What are the components of an Learning Management System?

During uncertain times, upskilling your employees should be one of your top priorities. To make training and development a consistent practice at your organization, you must adopt a dedicated learning management system (LMS) that automates and simplifies every aspect of the process. Otherwise, neither your HR team nor your employees will be interested in the initiatives, and they won't be successful. If you are wondering what to expect from an LMS, here are five essential components every standard LMS should possess:

• User-friendly interface

Since almost everybody at your organization would likely be required to use the LMS, make sure it's easy for them to navigate. This will ensure your employees have an easy time using the software. While test-driving your LMS, ensure all the courses, assignments, tests, and documents are easily accessible. You shouldn't need to organize a training program to help your employees navigate the LMS.

• Feature-rich

Your LMS should be loaded with all the standard features that simplify training and make it engaging for your learners. It should help support different learning styles including self-paced, blended, and instructor-led learning. You should be able to conduct live sessions for your employees from any part of the world through a virtual classroom. Employees should be able to access their learning materials on the go, submit their assignments, take online tests, and download course completion certificates on the go. Additionally, learners should be able to collaborate with their fellow learners seamlessly so that they remain motivated to complete courses.

• Integrations

Since training and development processes are often interconnected with different HR functions, it's recommended to go for a system that comes with integration capabilities. For instance, it should work closely with your performance management system to identify skill gaps. Similarly, if you're using a skillset as an evaluation metric to gauge employee performance, your LMS should help you understand how proficient each one of your employees is in the specified skills. Similarly, it should be able to integrate with your video conferencing system to support live sessions for your learners.

• Mobile-first

Learning on the go is one of the many trends that are popular among the modern generation of workers. Most of today's employees want to take charge of their learning, so, the LMS that you go for should come with an intuitive mobile application that empowers them to learn from anywhere, at any time. Every feature in the LMS, including different learning styles, virtual sessions, e-learning materials, learner collaboration, and online tests, should be optimized to provide an exceptional mobile learning experience. Support for both online and offline learning can be an added perk.

• Intuitive reporting capabilities

When you are trying to build a culture of continuous learning, it's essential to stay on top of the things that are working and not working with your training and development initiatives. That's why your LMS should come with robust reporting capabilities. With appealing and easy-to-understand reports, your LMS should help you track your course progress, course ratings, trainer ratings, course completion percentage, and the number of courses under each category. Using this information, you'll be able to understand what needs to be improved with your training and make learning more useful to your employees. Check out this blog post to learn about the five training reports every organization should track.

Wrapping up

Selecting the right LMS is key to making your training and development initiatives a success. We hope this blog post gave you a clear idea of the five essential elements every LMS should have. Zoho People, our HR software, comes with a dedicated LMS that simplifies and streamlines every aspect of training, from creating courses to offering course certificates. Learn more about Zoho People. 

Also read:How do I choose the right LMS?