Learning Management System: A Peek into its Functionality and Future

Posted by Julia Madison on June 20th, 2017

A technical Wikipedia definition states that learning management system (LMS) is “a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting and delivery of educational courses or training programs.” This is too abstract to fully understand the simple and useful concept of this system.

In much simpler words, an LMS is a software program that helps you create, manage and deliver e-Learning courses to a wide array of users. An LMS has three facets: learning, management and system. It is vital to understand each one of them to understand the essence of this program.

Learning

The learning facet of an LMS is the core of the program, as it contains the factual content that is used to deliver educational courses and/or training programs. It is what attracts the knowledge seekers towards the e-Learning programs to enhance their existing knowledge or develop new skills.

Management

The management angle of an LMS holds a significant importance for the course providers. It is the captain of the ship called Learning Management System, as it gives you the ability and power to organize the courses. It essentially means using management to create, change, modify and assign courses to the students. Also, management allows you to track the progress of students, create reports and grade them as well.

System

A system is the platform used to deliver programs. It translates to software, as LMS is a computer program. This part of it is similar to other software used in computers.

Components of LMS

LMS is the CPU of e-Learning courses and consists of two essential components:

• Server: The server component carries the core functionality of the whole process. This component can further be divided into two sections: 1) creating, managing and delivering courses. 2) authenticating users (those who sign up), serving data and notifications.

• User interface: A user interface is the access point for the administrators, instructors and students. Like other interfaces, such as Facebook, it runs in your browser.

Real-life applications

An LMS platform is commonly used in the following cases:

- Employee training

- Employee orientation

- Education

- Knowledge retention

The future of e-Learning

Continuing education and lifelong learning are two of the most popular fields that use LMS. Both fields are going through a major transition in terms of the technology being used to meet the burgeoning demands of the industry. To successfully adapt to new technology, one should adopt a futuristic lifelong learning management software to continue to taste success.