LMS 101Debbie Richards

Learning Management System (LMS)A learning management system (LMS) is a database system that records all details of any education has taken or will take.

• Software for delivering, tracking, and managing online training

• Range from simple systems for managingtraining records, to software for distributing courses over the Internet and offering features for online collaboration

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LMS Functionality

• Students– Interface to login, access courses, view progress

information– View and register for available courses– Track performance

• Managers/Administrators– Assign courses to students– Generate reports on student progress– Create new courses– Manage e-learning

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LMS Components

Browser Web Servers Databases

Learner

Admin, Manager

Content

Learners

Catalog

Progress

Statistics

• 50% of all training provided in major corporations accomplished through e-learning

• At least 250 LMSs on the market (not including education and open-source LMSs)

• Prices range from $5,000 to $200k+ depending on features and number of people using the tool

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Features

2009 Learning Circuit Survey6

Costs

• Average 1st year cost for an LMS– $25,000 for 500 users– $193,500 for unlimited usage

• Average cost across 3 years– $59,000 for 500 users– $435,000 for unlimited usage

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Seats

• 1 user name, 1 password = 1 seat• If you share seats = tracking• The cost of the LMS does not include

the costs of seats – 99% of the time• Always negotiate

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LICENSED OR HOSTED

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Licensed – Benefits

• You own the software – and likely won’t have to pay re-occurring fees for anything but maintenance and/or upgrades (if you choose to purchase it)

• You control the security – if security is a big issue for you, licensing the software might be better than a hosted solution because you can control access to the LMS (through a corporate firewall, etc.)

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SaaS* – Benefits

• Usually less expensive – Buying the software outright you will likely face a bigger upfront cost

• Don’t have to manage the servers – Let someone else set up servers, deal with security, manage load balancing and firewall

• Updates are usually included in monthly costs – If you own your own server you may or may not be entitled to free upgrades

* Software as a Service12

TECHNOLOGIES

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Requirements

• What is required by the LMS to view content?• Does the LMS work without additional plug-

ins or odd system requirements? • Do your LMS system requirements match the

systems your students will be using?– Do they support Safari browser on a Mac?– Do they support Firefox?– Do they support IE6 and later?

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Flash (SWF)

• SWF, or Shockwave Format, is the default and most common publication option for Flash files

• Popular because Flash SWF files can play in any Flash-enabled browser

• Use the most recent version of Flash unless you are certain that your audience will be using older versions of Flash Player

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IMPLEMENTATION

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Implementation Challenges

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0%

Content integrationCustomization

Employee buy-inIntegration with legacy systems

IT buy-inManagement buy-in

StandardsSystem maintenance and …

System performanceVendor management

Vendor selection

2009 Learning Circuit Survey

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Implementation Time

• Average Implementation times for an LMS range from:– 19.2 calendar days for a simple implementation of

a stock-standard LMS– 47.6 days for a “typical” implementation, as in the

usual experience of LMS vendors– 85.3 days for a complex implementation involving

integration and custom development

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Data Upload

• How does your system upload my employee data? – Do I have to do it myself? – Can you do it, if I send you the file – and if

yes, is there an additional cost?– What types of files does your system

accept when I upload the data? – Do you take .csv files ?– What other formats?

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Employee Data

• What fields do I need to have in order for the data to be uploaded correctly?– First name, last name– Employee ID # or a number you generate,

address?– City, zip code?

• Do you have to have the last name (first)?

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New Employees

• If I have a new employee, how do I add them? – Can I just upload that data record – i.e. via .CSV? – Or do I have to enter it manually?

• If we decide to do just weekly full employee data uploads, will it wipe/replace the original data that exists in the system? – Or will it only add the new information into the

system and keep the other data in existence?

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REPORTS

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Content Reports

• SCORM can provide a wealth of data about what a Learner does in a course, but it’s up to the LMS to keep the data and use it

• At a minimum, you’ll want to know what kind of reports there are, how data is tracked, and what the Learner sees

23http://www.scorm.com/scorm-explained/scorm-resources/what-to-ask-about-scorm-in-an-rfp/

Reporting Needs

• Reporting should drive system configuration, training processes, data storage requirements, and organization of employees and courses

• Example: reporting requirements associated with mandates to hire and train local employees vs. expatriates

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Information

• How often did the student go into the course? i.e. how many times or visits?

• How long (time wise) were they in the course?• What sections or modules or areas or pages did

they visit and how long (time wise)? • What courses did all the students for that

curriculum go into? How long were they in there? How often?

• Who accessed or entered the LMS? How often? (you can identify it by day, multiple days, week, etc.)

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Generate Reports

• On a daily, weekly or monthly or whenever basis, i.e. how many times did student Y go into course A, course E and course G during week Z. OR Who accessed the courses on Tuesday?

• By department or division or curriculum• By people who have completed the courses

and reports of people who have completed the curriculum or learning track.

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STANDARDS

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Alphabet Soup

• AICC = Aviation Industry CBT Committee • IMS = An organization dedicated to

developing specification for distributed learning

• SCORM = Sharable Content Object Reference Model

• SCORM Version 1.2 = AICC + IMS • XML = eXtensible Markup Language

(a superset of HTML)

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Standards – AICC

• AICC standards apply to the development, delivery, and evaluation of training courses that are delivered via technology; i.e., more often than not, through learning management systems

• AICC stands for the Aviation Industry CBT* Committee, an international association of technology-based training professionals that develops training guidelines for the aviation industry

29 * Computer-Based Training

AICC Sections

• Course Server Communication– How are student results stored? – How does the course "player" obtain user

preferences? • Course Structure Definition

– How does the server load and broadcast course content?

– What content is served next?

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SCORM

• Sharable Content Object Reference Model: a set of specifications that, when applied to course content, produces small, reusablee-Learning objects

• A result of the Department of Defense's Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) initiative, SCORM-compliant courseware elements are easily merged with other compliant elements to produce a highly modular repository of training materials

http://www.scorm.com/scorm-explained/31

Adherence to Standards

• Can import and manage content that complies with standards regardless of the authoring system

• Unless the supplier certifies that the content will work on your LMS, plan on extra expenses

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Standards – Questions

• Can they save a score for each page of test questions?

• If so, do they save one score per course, one score per test, or one score per test question?

• If a student re-takes a test, does the first score get stored or overwritten?

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Things to Consider

• Most major content authoring tools support AICC, SCORM 1.2, and SCORM 2004

• If you often use custom-developed content, make sure your content developer can also work with your LMS’s standard of choice

• Both the ADL (who controls the SCORM standard) and the AICC offer certification for LMS vendors. If an LMS claims AICC, SCORM 1.2, and SCORM 2004 support, has it been certified as compliant?

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UPLOADING CONTENT

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Publishing Content

• How many steps does it take to get content to the LMS?– Packaged– Directly

• In what format does the content need to be?– Zipped format

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Testing the Content

• Upload content to the LMS• Set up the content in the LMS

– Course name, access, etc. • Enroll a student • Run reports on tracked content

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Publish to Folder

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Tracking

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Publish to LMS

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MOBILE LEARNING

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Mobile Learning

• With more and more employees on the road and working at a distance, there has been a strong demand to make applications accessible via mobile devices—laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and cell phones

• LMS applications are going mobile, too

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SCORM-conformant courseware tolaunch and track with all the samefunctionality as if online, including:

– Standalone desktop application – Single-user or multi-user

functionality – No Internet, network, or LMS

connectivity required – Courses can be loaded from LMS or CD-ROM – Tracking of course starts, progress, completion,

and test scores

Meridian Anywhere Mobile LMS

43 http://www.meridianksi.com/products/mobile_lms/

Hot Lava

http://www.outstart.com/hot-lava-features-capabilities.htm

• Creates content for surveys, references, quizzes, tests, and job aids that can run on mobile phones, smart phones, podcasting devices, and wireless devices

• Tracks the delivery and usage of mobile content so managers can measure what people learn and know

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WEB 2.0

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Web 2.0

Allows its users to interact with each other as contributors to the website's content

vs.websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of information provided to them

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Web 2.0 and LMS

• Streamlining access to LMS courses and resources tied to ongoing training and certification activities – Tailored to the individual, providing at-a-glance status and

next steps information

• Increasing visibility and ease of access to additional performance support content – Both resources tied to training and certification requirements,

as well as those in support of day-to-day job activities

• Centralizing and streamlining access to disparate resources– Where possible, focusing on enhancing access and

availability, not redundancy of information

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Web 2.0 and LMS

• Incorporating new ways to deliver knowledge and best practices within and across Learner communities

• Employing tools and technologies to aid in content presentation and administration while engaging end-users through personalization of content and updated look and feel

• Expanding inbound contribution of knowledge and best practices by increasing collaborationwithin and across Learner communities

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Wiki

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Defined ExampleType of website in which users, such as students, can easily add, remove, or edit the content

Students working collaboratively on research projects can use wiki spaces as a depot for note taking, or to learn from other student research projects

Teachers can also create a compendium of concepts for the course to use as a study guide

Blog

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Defined ExampleInteractive, online journals Teachers may write a blog

for students with links to Internet sites which aid in learning and/or research tasks

Teachers may have students use blogs as learning reflections, story writing, etc. Viewers can leave comments which aid the writer in his/her writing development

Podcast

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Defined ExampleSeries of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication

Teachers may provide a series of audio recordings to supplement a WBT

Students may contribute audio or video recordings that show specific examples or experiences relating to the topic

User Customization

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SAMPLES

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RUSTICI Software

54 http://www.scorm.com/

SCORM Cloud

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Articulate Online

http://www.articulate.com/products/articulate-online.php56

Rapid Intake ClickCourse

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http://www.rapidintake.com

My Courses

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Administrator

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CornerStone OnDemand

http://www.cornerstoneondemand.com/60

Meridian KSI Knowledge Center

61 http://www.meridianksi.com

Virtual Training Assistant (VTA)Houston-based Vendor

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Virtual Training Assistant (VTA)

63 http://www.risc-inc.com/

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Virtual Training Assistant (VTA)

http://www.risc-inc.com/

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Virtual Training Assistant (VTA)

http://www.risc-inc.com/

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Virtual Training Assistant (VTA)

http://www.risc-inc.com/

Moodle

67 http://moodle.org/

LESSONS LEARNED

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Access

• Internal– Active Directory Authentication setup for LMS

working via LDAP to validate credentials with a Microsoft Exchange Server

• External– Link outside the firewall

• Other– Forget Password Login– Registration process

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Student Data

• How is data going to get into the system to begin with, and on an ongoing basis?

• Will the system cycle its employee data from the organization's HRMS system?

• Will the LMS pick up new associates at regular intervals via an HRMS upload?

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Customer Support

• IT Help Desk– Install software– Check machine configuration

• Support Team– Analyze user logon and course

access problems

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Content

• Custom Courses– Standards– Types (e-learning, PDF, video, audio)

• Off-the-shelf– Costs per user– Maintenance– Support

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Assessments/Surveys

• What types come with the system – At the minimum – M/C, T/F, Matching – Random question capability – Question bank

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Reports

• What reports are needed?• When should reports run?• Who should have access to reports?• How many offered?

– Standards– Ad-hoc

• How do reports work? – Filters, labels, etc.

• Can reports be customized?• How can the reports be exported?

– What format, etc.

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LMS Selection Questions

• How does the system import user ID information (Active Directory, or whatever system your HR team uses)?

• How responsive is the Vendor to your inquiries, troubleshooting, etc.?

• Can Users access the system from home?• Is there a yearly license or a one-time fee; per User or for the

whole system?• How often are upgrades issued? Are they part of the fee?• Does the system track external credits?• What kind of comments have you heard from Learners using the

system?• How intuitive is the system for Learners and Users

(Administrators)?• Does the system allow for email notification to Learners?

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LMS Selection Questions

• Does it integrate with Outlook or with your mail/calendar system?

• Is there space for News, Updates, Info text to be displayed on homepage of system?

• Is it searchable? How so? Might you need to purchase a mini-search engine?

• What kind of reporting does it allow? Can reports be exported, if so, in what kinds of formats? Is it customizable – can you report on anything/everything?

• Is it SCORM/AICC compliant? What version?• How robust is the support documentation for the User and/or

Learner?

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RESOURCES

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Articles

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_management_system• http://www.lms-selection.com/en2/?page_id=4• http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2007/10/lms-team-size-and-

time-wow-23-months.html• http://masieweb.com/Surveys/learning-systems-survey-

results.htm• http://brandon-hall.com/richardnantel/2009/06/01/price-ranges-

for-learning-management-systems-in-2009/• http://www.astd.org/LC/2009/0509_LMS2009.htm• http://theelearningcoach.com/business/learning-management-

systems-expert-advice/• http://www.trainingforce.com/content/choosing_a_lms.aspx• http://velocitymg.com/explorations/the-business-of-learning/a-

learning-portal-is-not-an-lms/78

Creative Interactive Ideas

Debbie Richards6164 Richmond, Suite 210, Houston, TX 77057Office: (713) 523-0888 Mobile: (713) 419-1198

Email: debbie@cre8iveii.comWebsite: http://www.cre8iveii.com/Blog: http://cre8iveii.blogspot.com/Tweets: http://twitter.com/cre8iveii

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