How to Choose a Learning Management System

1. How to Choose a Learning Management System Presenter: Mehdi Roudaki www.iuc.ac.ir

2. Agenda • What is a Learning Management System • Benefits of LMS • Types of LMS • Features of LMS • Major Criteria for Selecting a LMS • Steps in LMS Selection • Key Questions to Answer • Evaluation of Some LMSs • Request for proposal

3. E-Learning Components: • Content • Services • Infrastructure/Tools

4. Infrastructure/Tools • Infrastructure and learning management tools include the learning environment and administrative tools used by the training manager. • The learning environment and training management tools are commonly referred t as the “Learning Management System,” or LMS.

5. What is a Learning Management System? Software that: • Registers learners • Online catalogue and schedule • Delivers online courses • Tracks courses • Online assessment • Tracks scores • Records data from learners • Management reports • Bookmarks activities

6. Why do we need to manage the Learning culture? • To meet the Objectives • To ensure that the Right People get the Right Development • To provide improved Management Information

7. Benefits of LMS • Availability - 24/7 • Accessibility - home and office • Just in Time Training (JITT) • Guaranteed Quality of Training • Enhanced Student Motivation

8. Benefits of LMS - Cont. • Testing and Assessment - linked to business objectives • Constant monitoring • Management Information readily available • Cost effective Training - can measure the ROI • Opportunity to resell Training

9. Types of LMS • Classroom Based Training • Distance Learning • On-line Training

10. Who provides LMS? • Course developers: • Sometimes designed to support the vendor’s own content • Can provide better integration between content and LMS • LMS vendors: • Almost all designed with open standards • Custom Solutions: • Have one built for you by a systems integration form • Build Your Own

11. Some Major Vendors • DigitalThink • SABA • Docent • Pathlore • Isopia • Thinq • Learnframe • Lotus Learning Space • TrainerSoft

12. LMS Facts • As LMS functionality has grown, so has the marketplace • 140+ LMS Solutions on the Market • 16,500 LMS Implementations (Worldwide) – 118 customers per vendor • Extremely Fragmented Industry

13. LMS Facts (Cont.) • No System has more than a 4% Market Share • Some of them occupy defined niches in the market • While others try to be all things to all people.

14. Selection? • Selecting a learning management infrastructure is one of the most strategic e-Learning decisions that companies will make. • By first determining what needs to be managed, it’s much easier to find a system that responds to those needs.

15. Features of LMS Provides individuals and groups with: • registration • personal development • planning • assignment of courses • launch of courses • tracking of performance • testing and assessment • monitoring • routing of students to the right materials • course completion • management reports - tailor to what you want • certification • dialogue with tutors • feedback

16. A Typical Learning Management System (LMS) Feature Set Faculty Tool Set Course Website Development and Management • Online grade book • Grade reporting tool (i.e. to allow students to view grades) • Quiz/Survey development tool • Course website backup, download, & upload facilities • Student account administration tools • Student group administration tools • Grader account administration tools • Student access tracking (i.e. how many news articles have they posted/read, which pages have they accessed)

17. A Typical Learning Management System (LMS) Feature Set Faculty Tool Set Course Website Development and Management (Cont.) • Webpage access tracking (i.e. how many students have accessed a page, when did each student access the page) • Web-based file management • Page counters • Course website glossary building tool • Course website indexing system • Course announcements and calendar administration tool

18. A Typical Learning Management System (LMS) Feature Set Students Tool Set • Student self-evaluations • Student accounts for webpage publishing • Group work areas for collaborative webpage publishing • Course content annotation facility and bookmarks • Web-based email and discussion groups • Real-time chat rooms • Real-time white boards • Individual grade and progress status reports • Grade distribution status report (i.e. how many students got 90 and above, etc.)

19. A Typical Learning Management System (LMS) Feature Set Administrator Tool Set • Course website creation, duplication, and deletion • Course website backups • Course website downloading and uploading • Course website statistics • number of students enrolled in a course • file space used by a course website • number of hits on a course website • first and last access date • Course website student account administration • Batch student account initialization and deletion • Batch course restoring

20. Major Criteria for Selecting a LMS • Known Requirements • Unknown Future Requirements • Implement ability • Supportability • Cost

21. Implement ability Components Implement ability is made up of the following components:  • Vendor background • Software maturity • Technology maturity • Modifications • Third party implementer considerations • Implementation assistance from LMS vendor • Quality • Documentation • Training

22. The best LMS system? • # of learners? • How geographically disperse? • Using 3rd party e-learning libraries? • Tests/Exams? • Multi-Lingual Interface? • Competency Management? • Compliancy Issues? • Hosted or Locally Installed? • Cost?

23. Steps in LMS Selection • Determining Goals and requirements (*) • Researching LMS Vendors • Generate List of Critical Needs (10-20 only) (*) • Generate Full List of Needs and Prioritize (*) • Narrowing Down Potential Vendors • Create and Send RFP’s to qualified candidates • Preparing your Company for Change

24. Steps in LMS Selection (Cont.) • Grade Responses • Conducting Final Vendor Presentations and Selecting a Vendor • Negotiating the LMS Contract and Getting Ready for Implementation

25. Define Your Objectives • Business Objectives • Increase course completions by X% • Increase sales by X% • Increase employee retention by X% • Decrease training costs by X% • Training Objectives • Provide recommended learning plans • Improve access to training resources

26. Common Requirements • Various content sources • AICC/SCORM compliant content • Synchronous content (with scheduling) • Off-line materials • Scalability • Growth of the user population over time

27. Common Requirements (cont.) • Availability/Reliability • How often does the system go down • Custom Reporting • You may have reporting needs that are not addressed by an off-the-shelf package • Skills & Competencies

28. Implementation Options:Site Installed • Traditional software model • You supply the hardware, networking, IT support, database, user support • Advantages • Some IT departments prefer “behind-the-firewall” solutions • You might get a more customized solution

29. Implementation Options:Site Installed (Cont.) • Disadvantages • More coordination among departments • Maintenance and support staffing is ongoing • Deployment times can be longer that with outsourced solutions (months longer!)

30. Implementation Options:Outsourced • The developer of the application uses a partner to host the system for you • Advantages • No need to procure any hardware or software • Expenditures can be extended over time (you may need to “buy” the software up front)

31. Implementation Options:Outsourced (Cont.) • Disadvantages • Reliability and performance will be the same as though you had installed the software on your own systems • You may need to coordinate the hand-off from the LMS developer

32. Implementation Options : ASP • The application and hosting are provided by a single vendor • The application is designed to support many customers

33. Implementation Options : ASP (Cont.) • Advantages • Single-vendor solution means no confusion about where to turn for service • You can get up and running faster than with other solutions • Application is built for availability and reliability • May also be provided with other services (e.g. courseware development) • Disadvantages • You may need to live with fewer features

34. Costs for the total project Cost Breakdown for 10,000 user project with a total cost of $3.8M 1% Development tools 1% Content and data conversion 3% Misc software, consulting, travel, training, etc. 4% Network bandwidth 8% Deployment, test, and integration staff 16% Servers and networking hardware 16% Learning Management System 52% Content Development Source: www.brookwood.com

35. Produce a Business Plan • Reduce high-level business and training goals to a feature list • Business Plan should include • Feature List (RFP for vendors) • Project Objectives • ROI (Return on Investment) • Timelines for Implementation and Milestones • Itemization of Costs (one-time and ongoing) • Required Resources (e.g staff, systems)

36. Project Management • Installing an LMS is an IT project • Recommend someone with project mgmt skills

37. Vendor Considerations • Remember that LMS is only part of the solution so look for a complete solution • Off-the-shelf courseware integration • Content development • Course delivery system • Project management • Completion Rates are critical

38. Vendor Considerations: Develop your project in phases • LMS do lots of things • Classroom instruction • Skills Management • Integrate courseware from various vendors • Integrate delivery technologies • Management Reporting • Neither you or your vendor can do all this at once so implement in phases

39. Vendor Considerations: Develop your project in phases Implementation Example ILT/Events Scheduling Competency Management LMS Functionality Integrate Legacy Courseware Async training for A specific project with User tracking I II III IV Product Phases

40. Key Questions to Answer(1): • What is the need for the LMS? • How will you measure success? • What is your potential ROI? • Who is the target audience? • What initial pilot groups can provide an early win?

41. Key Questions to Answer(2): • Who are your project stakeholders and what are their expectations? Who will be the key sponsor of this project?? • What are your functional and non-functional requirements for the LMS?

42. Key Questions to Answer(3): • What are the key user roles and their functional requirements? • What are your technical requirements? • Who manage the LMS within your organization? • What are the phases for LMS implementation? • Who will be on your LMS Selection Project Team?

43. RFP I. Background II. Scope of Work Target Audience Content Deliverables III. Working Relationship IV. Vendor Response V. Evaluation Criteria Performance Capability Cost Completeness and Quality of Bid Response

44. Learning Management Systems • Active LearnerResource Development Corporationwww.resourcedev.com • AtrainESSyntriowww.syntrio.com • Certification ImpactChannelwave Softwarewww.channelwave.com • Conductor - Training Administration SoftwareSage Corporationwww.SageIsland.com, www.Conductit.com • CorporateHorizon/ HorizonCentralBoniva Softwarewww.boniva.com

45. Learning Management Systems • DigitalThinkDigitalThink www.digitalthink.com • Docent EnterpriseDocentwww.docent.com • Edge InteractiveEdge Interactivewww.edgeinteractive.com • Education DirectorResults Directwww.resultsdirect.com • Elementk.ComElement Kwww.elementkpress.com

46. Learning Management Systems • Enterprise Learning Management ServicesEdcorwww.edcor.com • ETrax Learning Management SystemIntegrated Performance Systemswww.ips-inc.com • FlexTrainingOnLine Developmentwww.FlexTraining.com • Geo Learning Management SystemGeoLearning.comwww.geolearning.com • gForce CentralgForce Systemswww.gforce.com

47. Learning Management Systems • GoTrain.netGoTrain.net, LLCwww.gotrain.net • Headlight LMSHeadlightwww.headlight.com • How To Master Learning Management SystemInfoSource www.howtomaster.com • icCampusicGlobal.comwww.icglobal.com • ILMSISOPIA Interactive Networkwww.isopia.com

48. Learning Management Systems • IngeniumClick2learn.comwww.click2learn.com • IntraLearnIntraLearn Software Corporationwww.intralearn.com • IntranetUATCwww.profitfromlearning.com • KnowBaseKnowBase Networkswww.knowbasenetworks.com • KP2000KnowledgePlanetwww.knowledgeplanet.com

49. Learning Management Systems • FlexTraining SoftwareOnLine Developmentwww.FlexTraining.com • Intellinex Learning Development SystemIntellinex LLCwww.intellinex.com • Learning CommunityeSocrates.comwww.esocrates.com • Learning Enginewww.lighteningseed.net • LearningVistaGlobalLearningSystemswww.globallearningsystems.com

50. Learning Management Systems • Librix Performance Management SystemLIBRIX Learningwww.librix.com • MaayaMaayawww.maaya.com • Manager’s EdgeMentergywww.mentergy.com • OnTrack For TrainingDKSystemswww.dksystems.com • Pathlore Learning Management SystemPathlorewww.pathlore.com