January 19, 2023
~ 2 min reading
What is an LMS (Learning Management System) learning platform?
LMS are tools that allow you to manage learning for a group of people.
Learning Management Systems (LMS) is a tool that gives you the ability to manage, deliver, track and evaluate learning. LMSs make it easy to manage courses, track the progress of participants, generate reports and automate dialog between participant and course organizer. In addition to managing courses, many LMSs can also handle course billing, which can make managing e-learning even easier.
The learning content in an LMS
New ways of delivering learning are constantly emerging. These are the most common ones now.
- Physical course
- Live broadcast through a streaming service
- E-learning
- Video content
- Podcast content
- E-books
Administration of courses in LMS
One of the most important functions of an LMS is to provide the ability to manage courses in a simple and efficient way. This means being able to add and edit course information and manage access to courses.
See the course administrator workflow in the LMS system AO
Easy login in the LMS
For larger companies, access to the LMS is often provided through a common login called Single Sign-On (SSO) integration. SSO makes it easier for users to log in to several different systems using a single login. This makes it easier for the participant to access the courses, as they don't have to remember several different usernames and passwords.
User groups in the LMS
LMS has several types of users, here are the most common ones:
- Participant
The person who will participate in a competence activity. The participant should see the courses that are relevant to this person's area of expertise and interest. The person will have access to their page with contact information, current courses, completed courses, invoices and privacy statements. - Course administrator
This is usually an employee of the course organizer who publishes descriptions, photos and videos about the course or event. This person will also manage participants, send messages and reminders and check that invoicing and payments are in order. - Course provider
Lecturer can see their own participation in the event and list of participants.
Invoicing in LMS
An important function of LMSs is to handle invoicing of courses. This makes it easier to manage your e-learning finances as you don't have to handle billing manually. Many LMSs allow you to set up different prices for different courses or subscription plans, and you can also set up automatic invoices and continuous billing.
Read about invoicing in the LMS system AO - e-commerce for courses
What is e-learning in the context of LMS?
For e-learning, an integration with an authoring tool is made. E-learning courses are produced in an authoring tool that either exports a SCORM package or can be easily integrated with the LMS. Communication between the LMS and the authoring tool usually follows the SCORM and xAPI standards. SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) is a standard that allows you to integrate e-learning with your LMS, while xAPI (Experience API) allows you to track and analyze data about learners' activities in your e-learning.
LMS in practice
An example of an LMS in practice is the AO learning platform. This is a system that puts the participant first. It should be easy to sign up for events, previous participation should be easily accessible and privacy should be taken seriously.
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