LEARNING MANAGEMENT

Once an organization has content ready for learners, it needs to hosted online through a Learning Management System (LMS). If you are already engaged with student enrollment online (like at a university) it is likely that you have a learning management system in place. If not, choosing the best LMS will depend on what you already have in place, how many features you need, the number of users you are expecting and budget. It is important to consider upfront costs and time, versus monthly recurring costs over time.

In addition, many learning management systems will tout additional content creation features. Be wary of these features. The LAB recommends creating and archiving your content outside of your LMS. It is possible that in the future you will need/want to change your LMS to facilitate larger enrollments, or host better marketing features. If you find that you are creating your content within your LMS always export and save your files in a protected drive.

General Considerations

Now that you have the content ready for your learners you need to host it online. This is where you need to consider a learning management system. If you are already engaged with student enrollment online (like at a university) it is likely that you have a learning management system in place. If not, choosing the best LMS will depend on what you already have in place, how many features you need, the number of users you are expecting and YOUR BUDGET. You will need to balance upfront costs and time, versus monthly recurring costs over time.

In addition, many learning management systems will tout additional content creation features. Be wary of these features.WE ALWAYS recommend creating your content OUTSIDE of your LMS. It’s likely that you will need/want to change your LMS to facilitate larger enrollments, or host better marketing features. In fact, if you find that you are creating your content within your LMS always export and save your files in a protected drive.

Types of Learning Management Systems

Open Source

Open source LMS ARE NOT FREE!!

Open source means open source code which enables a person or a group of individuals to tailor an LMS. Many people assume that open source code means free, but that isn’t always the case. If you are not a developer, you will need to hire (and pay) a developer to build your LMS, and in some cases pay to access the code. There is not however, a per user fee with these systems.

Open source systems have A LOT of potential and valuable features. But there is a heavier investment both financially and with time upfront.

Commercial

Open Source

When it comes to commercial systems (fee- based) the one size fits all premise does not apply. There are over 1,300 learning systems on the market.

While these systems are turn key, there are typically monthly fees, and then in most cases, per user fees. These fees can mount quickly, especially if you are using SCORM based content.