There are many learning management systems (LMS) out there, but knowing that there are specific software programs tailored to different grade levels may benefit your school. For example, Haiku LMS is geared towards a K-12 audience, whereas other platforms might target college students.

“The Haiku platform is very attractive, and extremely user-friendly, which makes it appealing for young users in primary and secondary schools,” Susan Smith Nash, an elearning trainer and educator said on Haiku’s testimonials.

Personalizing Important Features

Haiku also supports community-driven software, meaning teachers help and plan new features. This way, the features fit what is needed in the classroom better than if someone who did not work in the school system had a more active role in feature planning of the system. Haiku can even help with implementation of their LMS.

Furthermore, Amy Hostetler, Chair of the Department of English at Goshen College says Haiku has “revolutionized” her teaching. Other educators have described the platform as the best that has happened for elearning and have praised the company for the accessibility and simplicity of the software.

One of the main reasons many educators use Haiku has to do with four variables: availability, simplicity, organization and affordability.

How to Start an LMS at Your School

A few details must be decided before starting a successful LMS system at your school.

“An organization should ask itself, what do we want to do with an LMS and what do we already have that the LMS would need to interconnect with? Do we have special needs, such as multiple-language support? E-commerce for selling training? Tracking compliance training? Different portals for different groups? Social media and networking? What size is the organization?” Senior Analyst for Brandon Hall Research Tom Werner said, from the eLearningcoach.

“This may take quite a bit of discussion inside your own organization. The IT department should be very, very involved. Your HR department should also be very involved because there may be an HR system that has some of these capabilities and needs to be connected with.” he said.

How Classrooms are Benefiting

Classrooms across the country are reaping the benefits of learning management systems.

Here are a few links to the classroom websites of teachers and schools that use LMS’:

1. Indian Creek Fourth Grade
2. Fifth Grade Math Resources
3. Eighth Grade Language Arts
4. Middle School Band

As you can see, the classrooms that utilize websites for teaching convey much information in a convenient way for both students and parents.

Providing Structure for Students

The examples also show how schools with LMS’ provide a clearer structure regarding what is expected from the student. LMS Class sites can contain weekly activities, thematic units, detailed course content and calendar applications, among others. Not only do these systems allow students and teachers to stay connected, they also allow students to take an active role in learning. Many of the classroom resource sites have a login and a place where they allow the student to check their grade in the course. Staying informed and up to date has never been easier with LMS.’

But learning management systems can also appeal to students’ drive for new technological advances.

Figuring out Technology

Moodle is another LMS that is utilized in K-12 classrooms. In the site’s community forum, educator Paula Clough stated, “my experience with elementary age children is that we don’t usually give them enough credit. They love technology and they will put the effort into trying to figure it out and make it work.”

Therefore, more usable technology in the classroom may be just what students are looking for.

“The possibilities are endless,” Clough said. “Once you start and you and your students become familiar with what is there and how to use it, you will find more and more what you want to do.”

The beginning of a learning management program is just a stepping stone to future endeavors.

Maintaining Successful Systems

Implementation may be the most difficult step of establishing an LMS. Once all of the planning and basics are worked out among a team, the project should not be very difficult to implement.

Refer to the following resources to learn more about maintaining a successful system:

1. Syberworks LMS offers a podcast about implementation
2. Angel LMS provides help with technology and systems integration ideas, as well as an Implementation Guide
3. Joomla LMS also talks about Implementation

Another comprehensive site that is helpful for carrying out your learning plan is Moodle.org. With this site, education is being transformed through technology. The community forums are especially helpful for troubleshooting the small details of your program.

In one of the Moodle forums, educator Dan McGuire wrote that, “Moodle is the best thing since the invention of the pencil for teaching writing to any age.”

Changing Times

Therefore, technology is certainly changing the way schools are operating and learning management systems seem to be beneficial across the board.

As an article in The Journal said, course learning management systems can do it all:

“Need to take a course online due to a scheduling conflict? No problem. Want to see what courses your children are enrolled in? Check. Create online professional development videos for teachers? Done.”

The enthusiasm for these systems illustrates the fact that, for right now, LMS’ belong in schools.

“As we have more and more ways of getting information (phones, apps, games, and who knows what else), LMSs will certainly evolve to support them.” Werner said on the eLearningcoach.

By Kelly McLendon. Kelly is studying Environmental Policy and Journalism. She can be reached at mclendon.kelly@gmail.com.

There are four important things to consider when establishing a learning management system for your business.

Factor #1: Cost

Implementing an LMS at your business must be done with careful thought.

“You need to have your homework done ahead of time so as to make the implementation process as trouble-free as possible,” Amit Gautam said on The Upside Learning Solutions Blog, which discusses “innovation, design, development, and trends in the Learning Solutions domain.”

As a first step, Gautam suggests creating a team to carry out the plans for starting a learning management system. “Early on, it is very important to clearly define a team for configuration and implementation of the LMS. Ideally, the team should include individuals from all stakeholder units, key ones namely HR/Training, Management, IT,” he said on the blog.

It also important to make this process as clear and as streamlined as possible.

“Identify a clear owner of the team and define roles and responsibilities clearly. Set some milestones at a macro level to begin with but leave the team to come up with the plan in consultation with the vendor,” he said.

Factor #2: How much of a commitment is involved?

Goals for your business may have justified purchasing an LMS in the first place. Therefore, it is important to know what commitment you will have to make to get the program off the ground and keep it going strong. From inception to managing the reliability of your system, you will need to realize that there are about five steps you will have to take to get your system from start to finish.

Latitude Learning outlines these phases as:

• Inception
• Elaboration
• Construction
• Transition
• Production

All five detail the commitment you will need to make when you are proposing an LMS for your business. However, management of the system is not completed after the production phase. In fact, all phases after transition are the most important. During the transition phase, the LMS accessibility will be tested, which will determine whether your employees will feel comfortable using the system.

Making sure every employee is “on-board” will allow you to assess the support and commitment of your long range plans.

Factor #3: How can LMS’ increase employee morale?

LMS’s may cut costs for businesses, but they also heavily enforce compliance by utilizing performance measures to the highest degree.

“An LMS allows an organization to identify individuals who contribute to its success,” Kurt Salmon Associates, a global management consulting firm, stated in a whitepaper, entitled “Top 10 Reasons LMS Implementations Fail.”

“Companies often opt to share the financial benefits of a performance management program directly with associates through an incentive pay added to the hourly wage,” a representative at Kurt Salmon Associates stated. “If done correctly, this will maximize the efficiency gains of the program.”

LMS’s can increase employee morale by adding a monetary incentive, or morale can be increased by having every employee meet the same compliance standards equally, ensuring fairness.

Factor #4: How can you make it work at your business?

Linking learning with business does not have to be complicated and difficult. The key to making an LMS work has to do with many steps after implementation. Gemini Performance Solutions used follow-up surveys sent to participants, they assessed how the skills taught to employees would apply in a real-world situation and they also utilized company reports. These three aspects assessed the training and allowed Gemini to gain a better understanding of their system to meet the needs of their employees. At the same time, such a follow-up allowed the company to make the system work.

By Kelly McLendon. Kelly is studying Environmental Policy and Journalism. She can be reached at mclendon.kelly@gmail.com.

“75 percent of organizations believe knowledge management plays a significant role in improving competitive advantage,” a KPMG study, cited by learning solutions company elementK, said.

By using the knowledge they have learned from taking performance improvement tests on LMS’, employees can bring their companies many extra benefits than if they didn’t use the system.

Where LMS’ are being used

The American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) is by far the most comprehensive website for employee training e-Learning options. The organization offers resources about consulting, evaluation, leadership, performance improvement, training fundamentals and social networking, in addition to e-Learning.

How LMS’ benefits management

There are many benefits to management from implementing this type of a comprehensive system.

Company SumTotal’s TotalLMS system benefits can include, “increased productivity, improved compliance and audit readiness, stronger customer and partner relationships, more engaged workforce, and greater visibility across the entire business,” according to the organization website.

Plateau Learning & Performance Management Solutions agrees that LMS’ can create a more engaged workforce. Other benefits also include increasing workforce productivity, decreasing operational expenses and improving regulatory compliance.

Staying compliant

LMS’ can also help with compliance standards. If employees must take a test to be certified with a specific skill set, LMS’ can facilitate that instruction.

Company inspired elearning offers an LMS that can “deliver, track and manage all of your online and instructor led training programs in 16 languages,” according to their website. Companies who accept these systems include Hearst, IRI, Lincoln Financial, Sealed Air, Flagstar Bank, and ADP.

Evaluating training

LMS in the office support professional development. Employees can take the required testing they need for their particular job, without much hassle on the employer. Since the system is online, the results of the testing can be configured immediately and employers will not have to wait to let their employees know the results of any compliancy tests.

By using the systems to evaluate how well an employee is performing, managers can also quickly and easily identify areas an employee needs to improve.

“Performance improvement is the process of identifying and analyzing important organizational and individual performance gaps, planning for future performance improvement, designing and developing cost-effective and ethically justifiable interventions to close performance gaps, implementing the interventions, and evaluating the financial and non-financial results,” according to ASTD.

It is also worth visiting A2XConsulting.com, a business resource providing human resources and general management related advice. They are a good resource for learning more about topics such as training and performance management.

Resources

There are a few web resources that can help companies establish LMS’. These include:

American Society for Training & Development (ASTD)

The University of Akron Learning Management Site

By Kelly McLendon.

How they are used in schools

To have an effective online education system or eLearning system, the National Education Association suggests teachers have a Learning Management System (LMS) available. This is so “there is a shared vision and student-centered teaching which will provide educational support for evaluation and assessment.”

Creating a manageable structure

“LMS’ like WebCT, Blackboard, and Desire2Learn offer their greatest value to the organization by providing a means to sequence content and create a manageable structure for instructors/administration staff,” elearnspace, a site focused on education online said.

There are a few sites that can help educators with these systems quickly and simply. Moodle.com is one of them. Moodle is a “Course Management System (CMS), also known as a learning management system (LMS) or a virtual learning environment (VLE).” The site can be used by educators to create online learning sites.

School example

The Connections Academy LMS allows parents to:

• “View all students’ schedules, assignments, and lessons.
• Adjust the learning schedule for students in grades K-8.
• Monitor students’ progress using the online grade book.
• Record attendance.
• Communicate with teachers and other families via our secure WebMail and message boards.
• Rate the Connections Academy learning experience, at any time.”

Other attributes of LMS’

Besides offering the accessibility to view student schedules, lessons and assignment plans, LMS’ can also help teachers with their career goals and certifications.

“Elluminate Inc., a Canadian company, provides live Web conferencing that is tailored to school functions, such as professional development for teachers. The live-video capability and moderator tools can be integrated into the use of Moodle or Blackboard,” according to Education Week.

Resources to consider

The following are websites that educators can access to learn the latest information about course management systems and connect with other teachers for advice and support.

• Moodle

• Elearningguild

• Open Education

By Kelly McLendon. Kelly is studying Environmental Policy and Journalism. She can be reached at mclendon.kelly@gmail.com.

1. If you are using a commercial program, review the entire program and decide which features you will use at first, and which you will hold off on. This is critical because the task of populating an LMS is daunting. Start with priority. Make sure each feature you target has an owner.
2. An obvious first step is to get all company employees entered. No short cuts here. If at all possible, get the list tied to your payroll system to keep the process of updating the list easy.
3. My favorite next step is to add in all available courses. Start by reviewing old training tapes and web programs. Look for the programs you offer in house. Don’t forget job aids. It is likely you will surprise yourself with the number of programs available. Make sure you are careful in noting which programs require re-certification.
4. If at all possible, enter detail as to wages and training costs. You want to build as accurate picture as possible as to the cost of training. Senior management should know how much a training event costs inclusive of salary. Too often this step is ignored, as well intentioned training managers don’t want managers to see how expensive training is. My view is different. I think senior managers should see this so they provide the appropriate attention and resource to the training department to assure programs are excellent. The challenge is to make sure that training costs are accompanies by a description of benefit and an ROI calculation.
5. Have a manager review his or her team, and assign training programs to that person. Start with the managers who most support the LMS. 
6. Once the system is up and running, review it with all parties who will access it. Get their buy in, and set a plan for stage 2.

Let us now if you have experience to share. Post a comment here, or start a discussion in our forum.