As blended learning is gradually becoming the norm, schools around the world are progressively using a Learning Management System (LMS) for all aspects of the teaching process: to enroll students, to deliver lessons, to assign homework, to assess learning, to track progress, to produce reports and grade books.
‘LMS’ is a broad term that covers a wide range of software applications, from proprietary to open-source to cloud-based LMS, each with each own pros and cons.
What all great LMSs have in common are the following characteristics. They are:
Intuitive
It really shouldn’t take a 6-hour video tutorial just to get a grasp of the system’s basics. It’s all a matter of good design. The user should be able to find his way around the platform easily from the very beginning.
Multi-Leveled
Your LMS should be able to go beyond the surface. It should be able to combine and classify data, apply filters and different views, and synthesize.
Device-Agnostic
The number of users reaching the platform from their mobile devices is increasing. Therefore, it goes without saying that any new system should be optimized for desktops, smartphones, and tablets.
Flexible
The user, be it student or teacher, should be able to adapt the platform to their specific needs. Great LMSs, like the Totara LMS, give users this much desired customization functionality.
Productive
The LMS should be able to produce tangible deliverables to all users. For the teacher it can be report cards or class printouts; for the student it can be certificates of completion or badges of achievement.
Automated
It all comes back to good design. A well-made platform should do part of the thinking for you. In other words, repetitive processes should be able to automate or (even better) skip, as the user becomes more familiar with the system. Sometimes, even simple things like the ability to add a reminder make all the difference.
Gamified
Who said an LMS should be boring? Using gaming elements like points, badges and leaderboards, adds an extra fun ingredient to the mix. This is especially useful for the student-facing pages, since it boosts motivation and engagement.
Collaborative
One final feature is the ability of different users to interact. Apart from the student-teacher interaction, which is the primary purpose of the LMS, there is also the ability for teachers to share data, projects, courses etc. with other teachers.
Similarly, the ability for students to communicate and work on the same projects with other students.
Extra Feature: LMS Integration
Technology is everywhere in our lives, and LMSs cannot exist as standalone products. They need to be able to function seamlessly with a number of other applications and systems. Therefore, a good LMS must come packed with integrations with the most popular platforms (whether it is MailChimp or Shopify), and also must be able to communicate with other LMS platforms.
