Today we’ll be talking about learning management systems or LMS for short. An LMS is a software application that administers, tracks, documents, reports, and delivers educational content, training programs, or learning and development programs. The LMS concept emerged from e-learning and has since become the largest segment of the learning system market. In the late 1990s, the first LMS was introduced, and since then, it has undergone continuous technological development.
With the emphasis on remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, LMSs have experienced massive growth in usage. They were designed to identify training and learning gaps using analytical data and reporting. LMSs are focused on online learning delivery but support a range of uses, acting as a platform for online content, including courses, both asynchronous and synchronous. In the higher education space, an LMS may offer classroom management for instructor-led training or a flipped classroom. Modern LMSs include intelligent algorithms that make automated recommendations for courses based on a user’s skill profile and extract metadata from learning materials to make such recommendations even more accurate.
The purpose of an LMS is to deliver and manage all types of content, including video, courses, workshops, and documents. In the education and higher education markets, an LMS will include functionality similar to the corporate market, but it will have additional features such as rubrics, teacher and instructor-facilitated learning, a discussion board, and the use of a syllabus. A syllabus is rarely a feature in the corporate LMS, although courses may start with a heading-level index to give learners an overview of topics covered.
LMSs have a fascinating history. The first LMS was created in 1924 when Sidney Pressey invented the first teaching machine. This machine was similar to a typewriter with a window showing the questions. Continuous technological development has contributed to vast changes to LMSs, with the latest update in 2012, where the LMS is hosted in a cloud, freeing companies from the burden of maintaining in-house systems. There are several historical phases of distance education that preceded the development of the LMS.
In the 1980s, modern telecommunications started to be used in education. Computers became prominent in the daily use of higher education institutions, as well as instruments for student learning. The trend then shifted to video communication, resulting in Houston University holding telecast classes for their students for approximately 13-15 hours a week in 1953. In the period between 1970 and 1980, educational venues were rapidly considering the idea of computerizing courses, including the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute from California, which introduced the first accredited online-taught degree.
Learning management systems will often incorporate dashboards to track student or user progress. They can then report on key items such as completion rates, attendance data, and success likelihood. Utilizing these metrics can help facilitators better understand gaps in user knowledge. Through an LMS, teachers may create and integrate course materials, articulate learning goals, align content and assessments, track studying progress, and create customized tests for students. An LMS allows the communication of learning objectives and organizes learning timelines. It delivers learning content and tools straight to learners, and assessment can be automated. It can also reach marginalized groups through special settings. Such systems have built-in customizable features, including assessment and tracking, which learners can see in real-time their progress, and instructors can monitor and communicate the effectiveness of learning.
Managing courses, users, and roles is another feature of an LMS. Learning management systems may be used to create professionally structured course content. The teacher can add text, images, videos, PDFs, tables, links, and text formatting, as well as interactive tests, slideshows, and more. Furthermore, an LMS allows teachers to create different types of users, such as teachers, students, parents, visitors, and editors, with varying levels of permission and access to different content. This helps to control which content a student can access, track studying progress, and engage students with contact tools. Teachers can easily manage courses and modules, enroll students, or set up self-enrollment. With these features, LMSs can help to streamline the learning process, making it easier for both students and teachers to manage course content and participation. Overall, LMSs are highly valuable tools for educational institutions and organizations of all types, providing a powerful platform for online content delivery, tracking, and analysis.
Although there are a variety of integration strategies for embedding content into LMSs, including AICC, xAPI, SCORM, and LTI, LMSs also offer a range of features that benefit both students and educators. An LMS allows educators to create and integrate course materials, articulate learning goals, align content and assessments, track studying progress, and create customized tests for students. LMSs allow for the communication of learning objectives and the organization of learning timelines. They deliver learning content and tools directly to learners, and assessment can be automated. They can also reach marginalized groups through special settings, and have built-in customizable features including assessment and tracking, so learners can see in real-time their progress, and instructors can monitor and communicate the effectiveness of learning.
One of the most important features of LMS is to create a streamline communication between learners and instructors. Such systems, besides facilitating online learning, tracking learning progress, providing digital learning tools, managing communication, and maybe selling content, may be used to provide different communication features. LMSs help educators with managing courses, users, and roles. For example, teachers can add text, images, videos, PDFs, tables, links, and text formatting, interactive tests, and slideshows, among others. They can create different types of users, such as teachers, students, parents, visitors, and editors (hierarchies). LMSs help control which content a student can access, track studying progress, and engage students with contact tools. Teachers can manage courses and modules, enroll students, or set up self-enrollment.
Moreover, LMSs enable instructors to create automated assessments and assignments for learners, which are accessible and submitted online. Most platforms allow a variety of different question types such as one/multi-line answer, multiple-choice answer, ordering, free text, matching, essay, true or false/yes or no, fill in the gaps, agreement scale, and offline tasks. Students can either learn asynchronously (on demand, self-paced) through course content such as pre-recorded videos, PDFs, SCORM or undertake synchronous learning through mediums such as webinars.
LMSs will often incorporate dashboards to track student or user progress, allowing them to report on key items such as completion rates, attendance data, and success likelihood. Utilizing these metrics can help facilitators better understand gaps in user knowledge.
In the relatively new LMS market, commercial providers for corporate applications and education range from new entrants to those that entered the market in 1990. In addition to commercial packages, many open-source solutions are available. In the U.S. higher education market as of spring 2021, the top three LMSs by a number of institutions were Canvas (38%), Blackboard (25%), and Moodle (15%). Worldwide, the picture was different, with Moodle having over 50% of the market share in Europe, Latin America, and Oceania.
However, as with any technology, LMSs have both advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of LMS include interoperability, accessibility, reusability, durability, maintenance ability, and adaptability. The disadvantages include that teachers have to be willing to adapt their curricula from face-to-face lectures to online lectures, and there is the potential for instructors to try to directly translate existing support materials into courses which can result in very low interactivity and engagement for learners if not done well.
Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a dramatic shift in the way teachers and students at all levels interact with each other and learning materials. Online education through the use of LMSs has become the focal point of teaching and learning, as school closures forced educators to embrace remote learning. UNESCO estimated that as of May 25, 2020, approximately 990,324,537 learners, which represents 56.6% of the total enrolled students, have been affected by COVID-19 related school closures. The sudden transition to remote learning has created many challenges for both educators and students. For instance, students in lower-income households may not have access to the necessary technology, reliable internet, or a suitable learning environment, making it challenging for them to engage in remote learning. On the other hand, teachers may struggle to deliver quality education and maintain their students’ attention when not in a classroom setting. However, the use of LMSs has provided a lifeline for the continuation of education during the pandemic, helping to keep students engaged and connected to their educators. As the pandemic continues to evolve, LMSs will remain an essential tool for delivering education remotely, especially in areas where traditional in-person learning may not be possible.
Learning management systems (LMSs) have become increasingly popular in recent years due to the growing demand for remote learning. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the usage of LMSs has skyrocketed as schools and educational institutions around the world have been forced to adopt remote learning. The purpose of an LMS is to deliver and manage educational content such as video, courses, workshops, and documents. The system can be used for online learning delivery, and it can support a range of uses, such as classroom management for instructor-led training or a flipped classroom.
The history of LMSs dates back to the 1920s when Sidney Pressey invented the first “teaching machine”. From then on, technological development has contributed to vast changes to LMS, with the latest update in 2012 where the LMS is hosted in the cloud, freeing companies from the burden of maintaining in-house systems. Correspondence teaching was the first known phase of distance education that preceded the development of LMS. The concept of e-learning began developing in the early 20th century, marked by the appearance of audio-video communication systems used for remote teaching. Later, printed materials were joined by telephone, radio broadcasts, TV broadcasts, audio, and videotapes.
The earliest networked learning system was the Plato Learning Management System (PLM), developed in the 1970s by Control Data Corporation. In the 1980s, modern telecommunications started to be used in education. The trend then shifted to video communication, which led to the emergence of telecast classes. Later, the concept of automating teaching operations inspired the University of Illinois experts to develop their Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations (PLATO) which enabled users to exchange content regardless of their location.
The first fully-featured LMS was called EKKO, developed and released by Norway’s NKI Distance Education Network in 1991. Three years later, New Brunswick’s NB Learning Network presented a similar system designed for DOS-based teaching, and devoted exclusively to business learners. In the U.S. higher education market as of spring 2021, the top three LMSs by a number of institutions were Canvas, Blackboard, and Moodle. Moodle had over 50% of the market share in Europe, Latin America, and Oceania.
LMSs can be hosted locally or by a vendor. A vendor-hosted cloud system tends to follow a SaaS (software as a service) model, and all data in a vendor-hosted system is housed by the supplier and accessed by users through the internet, on a computer, or mobile device. There are several integration strategies for embedding content into LMSs, including AICC, xAPI, SCORM, and LTI. Through an LMS, teachers may create and integrate course materials, articulate learning goals, align content and assessments, track studying progress, and create customized tests for students.
An LMS allows for the communication of learning objectives, and organize learning timelines. It delivers learning content and tools straight to learners, and assessment can be automated. An LMS can also reach marginalized groups through special settings. Such systems have built-in customizable features, including assessment and tracking. Thus, learners can see in real-time their progress, and instructors can monitor and communicate the effectiveness of learning.
There are several advantages of LMS, including interoperability, accessibility, reusability, durability, maintenance ability, and adaptability. However, there are also some disadvantages, such as the need for teachers to adapt their curricula from face-to-face lectures to online lectures, and the potential for instructors to directly translate existing support materials into courses, resulting in low interactivity and engagement for learners if not done well.
Learning management systems have revolutionized the way education and training programs are delivered, tracked, and managed. From the early days of correspondence courses to modern cloud-based systems, the LMS has continued to evolve and adapt to the changing needs of learners and instructors. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption and usage of LMSs, making them an essential tool for remote learning and training.
As the demand for e-learning continues to grow, it is likely that learning management systems will continue to evolve to meet the needs of learners and instructors. Advancements in technology, such as the increasing use of artificial intelligence and machine learning, will likely have a significant impact on the future of LMSs.
In conclusion, the learning management system has come a long way since its early days, and it has played a crucial role in making education and training more accessible and effective. While there are challenges and limitations, the advantages of LMSs, such as their ability to offer personalized learning experiences, track progress, and improve accessibility, make them a valuable tool for learners and instructors alike. As the world continues to embrace remote learning, the importance of learning management systems will only continue to grow.
References:
