Learning management system

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A learning management system (LMS) is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting and delivery of education courses or training programs.

LMSs range from systems for managing training and educational records to software for distributing online or blended/hybrid college courses over the Internet with features for online collaboration. Colleges and universities use LMSs to deliver online courses and augment on-campus courses. Corporate training departments use LMSs to deliver online training, as well as automate record-keeping and employee registration.

Characteristics

History

The history of the application of computers to education is filled with generic terms such as computer-based instruction (CBI), computer-assisted instruction (CAI), and computer-assisted learning (CAL), generally describing drill-and-practice programs, more sophisticated tutorials, and more individualized instruction, respectively. LMS has its history in another term, integrated learning system (ILS) which offers additional functionality beyond instructional content such as management and tracking, more personalized instruction, and integration across the system . The term ILS was originally coined by Jostens Learning, and LMS was originally used to describe the management system part of the PLATO K-12 learning system, content-free and separate from the courseware. The term LMS is currently used to describe a number of different educational computer applications.

Purpose

The key to understanding the difference between LMS and other computer education terms is to understand the systemic nature of LMS. LMS is the framework that handles all aspects of the learning process. An LMS is the infrastructure that delivers and manages instructional content, identifies and assesses individual and organizational learning or training goals, tracks the progress towards meeting those goals, and collects and presents data for supervising the learning process of organization as a whole. An LMS delivers content but also handles registering for courses, course administration, skills gap analysis, tracking, and reporting.

Most LMSs are Web-based to facilitate access to learning content and administration. They are also used by educational institutions to enhance and support classroom teaching and offering courses to a larger population of learners. LMSs are used by regulated industries (e.g. financial services and biopharma) for compliance training. Student self-service (e.g., self-registration on instructor-led training), training workflow (e.g., user notification, manager approval, wait-list management), the provision of on-line learning (e.g., computer-based training, read & understand), on-line assessment, management of continuous professional education (CPE),collaborative learning (e.g., application sharing, discussion threads), and training resource management (e.g., instructors, facilities, equipment), are all important dimensions of Learning Management Systems.

Some LMS providers include "performance management systems", which encompass employee appraisals, competency management, skills-gap analysis, succession planning, and multi-rater assessments (i.e., 360 degree reviews). Modern techniques now employ competency-based learning to discover learning gaps and guide training material selection.

For the commercial market, some Learning and Performance Management Systems include recruitment and reward functionality.

A robust LMS should be able to do the following:

centralize and automate administration
use self-service and self-guided services
assemble and deliver learning content rapidly
consolidate training initiatives on a scalable web-based platform
support portability and standards
personalize content and enable knowledge reuse

Educational use vs. Corporate use

LMSs cater to educational, administrative, and deployment requirements. While an LMS for corporate learning may share many characteristics with a LMS used by educational institutions,however, they each meet unique needs. The learning environment of universities and colleges allow instructors to manage their courses and exchange information with students for a course that in most cases will last several weeks and will meet several times during those weeks. In the corporate setting a course may be much shorter in length, completed in a single instructor-led event or online session.

LMS and CMS compared

The inappropriate use of LMS in the literature is perhaps most commonly associated with computer applications which we would identify as Course Management Systems (CMS). These systems are used primarily for online or blended learning, supporting the placement of course materials online, associating students with courses, tracking student performance, storing student submissions, and mediating communication between the students as well as their instructor. Some of this same functionality can be seen within LMSs as well, so it is understandable why confusion might exist. However, the systemic nature of an LMS does not limit its functionality to that of a CMS.

A CMS “provides an instructor with a set of tools and a framework that allows the relatively easy creation of online course content and the subsequent teaching and management of that course including various interactions with students taking the course” (EDUCAUSE Evolving Technologies Committee, 2003, p. 1). Examples of a CMS include Blackboard, Angel, Sakai, Oncourse, and Moodle. However, Blackboard is a good example of the confusion that exists regarding these terms as it is commonly referred to as an LMS in the literature.

LMS and LCMS compared

The focus of an LMS is to deliver online courses or training to learners, while managing students and keeping track of their progress and performance across all types of training activities. An LMS isn’t used to create course content.

By contrast, a learning content management system (LCMS) is a related software technology that provides a multi-user environment where developers, authors, instructional designers, and subject matter experts may create, store, reuse, manage, and deliver digital e-learning content from a central object repository. LCMS focuses on the development, management and publishing of the content that will typically be delivered via an LMS. Users can both create and re-use e-learning content and reduce duplicated development efforts.

Rather than developing entire courses and adapting them to multiple audiences, an LCMS provides the ability for single course instances to be modified and republished for various audiences maintaining versions and history. The objects stored in the centralized repository can be made available to course developers and content experts throughout an organization for potential reuse and repurpose. This eliminates duplicate development efforts and allows for the rapid assembly of customized content. Some systems have tools to deliver and manage instructor-led synchronous and asynchronous online training based on learning object methodology.

LCMSs provide tools for authoring and reusing or re-purposing content (mutated learning objects, or MLOs) as well as virtual spaces for student interaction (such as discussion forums, live chat rooms and live web-conferences). LCMS technology can either be used in tandem with an LMS, or as a standalone application for learning initiatives that require rapid development and distribution of learning content.

While LMS and LCMS products have different strengths and weaknesses, they generally address the following areas of functionality:

LMS Functionality

Student Registration and Administration
Training Event Management (i.e., scheduling, tracking, and WBT delivery)
Curriculum and Certification Management
Skills and Competencies Management
Reporting
Training Record Management
Courseware Authoring

LCMS Functionality

Template-driven, Collaborative Content Development
Facilitated Content Management (i.e., indexing and reuse)
Publishing
Workflow Integration
Automated Interface with an LM

LMS as the ubiquitous term

Despite this distinction, the term LMS is often used to refer to both an LMS and an LCMS, although the LCMS is actually a complementary solution to an LMS. Either as separate platforms or as a merged product, LMCSs work together with LMSs to develop and deliver course content to students. Due to lack of industry standardization as well as being a young industry, products that combine LCMS and LMS attributes may be referred to as Course Management Systems (CMS), Learning Management Systems (LMS) and LMS/LCMS. Blackboard Inc. currently refers to their Blackboard Learn platform as a LMS (Blackboard Inc., 2013). At this time, LMS represents the ubiquitous term for a product containing attributes of both a LMS and a LCMS, whether for CMS or LMS use.

Best Practices For Selecting a System

The following sections focus on a variety of critical considerations when selecting an LMS/LCMS:

Technical Environment It is important to work with your organization’s technical staff to understand the supporting architecture (e.g., networking, hardware, and software platform), security and privacy requirements, and legacy information systems.

Formal Requirements Consider taking the time to create a formal requirements statement, including a prioritized list of must have and nice to have items. Some leading high-level LMS requirements include the following: • WBT registration, delivery, and tracking (including bookmarking) • WBT and test authoring capability Online testing/certification and accreditation management • Online evaluation • Online collaboration and communication • Interfaces with HR and legacy system • Support mandatory and on the job training • Support for multiple user classes • Support for wait listing • Support for multiple time zones • Support for handheld devices (e.g., Palm, Handspring, and BlackBerry devices) • Skill and competency management • Reporting • Customization • Financial tracking

Some leading high-level LCMS requirements include the following: Template-driven, Collaborative Content Development• Facilitated Content Management (i.e., indexing and reuse)• Publishing• Workflow Integration• Version Control•

Government Regulation Check the security, privacy, and accessibility regulations regarding content and electronic delivery systems within your organization. These systems may be considered a system of records as defined by the Privacy Act, and may require a formal System Security Plan (SSP). Similar to WBT content, an LMS is subject to the accessibility requirements of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 794(d)) and the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) Accessibility Standards (36 CFR Part 1194), informally known as Section 508. For this reason, government entities should ensure that their selected LMS has been thoroughly tested for Section 508 conformance.

Interoperability Standards & Technologies Check to see whether the system supports content interoperability standards such as the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) and the Aviation Industry CBT Committee (AICC). Developed and sponsored by the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) initiative, SCORM is a set of interrelated technical specifications to ensure accessibility, interoperability, durability and reusability of Web-based learning content and systems. Underlying technologies that support interoperability (e.g., XML, SOAP, .NET, and J2EE) should also be preferred. In addition, check additional accessibility or Web standards resident to your organization. Compliance with these standards is critical to enabling organizations to acquire and incorporate content from different sources (e.g., other government agencies and commercial vendors).

Relational Database Systems (RDBMS)' Require compatibility with industry standard relational database management systems (such as Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and IBM DB2), and access to the data stored in the underlying relational tables. This assists with system integration and customization, the preparation of ad-hoc reports, and the ability to perform data analysis. Note: Some commercial vendors consider their database schema proprietary information.

Data Field Customization' Require that the system support a large number of user-defined data fields (e.g., 100 or more). This provides flexibility as the system grows. Some LMS providers (such as Plateau) offer unlimited user-defined fields.

Web-based Administration' Check to see whether the system requires a thick client for administration. Some COTS vendors have not fully transitioned their products to the Web environment. Many leading products no longer require such a client/server module. Instead, these products are administered completely from a standard Web browser (e.g., Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x and Netscape 4.x).

Traditional and Technology-Enabled Support Require that the system provide the means to distribute and manage training content in a variety of modalities (e.g., print-based materials, Web content, performance support, CD-ROM, support materials for classroom training, etc.). Additional Considerations ASP/Host: It is important to note that many products are offered as either an installed or a hosted solution. Although the complexity of a customized and highly-integrated solution leans towards an installed approach, a hosted approach offers a variety of benefits: Dramatically reduces infrastructure and support requirements• Reduces implementation time• Provides immediate scalability, redundancy, and bandwidth options• Shifts considerable amount of security and privacy burden to a third party•

Phased Approach: Depending on the level of internal support, a hosted or outsourced option may help mitigate potential implementation risks. Some phased combination of the two approaches may be possible. Some limited scope pilot initiatives might also help to mitigate implementation risks.

Past Experience: When selecting a product and vendor, check whether they have experience working with the Federal government. Some vendors find it difficult to make the transition to working with the government and may cause significant project impacts.

Technical aspects

Most LMSs are Web-based, built using a variety of development platforms, like Java/J2EE, Microsoft .NET or PHP. They usually employ the use of a database like MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle as back-end. Although most of the systems are commercially developed and have commercial software licenses there are several systems that have an open-source license.

References

^ Ellis, Ryann K. (2009), Field Guide to Learning Management Systems, ASTD Learning Circuits
Parr, J.M. (September 28, 2004). exid=6920&indexparentid=1024 "A Review of the Literature on Computer-Assisted Learning, particularly Integrated Learning Systems, and Outcomes with Respect to Literacy and Numeracy". New Zealand Ministry of Education. Retrieved April 2, 2005. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Check date values in: |year= / |date= mismatch (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ Watson, William R. (2007). "An Argument for Clarity: What are Learning Management Systems, What are They Not, and What Should They Become?" (PDF). TechTrends. 51 (2): 28–34. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
Szabo, Micheal (2002). "CMI Theory and Practice: Historical Roots of Learning Managment Systems". Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2002. Montreal, Canada: In M. Driscoll & T. Reeves (Eds.): pp. 929–936. ISSN 1-880094-46-0. {{cite journal}}: |format= requires |url= (help); |pages= has extra text (help); Check |issn= value (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
Gilhooly, Kym (16). "Making e-learning effective". Computerworld. 35 (29): 52–53. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
^ Kerschenbaum, Steven (04). "LMS Selection Best Practices" (White paper). Adayana Chief Technology Officer. pp. 1–15. Retrieved 13 February 2013. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

Bibliography

Expertus; TrainingOutsourcing (August 30, 2006), Survey 1: Channel Partner Training (PDF), Training Challenges Survey Series, conducted by Expertus and TrainingOutsourcing.com

Levensaler, Leighanne; Laurano, Madeline (2009), Talent Management Systems 2010, Bersin & Associates

External links

Free Software Directory: Education (Free Software Foundation)

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