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Buying an LMS?
How to get the most Bang for your Budget Presented by Accord LMS 1775 W. State Street Suite 371 Boise, ID 83702 USA
Introduction
Buying an LMS can be a challenging exercise. If this is your first time evaluating a learning management system, you’ll face a variety of terms and ideas that may be new to you. If you want to replace an existing system, your perspective and expectations may be colored by your prior experience. Either way, the information in this guide will enable you to articulate your needs and to identify a solution that will satisfy those needs.
The Basics
1. Decide What you Need
List your needs for both today and tomorrow
2. Find a Good Match
Identify which LMS satisfies those needs
3. Get a Good Price
LMS industry studies have shown that paying more doesn’t mean that you’re getting more. Watch out for extra fees for enterprise capabilities or other enhancements.
Who is Accord LMS?
Since 2009 Accord has provided a simple, smart and affordable learning management solution to millions of users around the world. Headquartered in Boise, Idaho our goal is to provide a cost effective Enterprise class learning management system to organizations of all sizes, regardless of their workforce distribution or types of Learners. We understand that your success is our success.
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STEP 2
LMS
Deliver content to learners and record interactions
STEP 3
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Report on training utilization, compliance and outcome
How to Use this Document
Not everyone has the same needs when it comes to an LMS. This guide is designed to be clear enough for someone new to Learning Management while providing guidelines that would be useful for experienced administrators. Some sections may speak to your needs, some may not. There are many LMS to select from and some have unique strengths that may better fit your unique needs. Consider drafting a needs analysis as a handy reference when evaluating potential LMSs. Finally, review the “Additional Considerations” section for some advanced tips. If you’re new to STEP 1 Learning Management, please refer to the glossary at the end as needed. Upload training content
What is a Learning Management System?
A Learning Management System (LMS) is a software application designed to help organizations manage the training of their Learners. The exact nature of this management can be varied depending on the types of Learners being served STEP 2from Learners who are and goals of the training program. For example, managing Learners who opt-in will be different Deliver content to required to take training by their employer. Annual compliance training in an organization is likely to be different from learners and record new hire onboarding. interactions
LMS
STEP 3
Report on training utilization, Most training programs include some or all of the following: online presentations that have been purchased or created compliance and outcome
in-house; videos; Instructor Led Training; webinars; documents and other digital assets. A good Learning Management System can help you facilitate, track, and report on the utilization of many different types of Learning Elements. The main benefits of an LMS are to reduce the time, effort, and cost of your training program while offering deeper insight into your Learner’s experience, compliance, and progress.
Basic Functions of an LMS STEP 1
Upload training content
LMS
STEP 2
Deliver content to learners and record interactions
STEP 3
Report on training utilization, results and compliance
The Accord LMS gives us the latitude to make training delivery and reporting fit our business needs, not the other way around. -Mike Santiago, INTO University Partnerships Limited
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Core Features of an LMS
In this section, we’ll provide a more detailed description of core LMS features and some tips on what to look for as you consider different solutions.
Learning Catalog
The Learning Catalog usually holds most, and sometimes all, of the learning content that you intend to provide your Learners. Individual Learning Elements are the most granular object in the Catalog and can consist of videos, presentations, documents, SCORM files, links to online content, or just about any digital media. Learning Elements are typically bundled into Courses which can then be assigned to Learners and delivered and tracked by the LMS. A Course could, for instance, start with a syllabus document, a narrated PowerPoint presentation, a compelling video and then wrap up with a quiz and certificate of completion. Courses can be assigned individually or further packaged into a Learning Path (sometimes called a Curriculum). Many training programs are composed of a blend of live and online training elements. Make sure that your LMS can support all Learning Elements that you want to offer your Learners. Consider your Learner types as you design your Learning Catalog. Will you want different Learners to have access to different Courses? Will some Learners be employees while others are partners or customers? Will you need to restrict assignment or self-enrollment? Does the catalog support all the learning elements that you expect to use?
Anatomy of a Learning Catalog Learning Elements
Course
SCORM Content
Syllabus
Online Document
Introduction
Instructor Training
Learning Elements can be organized into meaningful Courses for easy assignment to Learners.
Section 1
PowerPoint
Discussion
Video
Section 2
Social Learning
Final Quiz
Quiz
Learning Elements, Courses and Learning Paths make up a Learning Catalog.
Certificates Etc.
Learning Elements are the building blocks of your training program.
Associated Courses can be grouped into Learning Paths, which may also be assigned.
Learning Path
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Learning Catalog
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Training Assignment
In many training programs, the ability to assign specific required training to employees is the most time consuming and critical step in the training process. A good LMS can simplify this step by automating the assignment of Courses to specific groups of Learners based on their profile or role within the organization. You’ll also want the flexibility to assign customized training for a specific individual.
Self-Enrollment
Once you have a Catalog of training content, you may wish to allow Learners to enroll themselves in elective Courses or specific Sessions for required Instructor Led Training. This is the primary Course enrollment model for many eCommerce content businesses.
Learner Dashboard
This is the most important user interface in any LMS. Learners comprise the vast majority of users and should have an intuitive dashboard to see their Course enrollments, requirements, and utilization records. In addition, Learners may need to review previously completed content and print certificates of completion. In more sophisticated systems, this dashboard also serves as access to community learning and gamification features.
What is the Learner’s Experience?
Many training programs are composed of a blend of live and online training elements. Make sure that your LMS can support all learning elements that you want to offer your learners.
Learners
Quizzes / Evaluations
Quizzes and knowledge evaluations are used to gauge Learner competency and Course completion. If you intend to offer evaluations, your LMS should track scores; trigger Course completion status and present the results in relevant reports.
Learners vs. Admins
Learning Management Systems categorize their users as Learners or Administrators. Some users may be both. Learners account for the overwhelming majority of users, so it is absolutely critical that the LMS present them with an interface that is attractive, easy to use, and available on any device.
The Learner’s Experience
The Learner’s experience of the LMS should encourage training compliance and offer no barriers to their learning.
Completion Tracking
An LMS will track when learning content has been successfully completed. Online content should be able to report this automatically. In the case of Instructor Led Training, completion can be manually marked by an Instructor in their online Session roster.
Certification
The ability to earn a certificate after completing a Course or a Learning Path can be motivating for Learners and a requirement for compliance. Review the certification capacity of your potential LMS to ascertain whether it meets your specific requirements, and whether it offers the ability to customize certificates.
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Reporting
For many organizations, this is where the rubber meets the road. Ongoing reporting at various levels of your enterprise will help appropriate managers ensure that required training is being completed in a timely manner. In the case of training required by an outside entity (e.g. an accrediting body or government agency) the ability to quickly print training reports or automate their delivery can make site audits a breeze. Here are a few things that you should look for.
Does the LMS provide graphical summaries that you can customize?
Being able to quickly visualize your most important training metrics is a terrific way to keep your finger on the pulse of your key training indicators
Can you drill down through your organizational hierarchy?
You’ll want to go from your 30,000’ view and be able to quickly zoom down through your organization by divisions, regions, districts, departments, teams, or any other hierarchy that matters to you.
Can you automatically email relevant reports to the appropriate managers?
If you’re managing a large enterprise, or may in the future, it’s critical to keep all levels of management involved in your training efforts. One of the best tools for this is to create one report that can be automatically emailed to your team managers and filtered on their specific domain of Learners and Learning Content. One report can have as many unique presentations as you have teams and managers. Keep things simple and make sure your managers get the reports you want in their Inbox at the time you want without any of the leg work.
Enterprise Reporting
It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. - Arthur Conan Doyle
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Additional Considerations Authoring Content
Learning management and content authoring are very different activities. One manages the training program and the other creates educational content for it. There are a wide variety of excellent authoring tools. They run the gamut from expensive to free and complex to simple. In fact, if you can create a PowerPoint presentation, screen capture, or a video, you can create great online Learning Elements. Third party authoring tools allow you to select the best of breed for your specific needs and budget. Make sure to select an authoring tool that publishes to the LMS industry standard SCORM format. If you ever wish to change learning management systems, your SCORM Courses can simply be loaded into the new system. Proprietary “built-in” authoring tools may be easier to use, but are not as full featured and may not create SCORM content. If you change your LMS, you could lose all of your content. Some LMS offer seamless integration with leading authoring tools that rival the ease of built-in tools without locking in your content. Here are some reputable SCORM compliant content authoring tools.
www.ispringsolutions.com
www.articulate.com
www.techsmith.com
Cloud vs. On-Premise software
In most cases, you’ll want to consider a cloud or SaaS (Software as a Service) implementation. This means that the LMS is hosted on servers maintained by the vendor. This will generally result in a more scalable, reliable and cost effective solution. Also consider where your data is stored. Most LMS vendors mingle your data with other customers’ in the same database. This can leave the door open for security and data integrity concerns and problems with roll back should the need arise. Some vendors do offer a private database for some clients, but at additional cost as an Enterprise feature.
Data Security
Many SaaS vendors have a single massive database which stores all of their customers’ data. If you want to keep your data separate from other customers, find out if you have a private database.
Another consideration with SaaS or Cloud based systems is the upgrade process. If you are on a shared database, you LMS will be upgraded on the vendor’s schedule. If it’s not at a convenient time, it could potentially result in lost productivity at an inconvenient time. Check and see if you can request scheduled updates at a time of your convenience. On-Premise installations use your own IT infrastructure to host your LMS. This model is ideal for organizations who, for security reasons, prohibit access to the internet or simply want more control over their computing environment. Anticipate a hardware investment and higher level of internal support requirements.
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Blended Learning Management
One important consideration is the type of training that will be managed with your LMS. Many if not most training programs include a blended learning approach featuring a combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning delivered in a variety of formats and media types. Your LMS should be able to assign and track completions on all of the different learning elements that you expect to use in the foreseeable future.
What is an Enterprise LMS?
As the name suggests, an Enterprise LMS has features necessary to support a large Enterprise. Enterprise LMS features typically focus on technical scalability, hierarchical management and reporting, and distributed administration. Such features include automatic Roles and Profile based Course assignment; customizable Learning Catalogs; robust support for unlimited Teams and LMS Admin Types; and support very large Learner counts; Catalogs and enrollments.
What is an Extended Enterprise LMS?
If you’d like to train Learners outside of your org chart, you’ll want an LMS that supports an extended Enterprise. Examples include eCommerce businesses, customer training programs, trade associations with member certifications, franchisee training, and training consultancies. Typical features to look for in an Enterprise LMS are multi-portal, multitenant systems, multi-language systems that support white label branding and multiple Learner types. Each Learner type or portal should be able to have custom views into the Learning Catalog content.
Extended Enterprise: One LMS - Many Learner Types
eCommerce Everywhere Franchise
LMS
Franchise Franchise Contractor
Manufacturer in Asia
Office Contractor
Office Franchise
Franchise
Franchise
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Office in Europe
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Evaluating your needs
Now that you know some of the things to look for when buying a learning management system, it’s time to start articulating what your organization needs. A common mistake when submitting RFPs is to present a complete list of all the features that any LMS has ever had. It is far better to prioritize your list of requirements into categories such as must haves, nice to haves, and not interested. Review the following sections and then take a few minutes to fill out a needs assessment form. It will serve as a handy guide when talking with LMS vendors. Also take note if any of these features will add to the total solution cost. What type of Learners: Will you be training employees, customers, partners, franchisee employees, the general public, or perhaps a combination of different Learner types? How many Learners: How many Learners will initially be using the system? What is the maximum number of Learners that you expect to train? Many LMS vendors price their licenses according to the Learner count. Frequency of Training: How often will your Learners need to be trained? E.g. if you are exclusively using the system for onboarding, perhaps your Learners only need to be trained once. Annual compliance training occurs every year. New Product training may occur irregularly. You can often save money if you only need to train Learners in cycles rather than perennially. What is your current technological infrastructure: Does your organization favor cloud based (Saas) or internally hosted (On-Premise) software? Do you have other software, such as a Human Resources Information System (HRIS), that should integrate with your LMS? White Label Branding: Do you want your LMS to reflect your organization’s logo, color scheme, and general appearance? Hierarchical Management: Will you need to track your learning across various business units? In a hierarchical system your LMS will support assignment, administration, and reporting on multiple levels such as division, region, store, department, etc. Single Sign-on: Do your Learners log into an existing system that makes all company resources available to them? If so, should that sign-on give them direct access to the LMS, or are you fine with Learners entering a username and password to access their LMS account? Would you like Active Directory support? How many portals: Each portal can be thought of as a new web site or access point to the LMS. Portals can provide custom branding and a tailored user experience for different organizations or groups of Learners. An example of a multi-portal LMS might be a School District providing a separate portal for each school in the district. Every LMS has at least one portal. Will you need more than one LMS portal? What is your current training process: A common concern is that training administrators are forced to conform to the LMS rather than the LMS having the flexibility to support their existing training strategy. Take a moment to consider how you currently train and what your plans are for the future. What training elements will your LMS need to support? Will it gracefully deliver video, electronic documents, instructor led training and other components of your existing training program. How flexible is the solution you are considering?
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What are your plans for the future: Is your organization fairly stable, or do you expect to grow in the coming years. Changing systems can be a challenging prospect at the best of times, so you’ll want to be sure that you choose a system that can support any expansion in Learners or portals without increasing your system’s cost per user. Check how much the vendor will charge for Enterprise features when you need them. CMS: A Content Management System (CMS) compliments your LMS as a platform for sharing organizational resources such as P&Ps, HR Documentation, internal newsletters, and more. A CMS may also provide discussion forums, social learning communities, blogs, a modular design, and other traditional web portal features. Ask if a prospective LMS can support all content management initiatives that support your learners. Mobile Support: With the increase in mobile devices, it is becoming critical for systems to reach Learners on their phones, tablets, and web client laptops. It is important to make sure that your LMS fully supports mobile devices. eCommerce: Will you be selling your training content over the web? Make sure that your LMS has the ability to create a web portal designed specifically to sell online content. To maximize your selling opportunity, check out the ability to sell digital assets such as PDFs or MP3s as well as shippable items, such as printed manuscripts or DVDs. Learning Content: While many organizations prefer to create their own internal training content, there may be some third party content that you’d like to buy off the shelf. If your LMS vendor offers a content library, make sure that the content is relevant, current, and meets any accreditation requirements in your industry. If you want to acquire your own content, make sure it is in a format that can be easily utilized and tracked by your LMS. It’s a good idea to get a few sample Courses loaded into your LMS just to see how the process works before making an investment.
Learning Technology Critical Calls to Action 1. Use Technology to Support the Learning Strategy, not Dictate it 2. Solve Today’s Challenges, but Plan for the Future 3. Leverage Technology for a Truly Blended Learning Experience 4. Realize the Potential in Mobile, Collaborative, and Cloud Technologies
- Brandon Hall Group 2015
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Needs Assessment Form
The next two pages will serve as a quick assessment to help you articulate your needs in a way that will inform your search for a Learning Management System. This is a fairly high level approach. For a more detailed RFP proposal format, you might want to download the RFP Template from elearninfo247.com.
Types and QTY of Learners
Employees
Customers
Cloud/SaaS
On-Premise
Active Directory
SSO API
How many of each type of learner do you expect to have in your first year? How many in your second year? How many in your third year? Frequency of training ( e.g. Annual/quarterly/one time) How many unique learning paths/curricula do you expect to have?
Infrastructure
Will you want Single Sign-on
List all systems that will integrate or share data with your LMS
Portals How many distinct LMS portals will you need? Do you want your portals branded to your organization (White Label Branding)? eCommerce: Will you sell online or other training content (e.g. Books)? How many LMS adminstrators do you expect to have? CMS: Will you share resources such as P&P, product documentation, etc.?
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Partners
Franchisees
Other
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Training Process
Briefly describe your current training process
Describe how you expect an LMS to improve your process
What types of Learning content will you be using (e.g. SCORM, Video, etc.)
Learners
Admins
Will you require mobile device support?
What is your available budget?
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Common LMS Questions
Should I consider an open source LMS?
Selecting an open source LMS such as Moodle can be a tempting choice. The most attractive feature of most open source systems is that they don’t come with a license fee. Open source solutions can be an ideal solution for an organization that can dedicate technical resources to building and maintaining, a complex and highly customized solution. Do keep in mind that the cost to configure and administer an open source system is usually much higher than the administration AND license price of a well-designed and supported commercial product.
What kind of authoring tools will I need?
Select the authoring tool that best meets your needs and make sure that it outputs SCORM compatible content. This will allow your content to be used in almost any LMS and it will be portable if you ever decide to change your LMS. Built-in authoring tools can work well for basic needs, but are generally not portable. If you have a team of instructional designers, they may already have a favorite tool such as Articulate, Lectora, or Captivate. iSpring has some very affordable HTML 5 compliant tools. If you are planning on authoring software training videos, a screen capture and video editing tool such as Camtasia might do the trick. There are any number of options that you could choose. Spend time working with your team to identify the authoring solution which bests meets your needs and budget.
What is a REST API and why does it matter?
REST is a type of web service used to create Application Program Interfaces (APIs). Today’s organizational computing world is an ecosystem consisting of many software applications interacting with one another. A Learning Management System should be able to interact with your existing software infrastructure to share data such as user profiles. Software applications use these APIs as the connectors that join different systems. If your organization would benefit from integrating your LMS with other mission critical systems, be sure to discuss LMS API capabilities with your vendor.
What should I pay for an LMS?
Naturally, you’ll want to find the most affordable solution that meets your current and future needs. It’s not unusual to pay reasonable setup fees for the system and technical options such as single-sign-on. Some vendors offer complicated pricing models with an ala-carte approach to assembling a system. Be sure to confirm that all your requisite functionality is included in the pricing discussion. Another important consideration is whether the costs are one time or annual. Essentially, it’s important that you have a full understanding of what is included, what’s not and how you will be charged. Over the past few years, Learning Management Vendors have adopted a number of different pricing models. Some systems charge you for all users logging into the LMS. Other systems charge a large flat fee regardless of the number of users. Active Learner Pricing is an attractive option where you pay for user licenses based on their learning activity.
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How should I plan for growth and expansion?
Planning for future growth is very important when selecting a Learning Management System. Successful training programs tend to expand within an organization and successful organizations may find new strategies for leveraging their training assets. Replacing an existing LMS to meet future needs can be a costly and time consuming process. Some vendors offer more advanced Enterprise features, but at a significantly higher cost than the core LMS system. Select your new LMS based on your needs today and tomorrow or you may face significant budget impacts as your requirements evolve.
What kind of Support should I expect?
Deploying an LMS is manageable if you’re prepared and you get the right support. LMS support should start before you even launch your system. Spend some time talking with your vendor about your training plans and how to best implement your new LMS to support those plans. They should have the resources to help you get started with best practices and then be available to answer questions and respond to any technical issues that may come up down the road. The level of attentiveness and support in your initial interactions with an LMS vendor are often indicative of the entire corporate culture and a bell weather of what you can expect during your relationship in general.
What is SCORM?
SCORM is a set of standards and specifications for web based online learning content. SCORM grew out of an initiative from the office of the United States Secretary of Defense and has become the universal standard for online Courses. It is possible to include non-SCORM content in some Learning Management Systems. One of the benefits of commercial Authoring tools vs. proprietary solutions is the ability to create portable learning content. Once an authoring tool has published a Course, the author will have a compressed .zip file containing all of the resources needed to load that Course into any SCORM compliant LMS. SCORM compliance should be a baseline requirement for any LMS. Using industry standard authoring tools to create SCORM content will preserve your investment in online training content if you should ever need to change Learning Management Systems.
What is Tin Can?
Tin can is a relatively new initiative that grew out of the SCORM standard. Tin Can, also known as the xAPI, tracks a wide range of learning activities using a data system known as a Learning Record Store (LRS). An LRS is different than an LMS and lacks most LMS functionality. While some LMS vendors are starting to include the xAPI, in many cases the technology is being implemented in a SCORM emulation mode offering few additional benefits to LMS users. At the time of this writing, SCORM is still the standard in the industry. xAPI has a lot of attention but few tangible results.
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The Accord LMS
We hope that this guide has been a helpful overview of the key considerations in purchasing a learning management system. We want you to have the right system and we hope that ours will be the one. Our goal is to provide an outstanding LMS with outstanding service to meet your needs today and grow with you tomorrow. Most advanced features are included in our standard price for less than our competitors charge for their “budget” or “rapid” systems. Here are some of the key benefits to selecting the Accord Learning Management System.
• Unlimited Learner Roles • Unlimited Team hierarchies • Unlimited LMS Admin types for your Teams • Unlimited Learning Element Types • Unlimited Course and Folder types • Role based Course assignments • Flexible Learning Paths that conform to your training plans • Blended Learning Management with a wide variety of Learning Elements, ILT management, and integration with GTM, GTW and GTT and other web conferencing tools for synchronous online Sessions.
• Powerful Reporting tools from top to bottom • LMS gamification with badges and leaderboards • Social learning communities • eCommerce at no additional cost • Enterprise features at no additional cost • Integrated Web Content Management System (CMS) • White Label branding at no additional cost • Multi-Portal and Multi-Tenant at no additional cost • Active Learner Pricing • Unlimited registered users, who can use many system features, at no additional cost • Seamless integration with many SCORM compliant Content Authoring tools • Updates available on your schedule • Your data is always in your own private database
ACCORD LMS is the Price / Performance Leader in the LMS Industry
Please contact us to discuss your specific needs, a free demo or your own evaluation portal. We’re confident that we can provide the best solution for the best price. Sales: sales@accordlms.com Solutions: solutions@accordlms.com
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Glossary of LMS Terms Administrator
An LMS user who has responsibility for some aspect of learning management. Administrators oversee assignments, training requirements, course creation, learning path design, report creation and automation rules.
Blended Learning
Generally considered a best practice of blending different types of training (e.g. ILT, Online Course, and video) for effective and cost efficient learning.
Certificates
Certificates serve as proof of completion of a course or learning path. Certificates should be customizable to the course, learner, and organization.
Compliance Training
The process of educating employees on laws, regulations and company policies that apply to their day-to-day job responsibilities. Usually a mandatory part of a risk management program.
Content
In this context, Content refers to training materials. Training content can come in SCORM and non-SCORM formats such as video files, audio files, PowerPoint presentations, and recorded webinars. Most web ready content can be managed by an LMS as part of a comprehensive training program.
Enrollment
Generally synonymous with Assignment. Enrollment refers to giving a learner access to a course or learning path. Self-enrollment is the process through which a learner assigns training to themselves rather than having it assigned by an administrator, supervisor, or automated system.
Gamification
The process of awarding badges, points, leader board progress and other social incentives to accomplish training milestones.
Instructor Led Training (ILT)
A live course taught by an instructor. ILT often refers to classroom training, but can also be online webinars, conference calls, or video chats. The key element is the presence of an instructor in real time.
Learner
An LMS user who is using the system to receive training instruction as opposed to administrative duties. A single user can be both and administrator and a learner.
Learning Catalog
Storage within the LMS that holds all Learning Elements, Courses, and Learning Paths. Some LMS vendors offer multiple views of the Learning Catalog allowing different groups of Learners to access different Learning Content.
Learning Elements
The raw materials of online courses. Learning elements refer to the specific files or activities that are assembled together to create an online course.
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Learning Management System (LMS)
A system designed to simplify and automate the process of assigning, tracking, and reporting on training. Any LMS can be viewed from the perspective of a learner who uses the system to access training or an administrator who uses the system to manage training. A good LMS should reduce the time and expense of running a training program while providing improved tracking.
Learning Path
A collection of courses intended to be taken together.
On-Premise
A term referring to software which is run on an organization’s internal network infrastructure. On-Premise solutions generally require a greater investment in hardware and internal staff time.
Organizational Hierarchy
Think of an org chart. An organization may have regions, districts, offices, and departments. An organization’s hierarchy is important when designing training programs, automatic enrollments, LMS administration and management reporting. In a large Enterprise, for instance, you might have an LMS Administrator in each region who only has visibility to their part of the hierarchy.
Quiz
Also an Assessment, Test, or Evaluation. An electronic tool for testing knowledge. Passing a quiz may be necessary to complete a particular learning experience.
SaaS
Software as a Service. This refers to systems maintained in the Internet Cloud by a vendor.
SCORM
Sharable Content Object Reference Model. The current industry standard for online courses. When an authoring tool publishes to SCORM, a compressed .zip file is created that includes all components of the course. That file can then be imported to any SCORM compliant LMS Learning Catalog.
Session
A particular time and place for an ILT. Often a specific ILT may have many sessions available for a learner to choose. E.g. First Aid is taught every month.
Social Learning Community
A social network that is limited to a group of learners participating in the same training.
Tin Can
A new online learning technology designed to capture a wide variety of learning activities and store them in an LRS. Not an LMS specific technology.
Training Compliance
Refers to learners completing required content in a timely manner. LMS can help improve employee training compliance through diligent reporting and manager involvement.
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