Evaluating a Learning Management System

When you begin to evaluate learning management systems remember to look for high availability, usability, scalability, interoperability, stability and security. Let’s quickly examine each of these issues and why they are critical to the function of any enterprise management system.

High availability: The LMS must be robust enough to serve the diverse needs of thousands of learners, administrators, content builders and instructors simultaneously.

Scalability: The infrastructure should be able to expand or scaleto meet future growth, both in terms of the volume of instruction and the size of the student body. It must also offer the ability for custom features to be added for your needs.

Usability: To support a host of automated and personalized services, such as self-paced and role-specific learning, the access, delivery and presentation of material must be easy-to-use and highly intuitive like surfing on the Web or shopping on Amazon.com.

Interoperability: To support content from different sources and multiple vendors’ hardware/software solutions, the LMS should be based on open industry standards for Web deployments (XML, SOAP or AQ) and support the major learning standards (SCORM).

Stability: The LMS infrastructure can reliably and effectively manage a large enterprise implementation running 24x7.

Security: As with any outward-facing collaborative solution, the LMS can selectively limit and control access to online content, resources and back-end functions, both internally and externally, for its diverse user community.

Learning management system (or LMS)

Learning Management System (or LMS) is a software package that enables the management and delivery of on-line content to learners. Most LMSs are web-based to facilitate "anytime, any place, any pace" access to learning content and administration.

Typically an LMS allows for learner registration, delivery of learning activities, and learner assessment in an on-line environment. More comprehensive LMSs such as those produced by SimplyDigi.Com often include tools such as competency management, skills-gap analysis, succession planning, certifications and resource allocation (venues, rooms, textbooks, instructors, etc.).

Many large companies today use LMS platforms to train their employees, companies like Brunswick Boat Group, HCR-Manorcare, General Motors, Ford, Honda, General Electric etc all use on-line learning management system.

LMSs are based on a variety of development platforms, from Java EE based architecture to Microsoft.Net, and usually employ the use of a robust database back-end. While most systems are commercially developed and frequently have non-free licenses or restrict access to their source code, free and open-source models do exist although many will cost you more than a commercial options by the time you acquire the hardware and support personal necessary to support such a program. Other than the most simple, basic functionality, all LMSs cater to, and focus on different educational, administrative, and deployment requirements. Open source and Web-based LMS software solutions are growing fast in the education and business world.

Learning Management Industry

In the relatively new LMS market, commercial vendors for corporate and education applications range from new entrants to those that entered the market in the 1990s.
In 2005, LMSs represented a fragmented $500 million market according to CLO magazine. Channel learning still seems to be underserved. For many buyers channel learning is not their number one priority, according to a survey by Simplydigi.com. Often times there is a disconnect when the HR department oversees training and development initiatives, where the focus is consolidating LMS systems inside traditional corporate boundaries. Software technology companies are at the front end of this curve, placing higher priority on channel training.

When buyers were asked what is important to them in a e-learning and distance education product. Ease of use was found to be at the top of the wish list. Companies like SimplyDigi have put a lot of time into the "ease of use" feature sets of their learning managment system - lms design, keeping many students and the system administrators happy with the product. Keeping complexity on the backend of a Learning Management System is our priority. It does no good to develop a product that requires weeks of training in order to learn how to operate it.
" said Ron Nolan CEO of Simplydigi. Many learning systems are managed by the corporate human resource department who's tasks include more then just running the company learning systems. Ease of use is a key component for them and sudents in high turn over industries.