To choose a Learning Management System (LMS) adapted to your organization, it is essential to define your educational goals, assess the needs of your employees and consider criteria such as ease of use, the functionalities offered, the integration with your existing systems and the technical support provided.
Traditional e-learning often involves an LMS platform. All platforms LMS are different. Some may perfectly meet the needs of some companies, but may just as well be unsuitable for others. It is therefore a good idea to know the criteria for choosing the ideal LMS platform. Here are some relevant questions to ask yourself to choose the best option.
Learn about online training needs
Many points need to be clarified with regard to the needs for online training in the immediate future, but also in the future. However, before we get into it, it's best to figure out what works and what doesn't. For that, Don't hesitate to reach out to online instructors, management, employees, and any other staff. You should also not leave the IT department alone, especially if it will be in charge of implementing the LMS platform in your infrastructure.
The questions you need to ask yourself about current LMS platforms include:
- What courses have been recognized Effective and which ones are not?
- why one training plan is it effective?
- What is The objective of the company and what training will be the most suitable to bring him there?
- What are the conditions necessary for the integration of the new LMS platform?
- Are there any likely points To eliminate a type of platform?
It is important to structure them in order to obtain more relevant answers. As much as possible, long answers that are too difficult to interpret should be avoided. Try to find out if there are better solutions or ways to improve the solution put in place.
The content of the training
It is important to determine the level of complexity of the content of your online training as well as the format by which it will be delivered. Do you prefer PowerPoint presentations? Excel spreadsheets? Or even Flash and PDF files? You may need audio files, videos, slides, or a clever combination of all of these. Before making your final decision, we recommend that you gather the visions and ideas of your training department.
By successfully bringing these two groups together, you will get a better understanding and a better vision of the type of content that will meet the needs of your company. The majority of LMSs can integrate several types of formats. However, it is necessary to ask the LMS provider beforehand on this point. Finally, don't forget that each collaborator has his own educational preferences. So feel free to include a variety of content to include each member of the team.
The essential features and characteristics to choose your LMS
There is a large number of software programs and each has different functionalities. There are also Cloud LMS, the pros and cons should be taken into account when making your decision. Once you have successfully identified your educational needs as indicated above, you will be able to: eliminate tools that don't suit your goals. Make sure you have realistic conditions: lThe price of LMS increases with its extensions or its characteristics, and you will obviously need a good return on investment. Even if you opt for a free open source LMS, you might need programming courses in order to use it effectively, to learn about e-learning standards.
Then analyze the ease of use of the LMS platform you have chosen. Is the platform difficult to use? Or is it the other way around? What will be the benefits that your learning employees will get from it? Does your choice of LMS improve the online training experience for your employees? Finally, ensure that the monitoring and analytical reporting functions match your needs.
Know the limitations of end users and the IT department
Are there limits to the questions asked by IT staff? Knowing where the boundaries are can help eliminate potential LMS providers from your list. Will IT staff require special training in order to properly maintain the new LMS platform once implemented? Or will the provider take care of this service at an additional cost? End users may also find the platform difficult to navigate. Can we succeed in finding paths that are easier to take? The supplier may be able to provide you with system training, but is it really necessary? Can this training be provided only to the training department so that it can later be able to teach the rest of the employees? Or is the platform really too difficult to understand and would require all users to undergo training? If users are in different geographic areas, will they know how to use the chosen LMS?
How do you assess your LMS provider?
There are lots of ways to assess your LMS vendor list.
- The best way is to try and get a free trial Or a demonstration.
- If you get a demo, ask the various users to try the LMS platform. Write a form that you will ask them to fill out.
- Once the demonstration is done, read the comments found on customer service in order to see the reviews.
- Then go to the chosen LMS platform in order to read the comments.
- Note the positive and negative points. Were the negatives very bad? Has there been any feedback regarding customer service issues?
- Finally, Don't forget to look into product updates. What costs are they going to incur? Is it really useful to update the product? Will the help desk still be available even if you don't update?
Before validating your purchase of an LMS, be sure you know the reasons why you need it. Your goals must be clear in order to facilitate your choice of LMS and find the one that will be able to help you achieve the desired results. In addition, it is important to take into account the needs of each of your employees as well as those of the teams in charge of training and development. Everyone must be able to use the LMS platform in order to use and deploy online training content. Gather all the feedback that you will have collected in order to choose the LMS platform that will best suit everyone.
