Key Features Every Learning Management System (LMS) Should Have
Are you looking for a reliable software solution for your educational institution and want to ensure you get the right tool for the job? Or you want to find a platform that will sit at the heart of your entire learning ecosystem, engage your learners, and accelerate business growth? In such cases, a Learning Management System or LMS with robust features is all you need. An LMS helps you streamline the delivery of training by minimizing the time spent on manual day-to-day tasks.
The pieces that truly make up a great LMS are its features. Features are the key aspects of any LMS that define its useability and effectiveness. So in this blog, we will take a deep dive into the key features every LMS should have.
What is an LMS?
A Learning Management System or LMS is a software application that is used by educational institutions to manage, track, report, and deliver their training and development programs. Learning Management Systems can be used in a variety of ways, such as customer education, employee training, onboarding, extended enterprise training, and more.
Learning management systems are closely linked to the concept of e-learning, emerging in the late 90s to facilitate learning through computers and the Internet. LMS doesn’t just serve e-learning content to learners, they also come with powerful metrics to help identify skill gaps and optimize training courses.
8 Key Features for Learning Management Systems
For businesses these days, there are hundreds of LMS to choose from, each offering different features and capabilities. With so many options available in the market, choosing an LMS with the right features for your specific business needs can be a challenging and exhausting task.
To help you choose the best one, we have compiled a list of the 8 key features that are most required by organizations today and an LMS must have.
Course Management
Managing courses is an essential feature that helps to organize training materials to create a smooth learning experience for learners.
When selecting a new LMS platform, look for one that supports various content types (videos, Images, audio, presentations, etc.), offers unlimited storage, complies with SCORM standards, and allows certificate customization. Features like drag-and-drop tools can make course management faster, especially when handling multiple courses.
Course Creation
Almost all LMS must include a basic course creation tool for creating courses by adding text and links and uploading videos, images, and quizzes. However, if you need an LMS that allows you to build a professional course or create all course elements easily in one place, you’ll also need a course authoring tool. By having an LMS and an authoring tool from the same provider, you can avoid several compatibility issues along with saving lots of time and money.
Integrations
Your LMS should help automate training and reduce the amount of time-consuming admin tasks.
By having a solution that integrates with the software you’re already using (like an HR system, CRM, or webinar tool), you can automate actions such as user creation and access, data synchronization, student enrolments, and more.
For example, With a Single Sign-On (SSO), your learners only have to sign in to one system (like Google Suite) and they’re securely logged into your LMS as well.
Automation
LMS automation removes repetitive administration tasks, allowing you to spend less time managing your training programs. Many LMS can automate adding and removing users by integrating with your CRM or HR systems. You can even set up auto-enrolments based on criteria that assign your learners to the right courses or learning paths.
All in all, LMS automation is a key feature to remove the hassle of managing repetitive admin tasks and focus more on what’s important.
E-Commerce
If you are selling training courses, development programs, or online classes on the LMS, your system needs to support e-commerce. Using a Learning Management System with e-commerce, you can sell courses directly on the platform or with an existing e-commerce provider like Shopify. An LMS with e-commerce also helps you to connect with payment gateways such as Stripe and PayPal to accept payments and create reports on revenue generated from selling courses on your LMS.
Certificates and Accreditation
An important feature of every LMS is maintaining certifications. Learning Management Systems help you create personalized certificates and deliver them to your audience. Using a Learning Management System, you can customize certificates to include issue and expiration dates, company logos and signatures, the student’s name who earned the certificate, and much more. You can also design certificates via existing templates or use built-in templates to get started.
Gamification Elements
Gamification of LMS involves adding fun to the learning experience through game-like elements such as leaderboards, daily challenges, points, badges, and others. These features encourage learners to return to their courses regularly and motivate them to keep learning and growing. Gamification is an important LMS feature to make training and learning more enjoyable. Also, gamification improves learning performance and user engagement.
B2B Portals
If you want to offer training to multiple organizations with a single Learning Management System, your LMS must have a feature called portals. This feature is also referred to as groups, instances, or branches by different LMS providers. This feature is important because it lets you separate training instances for various groups of users. Another great benefit of having an LMS with portals is that you can offer training to multiple clients simultaneously.
Benefits of Using a Feature-Rich LMS
A feature-rich Learning Management System can bring multiple benefits to educational organizations and learners. Here are some of the most significant benefits that LMS offers:
Improved Learning Experience: LMS improves learning experiences by providing personalized learning paths, engaging content, and real-time collaboration tools for learners
Efficiency in Administration: LMS increases efficiency in administration by saving time with features like centralized content management, automated reporting, and integration with other tools.
Flexibility: LMS offers flexibility to learners to access their training courses and development programs anytime, anywhere. LMS allows you to offer training programs with the flexibility of both self-paced and instructor-led training.
Workload Reduction: LMS platforms dramatically reduce the workload for organizations by automating time-consuming tasks, such as enrolling new learners in programs or sending reminders.
Analytics and Reporting: One of the prominent benefits of LMS comes from its ability to create detailed reports. Comprehensive analytics and reporting provide valuable insights that help to improve learning programs over time.
The Bottom Line
Finding the best LMS with all the essential features that you need might seem overwhelming, but it’s not that difficult when you have a deep understanding of your requirements and what LMS features can meet them.
Choosing the right LMS is crucial for delivering impactful learning experiences. By ensuring that an LMS includes the key features we have mentioned, organizations can foster engagement, track progress effectively, and achieve their goals.
When choosing an LMS for yourself, consider both current requirements and future scalability to make an informed decision that supports long-term growth.
