This corona pandemic has forced all the educational institutions like schools, colleges & universities to remain shut across all the world.
To keep students engaged and to continue curricular activities, educational experts were in a dilemma to find an alternate way.
As a result, online learning was born which changed the entire education system. With the rise of online education, teaching or coaching is done remotely with the help of digital platforms.
Even companies and organizations adapted to this situation and made their employees work from home while collaborating virtually. Everything went remote in a flash.
This pandemic has raised a lot of questions about the future of online education. Will it encourage the education sector to launch more online programs?
Many people are wondering how this adoption of online education will continue to roll out post-pandemic.
Some even have clarifications about how this changeover would impact the global education market.
The past seven months have offered some answers and a glimpse of opportunities and challenges ahead.
This sudden shift caused by COVID-19 is here to stay as research suggests that online education provides more flexibility, less time consuming and helps increase information retention.
Going forward, Online education will play a vital role in transforming the future of the education world.
Even before this pandemic, there was already huge growth in adopting online education, with global Edu-tech investments reaching US$18.66 billion in 2019.
The entire market of online education is projected to reach US$350 billion by 2025.
Many institutions are adapting to this new normal in different ways. Some of them are utilizing the moment to restructure their academic plans to make a foothold in the digital platform.
Be it video conferencing tools, online education software or virtual coaching, there has been a significant spike in usage since COVID-19.
So, are you ready to take the leap from traditional to online education and invest in an LMS? Is it worth the try? Let’s explore how the learning management system helps in improving the experience of online education.
In this article, we’ll discuss the importance of leveraging LMS for your online training needs, it’s note-worthy features and benefits.
What is a Learning Management System (LMS), anyway?
A Learning Management System (LMS) is a platform or software which is used to create courses, analyze and execute the online learning process. LMS is used to deploy and track the online training initiatives.
The role of the Learning Management System varies depending upon the Industry’s requirements, functions and online training strategy.
LMS helps in virtual collaboration through the internet. Educational institutions and companies use it for online training delivery while corporates use them for training purposes and maintaining employee records.
Assets are uploaded to LMS, which helps remote learners to access it easily. It is a vast repository where you can store and retrieve information.
LMS provides blended learning opportunities for both students and employees. It consist of inbuilt tools that allow you to create online learning materials without the support of any third-party software.
LMS users fall into two main categories-
- Online learners who use LMS to participate in online education courses.
- eLearning team who relies on LMS software to upload the online training content and disbursing it.
Why is the Learning Management Systems important for Online Education?
Learning management systems are fruitful for companies and educational institutions. Companies use extended enterprise online learning applications for LMS to deploy online training materials to franchisees, clients and external sales channels.
The important objective of LMS is to enhance the learning process. LMs helps in documentation, tracking, recording and administrative activities.
Learning Management Systems are used in various organizations and companies to improve training methodology and learning processes.
LMS not only delivers content, but also helps in reporting, course registration and skill gap analysis. It is used for various methods like –
- Computer-based training
- Online assessment
- Compliance training
- Application sharing
- Financial services
- Collaborative learning and so on.
Learning Management Systems even consist of a performance management system which includes competency analysis and employee performance.
It helps to streamline the online training process by setting up a centralized hub for creating content and accessing materials.
Before you select the type of LMS you need, it’s important to identify your goals and objectives.
Best features of Learning Management Systems (LMS)
1. Responsive Design
LMS must be responsive to create a master layout which features unique breakpoints. Multi-device friendly LMS reaches a wider audience. It will even be useful for people who use tablets or smartphones to access the online resources. LMS auto resizes the layout according to the user’s device. It gives an option to preview each version before making any necessary changes.
2. Competency management
You can check and track the performance of the students or employees and analyze them with your objectives.
3. Certification, Badges & Compliance
It is an important feature for organizations who provide company policy and online compliance training. LMS comes with a certification code validator and you can share your achievements on social networks. You can even award course badges to your students who complete the training successfully.
4. Messaging, Notifications & Emails
Trainers and Users can send inbuilt notifications and reminders, including events and upcoming training. You can even email to keep instructors and students updated.
5. Social Learning
It provides corporate employees a chance to connect with their peers and share their ideas with the help of integrated social media tools. You can insert a news feed into your eLearning course design. And also you can track the online discussion participation. In short, social LMS allows you to start your own social network for your school, college or university.
6. Analytics & Report generation
Learning Management System allows you to generate customizable reports for tracking the performance. Also LMS offers analytics that allows you to monitor online training, reviewing the records and focus on areas of improvement. LMS provides all the information you need to achieve your industry’s learning objectives.
7. Multilingual support
If you are planning to expand your online education business globally, delivering regional content is very important. Learning Management Systems have the feature of geo location which automatically delivers the content in local language.
8. Integrated Social LMS
Many Learning Management Systems now comes with in-built social media support. Social learning lets corporate learners connect and share ideas with their peers. You can keep a news feed into your eLearning course module or you can track the participation of online discussions.
9. Gamification features
Nowadays, kids require some form of motivation to complete the online classes. Learning should be fun for them. To keep them actively engaged, game mechanics comes in handy. It encourages them by giving points, leader boards and badges. With in-built gamification features in LMS, you can incorporate them easily.
How to choose the best LMS for you?
You can request for a demo or a free trial from a LMS vendor for testing and experiencing it. Research about your industry’s needs and objectives before selecting the LMS.
Make sure the LMS is user friendly and interactive. Getting the best LMS for your business mainly depends on who uses it.
Are you looking for the right LMS to kickstart your online education business? SmartDuke offers a customized Learning Management System for all the learning needs of your organization. We are a leading LMS provider for various corporate companies and educational institutes.
Call Now: +91 989 474 8404, Email: sales@smartduke.com
Click here to get a free quote.
