Learning Management Systems: Anticipation vs. Reality

Viren Kapadia Jul 17, 2019
Learning Management Systems: Anticipation vs. Reality

A learning management system is one of the most talked about topics in the global business world. Be it a large scale organization or a small scale one, an LMS is known to commit endless benefits or rewards to the business owner. But, is it really so? Scroll down and find out. This blog highlights a variety of aspects that an LMS buyer anticipates and what is the actual reality behind the same.

  1. LMS will help improve the effectiveness of my training

    Often LMS buyers anticipate that simply implementing an LMS in their organization will help in improving the effectiveness of their training program. More specifically, however, the LMS helps achieve better retention of customers and create a positive impact on training and higher engagement, provided the learning content you create is high in quality.

    The organization must know what data is to be generated, how to decipher it, what the purpose behind it is and how to respond to it. Once you understand this, it is easier for you to use the learning management system strategically and eventually improve training effectiveness.

  2. Gamification in LMS is all that you need

    Most of the advertisements and online information regarding LMS speak boldly of gamification, which leads the buyer to believe that gamification is the biggest factor to encourage the employees to actively participate in the training program. Undoubtedly, gamification is a unique way to engage learners. But, it certainly should not be the core feature of the learning system.

    Gamification is essential only to evoke interest in the learners and promote a fun learning environment. The best results are generated when gamification is blended with quality training content and effective training delivery.

  3. LMS improves retention rates

    42% of employees report that opportunities for training, learning, and development are a major reason they prefer to choose one employer over another. Hence, most LMS buyers believe that if they adopt an LMS to train their employees, they will experience a boost in their retention rates.

    The reality of this is that an LMS only serves as ancillary support for an organization to help improve its employee retention rate. Learning management systems give your employees control over what, how and when they learn. However, it is the responsibility of the employer to create quality training content, get that into the system, organize it in a manner which is easy-to-understand and easy-to-use, and update the training content when there are changes in technology or industry trends. So, it is the organization that must make proper use of the LMS to achieve employee satisfaction.

  4. Adding detailed content to my LMS will boost training effectiveness

    LMS gives organizations the huge benefit of offering robust and detailed content on any subject matter. But this should not be mistaken with training effectiveness. If you see the real picture, you will realize that although you have the option to add a huge amount of content to the learning management system, this is not an ideal strategy to enrich the results of training.

    Learners sometimes have a very short attention span, and information overload can result in poor knowledge retention. This is why organizations are recommended to adopt a microlearning strategy, which divides an entire training course into short sessions or phases. The positive result of this will be reflected in the employees’ performance.

Conclusion

A learning management system is a powerful platform that needs to be dealt with properly in order to deliver the desired results. The time you invest in customizing it as per your needs will come back to your organization with great rewards.