What is a Learning Management System (LMS)?

The popularity of Learning Management Systems (LMS) has grown quickly (with a particular spike occurring over the past few years) as educational institutions and businesses look for the best way to make a seamless transition to remote working, schooling, and training.

If you fall into any of these categories, an LMS solution may be just what you’re looking for to facilitate distance learning, online business seminars, or corporate training. 

But what is a Learning Management System? 

How does the system work, and how can both educational institutions and corporations expect to benefit by using these cloud-based learning and training support tools?

We’ll explore the answers to those questions to give you a better idea of what an LMS is, and what it can do for your school or business. 

A Learning Management System (LMS) is a software solution that offers a full suite of tools to support online learning and remote training sessions. LMS software is cloud-based, which makes it easy to access and use anywhere an internet connection is available. 

LMS tools can be customized to the educational or corporate training needs of schools and businesses, and contain a variety of different modules to support those needs, including:

• Creation, Automation, and Delivery of Online Training, Courses, or Certifications
• Learning and Development Programs
• Administration of Courses or Training Programs
• Documentation
• Certification
• Tracking
• Reporting And More...

The most striking feature of learning management software is cost savings. Being able to attend classes and courses from home is a great way to reduce other costs related to education such as transport, building fees, or any other fees required to conduct in-person classes, and also possible missed opportunities when in a physical class. LMS allows users the flexibility to work on their education at their own pace.

Features such as gamification are proven to be a more effective way to help students and employees grasp new skills. Gamification is the unique process of applying the principles and framework of “play” and games to increase motivation and engagement, aid in learning and retaining new knowledge or skills, and infuse an activity with fun and competition. Gamification in the classroom or workplace can foster motivation, build engagement, and drive actions- which are all critical building blocks in creating an intelligent future generation. 

Education-focused LMS solutions offer a wide array of different tools to facilitate and track the effectiveness of online learning.

Learning Management Systems can be used for education at the primary, high school, and collegiate levels, and there are LMS vendors who specialize in all the tools needed to make the online classroom an effective and engaging reality for students who are shifting from in-classroom learning environments to home-based, distance learning online. 

LMS software is also a great solution for professionals who are looking to improve their education at their own pace. Colleges and universities offer many courses fully online opening up the chance for non-local students to also attend classes remotely. LMS can be the solution you needed to improve your educational credentials and help you progress easier in your chosen career path. Learning management system solutions can expand human intelligence by removing geographical limitations to education. 

If your organization isn't already offering online training options, you may want to consider developing them. Here are some of the benefits LMS provides for educational institutions:

• Organizes learning content within a single platform
• Facilitates interactive learning between students
• Provide students with more options for taking classes
• Offering students multiple modes of processing course material
• Allows for increased enrollment without hiring more instructors
• Tracks student progress both in terms of completion and retention
• Offers greater flexibility in courses and learning modes

However, there are other learning management system vendors who focus their tools and service offerings around all the systems and features companies need to support remote employees with training, career planning, performance management, and more. 

A select group of vendors offers learning management system tools that will suit the needs of both educational institutions alike, which are available in customizable platforms based on needs and budget. Many vendors do not diversify into both aspects of LMS solutions, though. 

LMS offers a number of business benefits related to online training, employee development, and employee performance tracking. Business benefits of using a learning management system include:

• Organizes training content within a single platform
• Facilitates interactive, online training sessions for employees
• Increases employee engagement
• Offers tools for employee performance management, training, and career-building
• Provide companies with more options for creating and delivering online training
• Provides employees with different access points for training (desktop and mobile)
• Allows for increased enrollment without hiring more instructors
• Tracks employee progress both in terms of training completion and information retention
• Offers greater flexibility in employee training
• Reduce travel costs associated with flying employees out to specialized training sessions, conferences, and certifications
• Improves employee performance by training them in the skills they need to succeed

Learning management system is the next revolution in education and it is a blessing in disguise that it was adopted en masse due to the pandemic-related requirements. But LMS solutions are here to stay, more than ever, companies are turning to LMS solutions to improve their labor force and hence, improve staff productivity. 

It is quite apparent that LMS may be the new way the world will continue to learn. Because online education has taken diverse forms, there are a variety of LMS systems available on the market, and many are tailored to meet specific online learning goals and needs. 

To pick the best LMS for schools, company training programs, or personal development endeavors, you’ll need to have a clear understanding of what features you need and what type of LMS system will best fulfill your needs, for a price that falls into your budget.

To do this, you may consult with our buyer’s guide while also comparing top LMS service providers available currently to make the decision easier. 

About Wheelhouse

Like what you just read? At Wheelhouse, we are passionate about all things software, and our specialty is connecting software buyers to a solution that perfectly matches their needs. Visit our Learning Management Systems software page for a complete list of all the solutions we have to offer.