How to Choose a Good Learning Management System

To-Do list before choosing LMS

First of all, you should analyze your company’s current needs and requests:

Determine Your L&D Objectives In Advance:

Before choosing an LMS, it’s important to determine the specific learning and development objectives that the system will need to support. This includes identifying the types of training and education programs that will be offered, the target audience for those programs, and any specific goals or outcomes that need to be achieved.

Assess Your Current L&D Strategy:

Before choosing an LMS, it’s important to evaluate your current learning and development strategy and identify any gaps or areas that need improvement. This includes assessing the current methods used for delivering training and education, the effectiveness of those methods, and any challenges or limitations that need to be addressed.

Assess Any Technical Considerations Or Limitations find an LMS:

When choosing an LMS, it’s important to assess any technical considerations or limitations that may affect the system’s ability to meet your needs. This includes evaluating the system’s compatibility with your current technology infrastructure, assessing the system’s scalability and ability to handle large amounts of data, and determining if the system’s security measures meet your company’s standards.

Learn What Support Services Are Offered With The LMS:

When choosing an LMS, it’s important to learn about the support services that are offered with the system. This includes assessing the system’s availability of customer support and technical assistance, determining if the system’s vendor offers training or professional development opportunities, and evaluating the system’s documentation and resources.

Ask For A Live Demonstration Or A Trial Period:

Before making a final decision on an LMS, it’s a good idea to ask for a live demonstration or a trial period to test the system’s features and functions in a real-world setting. This will allow you to evaluate the system’s usability and effectiveness, and determine if it meets your company’s specific needs and requirements.

Does The LMS Offer The Essential Features And Functions You Really Need?

It’s important to assess the features and functions offered by the LMS and determine which are essential for your specific needs. This includes evaluating the system’s capabilities for creating and delivering content, tracking and reporting on student progress, and managing and analyzing data.

Should your educational content allow intensive reuse?

Consider if you want your educational content to be easily reusable and adaptable to different learning situations and settings. Some LMSs offer features such as content libraries and the ability to import and export content, making it easier to share and reuse content across multiple programs and courses.

Would you like to be able to compose/adjust the course content fast?

If you want the ability to quickly create and update course content, you should look for LMSs that offer intuitive content creation tools and a user-friendly interface. This will enable you to quickly and easily make changes to existing content or create new content without needing specialized technical skills.

Would you like to have an ongoing employee performance increase program?

In case your company is interested in maintaining an ongoing employee performance increase program, some LMSs offer features such as performance tracking, feedback, and coaching tools that can help you identify areas for improvement and develop targeted training and development plans.

If, in answering these questions, you realize that the goals of your corporate training program cannot be achieved by standard training methods, it’s time for you to look at an eLearning LMS.

Does your company require some serious customization of the LMS chosen?:

If your company has specific requirements or needs that cannot be met by a standard LMS, it may be necessary to look for a system that can be customized to meet those needs. This might include the ability to integrate with other systems, such as HR software or enterprise resource planning systems, or the ability to create custom reports or analytics dashboards. It’s important to evaluate the level of customization offered by different LMSs and determine if they can meet your company’s specific needs. It’s also important to consider the cost and resources required for customization and ensure that it aligns with your company’s budget and timeline.

Why can Open edX LMS Become the Best Choice?

There are a lot of learning management systems for corporate training out there, yet we think Open edX will perfectly meet all of the aforementioned goals. And here’s why:

1. Great tools for designing online learning courses

Open edX Studio provides great tools for designing online learning courses – you can combine texts, videos, quizzes, practical exercises, etc. into easy-to-comprehend and supervised courses.

2. xBlock technology

Due to using xBlock technology, different components can be combined in any needed sequence, allowing tailoring the course content for your needs.

3. Blended and Fully online learning

Blended and fully online learning are two popular models of online education. Blended learning combines online and in-person instruction, while fully online learning is entirely conducted online. Both models have their advantages and disadvantages, and the choice of which one to use will depend on the specific needs of your students and course.

4. Open edX scales perfectly

Open edX scales great, so your course can be used by a dozen of students or by several hundred thousand – grading and tracking tools work perfectly in either case.

5. MOOCs in mere hours

Xblock course creation technology allows combining lots of already existing content blocks into a course and adjusting them on the fly so that you can create your MOOCs in mere hours.

6. All created courses are saved in the Studio

They are available for updates at any given moment, which allows creating a huge knowledge base that will always be at your disposal and can be adjusted with ease if need be.

7. Support XML

Open edX supports XML, which is a widely used markup language for creating and sharing structured data. This makes it easy for educators to import and export course content, as well as share it with others.

8. Open Source

Open edX is open source, meaning it allows deep customization of the product, so you can tailor both the Open edX Studio and LMS to fit any specific requests you might have. For example, Raccoon Gang has implemented a Telegram bot technology into Open edX. This allows interactive gamification of the learning process and greatly improves students’ experience because they become active participants instead of being mere listeners.

9. Open edX is Free

Last but not the least – Open edX is free to use and after initial setup and tailoring investments does not require substantial licensing or maintenance expenses.

Conclusions

eLearning Management System should be simple to use both for students and instructors, should provide smooth course authoring, grading, and tailoring for each particular MOOC you create. It should require adequate financial investments and minimal technical knowledge to setup and configure. Open edX meets all of these requests so feel free to give it a try! And in case you want to have specific additional features – Raccoon Gang is always here to help!

FAQ

What makes an outstanding learning management system?

A great learning management system (LMS) should have the following features:

• User-friendly interface: The LMS should be easy to navigate and use for both instructors and students.

• Customization options: The LMS should be able to be tailored to the specific needs and requirements of the organization.

• Scalability: The LMS should be able to accommodate a large number of users and handle a large amount of data.

• Integration capabilities: The LMS should be able to integrate with other software and systems used by the organization.

• Reporting and analytics: The LMS should provide detailed and accurate reports on the progress and performance of students and instructors.

• Security: The LMS should have robust security measures in place to protect sensitive data.

• Support and resources: The LMS should come with comprehensive documentation and support services to assist users with any issues they may encounter.

How do I choose a learning management system?

When choosing a learning management system, consider the following steps:

• Determine your learning and development objectives: Identify your organisation’s specific needs and requirements that the LMS will need to meet.

• Assess your current learning and development strategy: Evaluate the current methods used for delivering training and education, and identify any gaps or areas that need improvement.

• Assess technical considerations and limitations: Evaluate the system’s compatibility with your current technology infrastructure, scalability, and security measures.

• Research different LMS options: Compare the features and functions of different LMSs and determine if they meet your organization’s specific needs.

• Ask for a live demonstration or trial period: Test the system in a real-world setting to evaluate its usability and effectiveness.

• Consider the cost: Determine if the system’s cost aligns with your organization’s budget and timeline.
• Learn about support services offered: Evaluate the system’s availability of customer support and technical assistance, and determine if the system’s vendor offers training or professional development opportunities.