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You should be aware of what the best features should be in a tool you choose for your site. The same applies to any LMS. Its features are what make it a popular learning management system.
We have compiled a list of 15 must-have features for learning management systems to help you make the decision about the best LMS. Let's first briefly discuss LMS and its importance.
What is a Learning Management System and Why Does It Matter?
Learning Management System (also known as LMS) is software that allows you to create an online learning platform via the internet. It is used most often by educational institutions and businesses to offer mobile learning and education courses.
LMS systems allow you to offer educational material at minimal or zero cost, distribute audio and video content globally and take online assessments via quizzes. Many institutions, organizations, and academia adopted LMS systems to provide an online learning platform after the pandemic. LMS became a fad as a result.
Even more exciting is the fact that you can also make a living selling online learning materials via LMS. LMS isn't just for academic institutions. It's also useful for professionals with expertise in a particular niche who want to make a living teaching online.
For instance, if you are a skilled photographer, you could create an online course website and sell your courses online.
The benefits of an LMS
A learning management system offers many advantages over traditional learning methods.
1. A LMS can save you time
E-learning can save up to 45% on your organization's time compared to traditional classroom learning. This is due to the fact that your employees can complete their employee training at their own pace and at different times.
You can then factor in how long it takes your staff to get to your HQ, training center, or classroom. If you apply this to your entire workforce, even a 40-minute round trip can add up to a significant amount of time away from your regular duties.
2. A LMS can help you save money
While some colleagues may view an LMS's price as high-priced and a large expense, it can actually help them save money. Let's go back to the journey to the classroom. This will include travel expenses, train tickets, and salaries while your learners travel between A and B.
They'll then need to sign in, find a classroom and grab a cup of coffee. After that, they will have to settle down, listen to an introduction, and possibly take a little longer before actually learning.
This can lead to a loss of work hours. This is far more expensive than opening a phone or laptop at a time that works for each learner.
3. LMSs allow your learners to prioritize their work
Your learners may find online training frustrating. You can't know if they will be available on the deadline for a crucial project or if your most valuable customer needs to speak to them immediately once they are enrolled in a course.
Your learners will be able to incorporate learning plans into their day with an LMS rather than having to do everything at once.
4. LMSs offer better engagement and retention
LMSs allow you to integrate interactive elements such as scenarios, quizzes, and situations into your training. A lively learning environment can also be created through the use of messaging, gaming, and forums.
This combination, along with an intuitive UX design makes training more engaging and efficient for your learners.
5. A LMS is flexible and consistent.
An LMS will give you the ability to offer the same training to learners from Los Angeles, Lisbon, London, and anywhere else. No matter where they live or what their language is, all your learners will have the same user experience.
You set the tone, culture, and nature of the learning. Nobody can do it for you or the learner.
6. An LMS gives you valuable data
It's easy to see the rate of an LMS in terms of a large expense. What about the value it will bring to your company? You need a plan of action in case employee X is fired. Your LMS can help you plan your succession by showing who has the skills, competencies, and ability to take over their place. Your LMS will pay off if you choose the right person for the job over someone else.
It will be easy to determine which trainers have fully committed to the platform as well as their professional development. It will allow you to quickly check compliance learning statistics. This will allow you to identify employees who are having difficulty with a particular training piece in the learning pool and help you intervene before it becomes a costly error.
7. A LMS helps reduce staff turnover
An LMS costs money, but recruitment costs are another. It is costly to replace staff members repeatedly. All of the above, including consistent, flexible training, learning that is integrated with regular work, interactive, engaging training, targeted interventions to help staff, and better succession planning, are likely to improve employee satisfaction and retention.
Let's now look at the list of features that one should implement during custom learning management system development.
15 Essential Learning Management System Features You Must Have
1. An easy and user-friendly interface for beginners
The user interface is the most core feature to consider when you are looking into new technology and tools. The user interface is crucial for LMS site creators as you will be creating, editing, adding, and removing courses from the same site.
You will need a development partner to assist you with the majority of tasks if the elearning management system you choose doesn't make it easy and user-friendly. An LMS user interface that is simple and intuitive for beginners is essential to simplify admin work and make it more adaptable.
2. You can customize
LMS should also be customizable, so you can change the logo or create a custom certificate. This means you can design each page according to your requirements.
An LMS, when customizable, can also allow you to create endless layouts for your website. This basic feature is useful for both novice and expert users, as you can modify the widgets to your website's CSS code.
An LMS that is configurable allows you to modify the content on your LMS site.
3. Interactive Learning Platform for Learners
Interactive learning management systems will help you make your learners more engaged and to enjoy your lessons. Interactive LMSs support custom content such as pictures, animation, video lessons, quizzes, and social sharing.
The old saying, "A picture speaks more than words" is true. This means that learners are able to see and understand the concepts better. The interactive digital learning experience also encourages learners to return to your site often to take more courses.
4. Multi-content Support
Online learning platforms are not static. They offer a variety of webinars and video conferences, as well as infographics, quizzes, etc. Multi-content LMSs will make your site stand out from hundreds of others.
Multi-content support can be used in any course to provide an engaging learning experience for learners. You can add a variety of personal content to your learning programs, such as audio, videos, and podcasts.
5. Assessment and evaluation tools
LMSs are useless if they don't provide assessment and evaluation tools such as quizzes, exams, assignments, and so on. These tools are essential to ensure that students leave the course with some knowledge. Mobile learning is not possible to supervise learners. Assessment and evaluation tools are essential for a high-quality LMS site.
These tools can also be used to provide information about your course. You can also create certificates to encourage learners to take part and succeed.
You can determine if the course was difficult, easy, or required modification based on the learners' grades. Based on the learning outcomes of the previous course, you can set the criteria for learners joining the new course.
6. Support for E-commerce
It is possible that you are creating an LMS site in order to make money. In both cases, it is important to choose an LMS that allows e-commerce. LMS which supports e-commerce makes it easy to conduct transactions.
Even if you don't intend to make money selling online courses, it is possible to change your mind later. And if your LMS does not support eCommerce, you could get in trouble. You will be faced with a choice: switch to a different LMS, or continue to use the one you have without making any money.
7. Automation
Many tasks can be automated and made easier by technology. Why not integrate an LMS with artificial intelligence and automation features? LMSs can have automation features that will help you reduce half your tasks. If the LMS has automation for different tasks, it can help you create a well-organized platform.
It can also be used to enroll learners, remind them of deadlines and create certificates upon completion. Automation is one of the core features of learning management systems that you should be looking for.
8. Surveys
You want to get user reviews when you make an LMS site that provides knowledge or skills to them. A survey tool is a great way to do this.
The LMS which has a survey function can be used to collect feedback about the course, materials, and instructors. The survey report can be further broken down to identify the answers and analyze the feedback of learners.
9. Personalized Learning
Personalized learning refers to the ability to provide or recommend content according to the individual's interests. Learning management systems that offer personalized learning can make it easier for learners to get the information they need. This feature allows one to be more focused, and on track and can help them improve the skill they are interested in.
LMS should be able, based on assessment data, to suggest another path for learners. In the absence of personalized learning, learners may become overwhelmed with content management and not return to your site.
10. Data Analytics and Reporting
Data analytics and reporting are two of the most important features of an LMS because data can be all that is needed to discover the information. An LMS that is well-designed should display the data of learners, including their progress reports, marks, completed courses, and any other information related to them and the course.
It helps admins improve their ability to give qualitative knowledge. The reporting feature gives insight into the needs of learners. The report can be used to determine which section of your site is most popular, which page has the lowest views, and if the course has been taken by your target audience.
11. Integration with other platforms
An LMS must be able to seamlessly integrate with other platforms. As an administrator, you may use different CRM tools, webinar tools, or automation tools to perform your daily tasks. Administrators can add additional features and functionality to the website that is not yet available in the LMS.
This integration is also beneficial if you are selling online courses and want to make money. You can integrate different payment gateways. An LMS should have all the required technological advancements, including data and speed optimization tools.
12. Gamification tools
Gamification tools are a way to make the course more interesting. Gamification adds a lot of spice to learning. For example, points, badges, and leaderboards can be used to motivate learners to take the course seriously and finish it on time. Game-based learning can also be a motivator for learners.
Let's say you make a leaderboard for each week to help people complete a portion of the course. This type of learning process creates healthy competition among learners and gets them excited about the course every week.
Before you create an online course, make sure to check out the gamification features in the learning management system.
13. Social Learning
An LMS should have social learning features that allow learners to interact with instructors and other learners about the subject matter. These interactions and knowledge sharing can be saved on the same LMS to allow for future reference.
An LMS should allow learners to share their views, confusion, and knowledge from the online course. An LMS with a social sharing function can allow learners to easily interact with their instructors and each other by creating chat rooms, discussion forums, and online communities.
This can influence active knowledge sharing through guidance and support. An LMS that supports social learning as one of its core features creates a collaborative environment in which people can learn from each other's experiences.
14. Security
Data privacy is a big concern in this age of the internet. Security has always been a top priority for all websites, even LMS sites. As an administrator, you are responsible for the security and safety of your learners. Choosing an LMS that prioritizes security is the best solution.
Always ensure that your LMS meets industry standards and follows the latest safety protocols. Third-party certifications can be used to identify the software as secure. These include General Data Protection Regulation compliance, Service Organization Control 2 (SOC 2) certification, or ISO 27001.
15. Responsive Design
The increasing use of smart devices such as smartphones, tablets, desktops, and laptops means that your LMS site's audience might be able to access your content from a variety of devices. A responsive design is essential to ensure that your content is accessible on multiple devices.
While responsive design is a great learning tool, it can also make the site more difficult for some learners. Your learners should have access to a responsive LMS site that can be used from any device, no matter if they are on the couch with their smartphone or on the bus with their tablet.
How to Choose the Best Learning Management System?
Perhaps you are wondering how to decide whether an LMS should be implemented in your company. These are the questions to ask yourself when deciding if an LMS is right for your company:
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What corporate training requirements do you have for your company?
Do a thorough assessment of the training metrics in your company. What are you doing now? Where do you want to go? What has worked? What hasn't worked? To get a clear idea of where you want it to go, employees should now be consulted.
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What are you looking for in an LMS?
Once you have decided what your company needs, you can now determine what LMS you require. Consider the key features to help you decide where you want to go.
It is also important to determine what scope of features you do not need in an LMS. This will allow you to reduce your search for vendors.
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Which options are best suited to your company's budget?
Although you may want to select a high-quality LMS, it is important to keep your training costs within your budget. After you have established your budget, create a list of LMS options that fit within it.
The decision to use an LMS is up to you and your company. Taking the time to explore different options and then implementing the system that suits your business needs will be well worth it!
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Wrap it up!
We hope you are now more informed about the LMS must-have features. You won't have to change the LMS to include the advanced features you want if you choose one that has all the above.
Other than the learning management system features mentioned above, other features and development costs will depend on what type of learning platform you are creating.
CIS is one of the best software development companies which offers custom LMS development services across the globe. We have a dedicated team of LMS developers who offer a great learning management system that will help you land safely. It includes all the essential features an LMS should have. It's worth a shot.
If you want to build your own LMS software, connect with our LPM development team.
