access materials and webinars from anywhere in the world, and engage with the content at hand.

Benefits of using an LMS

Though making the transition from offline and in-person training to an LMS might sound like a huge investment for your company, as well as a challenge to implement, data has shown a high return on investment.

For every dollar that has been invested in eLearning, companies have seen an average return of $30 in productivity. Having the right LMS in place, as well as the right technology can help train users. The right LMS will help make the transition into online learning smoother and more cost-efficient in the long run.

Save on training costs

Instead of having to organise conferences and presentations for all of your employees and customers, having an LMS software with training available all the time is cost-effective as well as efficient.

Update content quickly

Updating your training guides and course materials doesn’t need to be as manual of a process as it used to be. Having an online LMS allows you to create and swap out training and build courses instantly, and upload for your students and employees to learn. You don’t need to spend hours writing out the material or delivering in-person presentations, all your learning activities can be live streamed and delivered instantly.

Train no matter the location

Since so much of today’s force and schooling is remote, having a plan to train your remote teams with eLearning is more important than ever. The beautiful thing about LMS online is that your employees or students can work, learn, and train from home or any other location, and no budget or time is allocated towards gathering everyone in the same room.

Engage and motivate learners

Training isn’t always just developing a particular skillset. With company training and development, there are lessons on company policies, compliance, or culture. Those types of manuals aren’t always the most exciting to go through, but you can help your learners stay focused by adding gamification elements. Examples such as awards, games, and internal competitions can all be integrated within your LMS and rewarded to those who succeed.

Train on the go

Long learning programs can disrupt your office’s schedule and ultimately, its productivity. Events like training conferences and seminars can take days, forcing employees to take time off of their actual tasks. Having an LMS, especially one with a mobile learning platform allows employees to take training courses on the go.

Improve retention rates

There is always value in offering career development internally. Employees can up-skill and move up within a company, and your LMS can help them get there. It is a win-win situation for you and your company to build up your employees and help them win by challenging them to learn new things, and expanding and growing their existing skillset.

Track results

Measuring the success and effectiveness of a training program usually takes a lot of work. An LMS with correct data will help remove much of the strain of understanding whether or not your students are learning and retaining the information. Your modern LMS platform should generate data and metrics on user engagement. Data such as completion rates, and logins is great to know and be able to oversee their success.

Summary

An LMS is a Learning Management System that can create online courses and then be implemented across different organisational or scholarly environments to help students or employees train or learn the skill sets required. Choosing an LMS that is available online and easily curated is imperative, as every learning pathway and user will have a different experience and build. Check out Archy Learning and create simple, engaging, and effective learning pathways that all of your students will benefit from.

Mitch Denton

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