Why a LMS does not work for schools
An LMS should be more than a plaything for the management or HR department. And so you will wonder why we wrote an article with this title. The answer is simple: we have written this article to give you as a company, organization, or school a better picture of what a Learning Management System can and cannot do for you.
Dozens, if not hundreds, of articles, have been written in recent years in which two things came to the fore. Firstly, many organizations (and we include companies and schools here) find the LMS they are currently working with is not satisfactory. A shocking amount of research shows that organizations want to switch Learning Management systems simply because their Learning Management System does not meet expectations. This in itself is very strange because what is the answer to the question: "What made organizations decide to use a Learning Management System in the first place?"
Introducing an LMS in school or company for the wrong reasons
We at Educatioo think that the whole idea of implementing an LMS is based on unrealistic ideas of what a Learning Management System can do for an organization. A Learning Management System is actually a term in the wrong order. A better name would be a Management System for Learning. Because this is what an LMS actually does, the system, the software - the program, help manage the learning of staff, employees, or students within an organization.
Of course, one LMS is not the other. Some Learning Management Systems are very comprehensive. However, the core is managing learning within an organization.
This article wants to explain what an LMS can and cannot do within an organization. Our goal is to show which system suits your organization, how the right choice of an LMS can help your organization move forward. Do we think you should switch to another LMS? Probably. But only if you really understand what a new LMS can mean for your organization.
"Employees learn to do their job well" sounds simple, right?
In most small organizations, you see that employees learn and train something "on the job." One learns by doing. When the organization grows, this becomes more and more difficult. This is a growing problem, especially in times when it is no longer possible to make mistakes. Compliance training to ensure that everyone understands the laws and regulations and acts accordingly in the organization's interest. Then there are product and procedure training courses that are specific to the organization. If the organization grows even further, the various departments such as sales - marketing - finance, r & d, and much more may need differentiated training. This is often the moment when it is decided to introduce a Learning Management System.
6 valid reasons to implement an LMS and why it doesn't work anyway
1. There is no central place to keep track of who has received which training within the organization. There is also no central place where all training courses are housed. There is often a "manual" within an organization, a training manual for the various departments. Keeping track of the data is becoming increasingly complex. An LMS offers a solution here. You have the option to store all training, all data of who has followed which training, the results of training, etc., in one place.
2. Are training courses successfully completed at all, or are they just checked off? Does your employee become more effective in the workplace, or does training have little or no influence on your employee's performance? Do your employees feel that they are moving forward, better equipped to do their jobs? Do you notice that the company is performing better as a whole? These are all answers that you can find in a Learning Management System.
3. As an organization, as an employer, you see the costs of hiring instructors and trainers soaring. Every time an employee is recruited to perform a specific task within the company, you will see the same instructor walk in again. When you have made the right choice for an LMS, these kinds of things can be seen very quickly. Clustering can be done, for example, to control costs.
4. When employees go "on training," it often takes productive hours. With a correct LMS, you can see which employees still have to go "on a course." This may show that it is advantageous to opt for an "in-company training" appropriately rather than having each employee train separately outside the company. A well-chosen Learning Management System could show that E-learning might be a much better solution.
5. A correctly selected Learning Management System allows you to scale up immediately with the organization's rapid growth. It is evident in one overview who has already followed or needs to track which training. Because all data is stored in one central place, switching quickly is very easy. A correctly selected LMS also offers the option to save all workouts.
6. As an employer, as an organization, you also want to measure the return of the training courses offered. It is not easy to calculate an ROI (Return On Investment) without data. In time, the effectiveness of training can be made visible by filtering the chosen LMS data. Correct and complete use of the system is then necessary.