What Is A Learning Management System?
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
What is a Learning Management System definition?
First of all let’s have a look at actually what is the definition of a learning management system?
Well the definition is:
A learning management system is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting and delivery of educational courses or training programs.
Why use a Learning Management System?
Now, as you can gather, there can be a whole host of different sort of learning materials that can come under that catchment. So, why use a learning management system, to begin with?
- Online efficiency – First of all online efficiency is one of the biggest key factors where you’re not dealing with a big pile of books.
- Instant feedback – Instant feedback is another great trait of a learning management system. The owner is obviously receiving the feedback and also the user or student who’s actually using and learning.
- Better management of learning content – In terms of actually creating new courses and modules and topics, lessons, classes; however, you want to describe it. You can basically have a better management of it.
- Automation of E-Learning training – That’s another great factor where once all the documentation is in place, then obviously you can rerun the classes, courses, whenever you like and as many times as you want for as many people as you want. That is obviously like basically talking to a whole … It’s like a global classroom really where the uses are endless.
- Student sets the speed of learning – Another great factor is students actually set the speed of the learning process. So, unlike a normal classroom or training room, where everybody has to go at the same speed as the actual tutor. With a learning management system, students can actually go at their own pace where each student can take their time on various processes and understanding of what is trying to be taught. Those who excel at certain things can obviously go at a faster pace than others.
- No need to reproduce content and publish – Of course no need to reproduce content and publish. So, whereas you get some old publishers where they’ll produce an annual publication of an outdated content every year. Whereas with a learning management system, it would take a matter of minutes to update any content that you wanted to add in, change, edit and publish through your website.
- Small tests to encourage absorption of content – Small tests can be put throughout the whole process of the course or module. So, this can obviously encourage the absorption of content for each student. So, this actually gives the student the sort of clarification that they’re understanding what they’re supposed to be learning and also the tutor or owner of the course actually gets instant feedback of where their student is in their learning process.
How to design for a learning management system?
Moving on to, how to design for a learning management system? Well, this can obviously run into a whole host of different sort of tools but online classes are pretty much where I took there with what a learning management system can be used for.
Workshops, that’s another good one. So, if you’ve got a set of online webinars where you want to instead of reproducing every time, you only record them once. You can put that as an individual workshop for your users, members, students to attend. And obviously, we can create that learning management system around workshops.
- Online Classes
- Workshops
- Modules
- Seminars
- Exams
- Tests
Modules, that’s another one and seminars. Obviously, seminars are probably something a little bit more elaborate but that is certainly something that can be undertaken learning management system. If modules can be contained within seminars, or vice a versa then, depends on how your system can be constructed. But, either way, it can all be done under a learning management system. Exams, big key factor. So, instead of actually going somewhere to actually take an exam after all the learning that has been done. This can also be done through the learning management system. That exam or test or a quiz could actually be providing the actual feedback almost instantaneous to that person and the results of how they have done will also be fed back to the owner of the course.
This is great for speed of learning and just better productivity and efficiency for both parties who are teaching and trying to learn in an instant whatever it may be. And of course, tests that’s another one just pretty much very similar to exams. So along with how we would design these various classes, courses within the learning management system. It would be something like this. So, let’s say we have a course in the middle and after we want our first module and within that module one, we want two lessons. We can build that up and we can create the content that needs to be in lesson one. And then lesson two and then obviously have both of the lessons within the content of module one.
Obviously moving on if you want to create the course to have a second module, we can then add another lesson within module two. Now after module two, for example, we can decide that we’re actually going to have a workshop followed by a test, stroke, exam. And that will sort of give us some feedback on how that student is doing over the first two modules. After the test and exam, we can then actually see whether they should move onto the module three which will contain another lesson or maybe we should say they should go back to module two or even one. So they would go through module three and there’s a final lesson and then we can have a final test and exam at the end. And that can complete the course that we wanted to provide to that student or member.
Learning Management System Data
Some things I may have already interacted on but with the learning management system, the data is the biggest sort of factor with instant feedback to the owner. Also, instant feedback to the student. Obviously, consistent analysis is always taking place. We’ve found that definitely provides better student performance. As I can see where they are even against their fellow colleagues, competitors or members or fellow students. Also, when you can actually see there’s a point in time where the student is actually underperforming. That’s always a great point to make contact with the student to touch base with them and say, “Well is there something we can do extra for you to improve your performance”? Or, just make any recommendations to go back and relearn a few of the areas.
Obviously, the speed and efficiency being online is a great factor overall to provide the better results. That’s pretty much it. If you have a Learning Management System website that you require designing and developing for your organisation, then contact us here with all your details.
