What is an LMS? What are the Best Options for You?

LMS, which stands for Learning Management System market, is a software application or a web-hosted platform that is used to plan, create, and manage learning programs for learners. It is designed to provide a smoother experience in assessing and managing individual goals, keeping track of progress toward the goal, and collecting data for supervision purposes.

The learning management system market has gone through major developments during the last couple of years, primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic staggering the physical education and training institutes. The demand for smart and interactive learning courses has spiked due to the growing prevalence of training and learning new skills.

These systems are not only utilized by educational institutes but are used by companies and organizations too, for training their employees.

Some examples of types of companies and organizations that utilize LMS for training and learning include:

• Businesses from large multinational scale to small and medium regional companies.
• Businesses from different sectors like healthcare, informatics, and technology.
• Online training and self-learning platforms implement LMS so that the trainer and the trainee can track their progress.
• Government organizations, agencies, and local bodies.
• Traditional educational institutes like colleges and universities.

What Does a Learning Management System market do?

The main purpose of an LMS is to deliver an enhanced learning process with interactive activities.

Typically, it provides simple functions to the instructor to create and deliver content while also offering advanced functions to handle course administration, track and report progress, and analyze the skill gap.

It consists of two main parts: the admin interface and the user interface.

The admin interface is where the administrator, manager, and teacher create content, manage and deliver content, add new users, and track and analyze the reports.

The user interface is what the users see in their browser or application. There the learner can access their course and discussion boards while tracking their progress in the course.

Integrating an LMS for Learning and Training can significantly enhance the results. The transition from traditional methods can be challenging, but with the right tech, the transition can be made smoother. This transition is most likely to improve the training process, giving worthful outcomes.

Benefits of Using LMS for Training:

Saves Training Expenses

Organizing events every now and then for training employees can be time-consuming and can also disrupt the workflow for the time being. Implementing LMS can be a great cost-effective alternative as it can be used for all training purposes in just one investment.

Increased Engagement with Interactive Content

The learning management system market allows the instructor to add quizzes, achievements, and competitions to raise interactivity. Meetings and training sessions for every topic might not be the most exciting and engaging way to interact.

Access Content on the Go

Training sessions for employees are usually organized during work hours, which can disrupt productivity, and traditional classes for learning are often not interesting. With LMS, the employees and students can access the content at their preferred time and anywhere they want.

Now that we know how accessible the courses in the learning management system market are, let us take a look at the types of LMS in the market.

The Different Types in the Learning Management System Market are:

• Cloud-Based LMS is provided to you by a third-party developer that usually comes with a subscription model. A third party maintains the system, and technical updates are done frequently. Online users can access the content through the platform using their account login credentials.
• Self-Hosted LMS is a web application that must be downloaded on your device. It is usually sold as a licensed product. These systems are more secure as the management is done by you on your own server.

It is a little bit more expensive than cloud-based LMS, as you may need a proper team to manage the system, and you must renew your license when upgrading the software version.

• Desktop and Mobile Applications are installed either on the user’s desktop or mobile and can be accessed on multiple devices.

Mobile applications are the fastest growing type in the learning management system market. This trend can be attributed to the increasing technological developments around the world.

Some of the Best Learning Management System Market are as follows:

• Canvas LMS- It is one of the leading LMS(s) in the market and has also been adopted by top universities like Cornell University and Stanford University.
• Blackboard Learn- This was the most popular LMS before Canvas took the spot. Blackboard has been in the field for more than 20 years.
• iSpring Learn- Its modern and minimalist looks make it great for business purposes.
• Google Classroom is one of the most utilized LMS in small-sized schools. It is free to use and one of the easiest systems to use.
• OpenEdX is developed by edX, one of the biggest online learning platforms, co-founded by Harvard and MIT in 2012. Companies like McKinsey & Co and Microsoft adopt it as the platform is reliable and safe. It is also capable of using AR and VR technologies.

There are many more options available, and you can expect many new and advanced platforms to be launched in the future.