Over the past two years and counting the covid-19 pandemic has been a great threat to humanity as a whole and especially the way people around the world indulge in livelihood. Activities that were once participated in only in real life have now been made digital against all odds. Classroom teaching is also one of them with courses for academic as well as vocational training having shifted to online platforms. The most impressive part is that it is not just pre-existing educational institutions that have set up shop online but also several new organizations that have allowed teachers to express their creativity and talent in a variety of fields with the advent of this new age in education.
What is an LMS:
For many educational organizations that have taken the activity online, using an LMS is the first step in the action plan. However, the efficiency of using an LMS depends upon how familiar the person who is receiving education through the site or in other words their clientele is. This is why before understanding how an LMS can be a useful mechanism for those looking to teach online it is required to realize what it means.
LMS is an abbreviation that stands for learning management system. LMS is a software application that has been in use not only for educational organizations but for all such businesses and third-party applications which provide learning as a part of their active services. The major reason why organizations can opt for LMS rather than live learning is that it provides greater accessibility for those who are unable to adjust their schedules and are missing out on educational opportunities.
Why choose an LMS:
Apart from the above which deals with why an LMS is a viable opportunity from the perspective of the consumer here are 3 reasons as to why an organization as a provider can opt for a learning management system.
- Better course management and streamlining.
Using an LMS allows several different users who have their own combination of e-Learning activities and courses to navigate the platform at the same time without any hassle of going through material that is not related to their course. In other words, it can create simple streamlining between different training environments and provide a better experience for both users and the organization.
- Helps take an educational website into an eCommerce platform.
Using LMS portals, an organization that is currently providing several training programs and e-Learning courses as part of an educational interface can further monetize its services and create an attractive eCommerce platform without having to invest much on a separate business model.
- Cuts cost without reducing quality.
A major concern for most businesses is to make the most out of limited funding. As for educational institutions providing a variety of courses for different career choices can be quite a demanding task in itself but trying to do it within a budget constraint is yet another struggle. However, by using LMS portals costs can be reduced by quite a lot, as the need for live learning and in-person instruction as well is brought down. Moreover, changes to the interface can be brought about much more easily than by having to make a huge difference to the entire business model.
How to choose an LMS:
For most universities schools and other educational institutions, there is a range of learning management systems available based upon the specific areas of preference. The first choice depends on whether the organization will undertake a self-hosted or cloud-based LMS. The difference lies mainly between whether the LMS has been created using a self-owned server or a third-party vendor. This is an integral difference as it may bring in or take away autonomy over the learning management system and change how the material is uploaded to the server. The second area of differentiation lies in the particular model upon which the LMS has been constructed. It can either be open-source or service as a system-based. For those technologically unaware the difference may not be much rather than one being quite a bit more expensive than the other.
Whatever the type of LMS you decide upon at the end of the day they all work well for those who have the passion and the determination to teach online.