For me, 2021 was the year of the Learning Management System (LMS). As a learning and development professional, many years of my career will be dedicated to the effective and broad use of this type of professional development system. However, coming off a year dedicated to selecting and implementing two very different systems, I wished to document a top ten words to the wise list for colleagues who find themselves in a similar boat.
Prerequisite: Vocabulary Lesson
In my view, LMS and Learning Experience Systems (LXP) are synonymous because if an LMS is not engaging, leaving the learner with a valued experience, then it will soon become obsolete and out of the temporarily confusing LMS/LXP chest puffing showdown. Despite this great market positioning effort by SaaS vendors in a highly competitive industry, I will stand on my soapbox and say, “poe-tay-toe, pa-tah-toe.” If your system does not serve the needs of the modern adult learner, it is time to seek out a new system, regardless of its name.
Scenarios Fueling the List
The first LMS I implemented was done with a team of four and went from out of the proverbial box to user experience testing-ready in ten days. Still in shock, but more importantly, in awe of my team for that! The system was custom branded, included a content integration partner and was designed for a global English-speaking learner base. The budget was modest and the approval process involved a lengthy business case and buy-in process.
The second LMS I implemented was broadly championed by key leaders, involved a healthy budget I was determined not to fully exhaust, and needed to meet the needs of a global population speaking over ten different languages. The selection process reviewed 13 different systems and focused on nearly 60 different characteristics. It included about six weeks of needs assessments and RFP demos, two months of procurement and contracting and five weeks of implementation during the holiday season. This system was also custom branded but involved a third-party content provider that was not a fully integrated partner.
Disclaimer
The following list does not name or endorse a particular platform because each organization has different needs and each vendor has different offerings. One vendor quoted me that there are over 800 LMS on the market. The possibilities are endless, and each L&D team should find the right pairing for their organization’s goals and objectives.
Top 10 Words of the Wise for Selecting & Adopting an LMS
Know what you are looking for before starting RFP/demo calls. Then, stick to your guns. L&D professionals have an insatiable desire to learn and explore something new. At times, we can easily be tempted by the “little doggie in the window.” Guard yourself with an objective list of wants and needs. Non-L&D professionals may strive to convince you that some of your needs are actually wants; however, while remaining realistic, hold fast to your vision. Ultimately, any sacrifices you make are ones you will have to entirely forego or compensate for with manual effort. Your L&D expertise means you know what to look for in a unique way in comparison with other stakeholders, and you will have to administer and troubleshoot the system on a day-to-day basis so you should like it!
Ask for and then thoroughly explore a sandbox environment. If possible, take a test drive of the system. Go in and play with abandon! Be so bold as to try and break it. Explore different use cases. Pilot it with a few key end users and solicit their feedback.
Be highly discerning of third-party content and strive to use an integrated content provider. Options for eLearning are nearly endless; however, all courses are not created equal. Caveat emptor; know what you are buying. Consider its economic value in comparison with your organization’s learning objectives and how often learners will utilize the system. Over a certain number of courses, the return diminishes. The simplest way to pull content into an LMS is to use one of the vendor’s partners. Upon purchase, the vendor simply switches on the content and your system is populated….or is it? Be sure to confirm if the content will be available as courses for learners or if it is available in admin view to be packaged into courses, which requires substantial manual effort to scale. If you need to use a third party provider, determine how the two vendors will work together. Often, this option can entail additional costs and headaches. However, it can be worthwhile for the right content. If the library you adopt is rather large, be sure to ask about provided curation services to help you target the content most relevant to your learners.
Ask about their certifications, awards and data protection procedures. Data protection is table stakes in our modern world. Even with strong data protection, some organizations may not want certain IP on such a platform; L&D teams will need to know how to flag such content and administer it on another system. While awards abound, certifications can be particularly important in highly regulated industries. Ask about this early on to prevent falling in love with a system that will not meet your industry’s audit standards.
Consider both user and administrator ease of use. Often, L&D professional think solely about learners. While the user interface will be key to their adoption and repeat use of the system, we also need to “selfishly” think about ourselves. Will we enjoy using the system? Will we enjoy it or quickly find administering it to be a chore? Intuitiveness is key for both groups.
Determine what level, if any, of manager self-service you desire. This can ease an admin’s burden and empower managers to lead their team’s professional development in new ways. Not all platforms offer this functionality.
Practice building courses and running reports. Courses have many building blocks, and navigating them can involve a bit of a learning curve. Common varieties include lessons, courses, curricula and playlists. The latter is neat as it enables users to interact with courses in the same way they interact with their favorite music. A key question to ask is if lessons are evergreen or if the source file must be reuploaded each time it is a building block of a larger course. If such a building block is updated, the new version may have to be manually updated in each course in which it is used. This becomes an administrative nightmare and time suck. Also, be sure to practice running reports with multiple use cases in mind. Can you pull a master report at will? Can you drill down to provide managers with team-specific status reports? Can the system automatically send you or someone else a report on a weekly/monthly basis? Can reports be run on a course-by-course basis?
Consider how users will be organized and how that will impact assigning courses. Little is worse than manually assigning each course to each user. Consider how your org chart and hierarchy can be replicated in the system to enable mass assignments. Can users who share a characteristic outside of the features captured on an org chart be grouped for easy assignment of special-topic courses (e.g. safety committee or HiPo program)? Can the system be linked to your HRIS to keep accounts up to date with new hires, leaves of absence and terminations? Can rules be written to auto-assign content to learners that meet specific criteria (e.g. new hires or compliance courses per country)?
Gamify and socialize the learning experience. Involve learners by requesting feedback. Adult learning should not feel like a high school or college setting. Adults want action-oriented, timely and efficient learning. Ideally, tap into their competitive spirit and provide badges to earn or leaderboards to climb to incentivize learning in ways similar to their favorite apps. Gamification does not have to be complex (e.g. virtual reality or the latest video game); however, it does matter. Create a learning environment in which you, too, would want to learn. By extension, be sure to consider how the LMS can promote social learning, namely learning with and from others. Discussion boards are a great example. Many LMS platforms are embracing social media-esque features, which can be hard to monitor and maintain. Be mindful about these options and strike the right level of socialization to keep the focus on application-based learning. Finally, even in a digital environment, do not overlook Level 1 of Kirkpatrick. Incorporate an evaluation or course rating method so you can monitor learner preferences and adjust offerings accordingly. Five stars for effort, anyone?
Understand the level and structure of support you will receive during and after implementation. Some implementations are limited by the number of hours with an expert, others have very structured calls with little room for questions and still others rely heavily on prerecorded content. In my experience, having at least one fairly junior vendor representative on your implementation team is not uncommon. They are often learning along with you, so ask good questions and come prepared with an extra dose of patience. Post implementation, some vendors offer a subscription-based model of support while others are all inclusive. Some LMS allow learners to report issues directly, and others restrict how many admins can contact them.
An extra five because LMS are so complex:
Be wary of over reliance on eLearning. Do not lose sight that LMS platforms can support Instructor Led Training (ILT) as well. Learning requires a human touch to be most effective. Strike the right eLearning to live facilitation balance. Online learning does not address all learning needs. Resist the urge to take everything digital. Many LMS enable organizations to connect their Teams, Zoom or WebEx accounts to make scheduling and attending webinars a more seamless experience.
Establish realistic timelines for selection and implementation. Fueled by the desire to unleash the power of learning on organizations, sometimes L&D professionals can set unrealistic timelines for implementation. Contract negotiations or third-party content preparation can drag out. Set realistic timelines and then, add a healthy contingency.
Develop a robust marketing and engagement plan, including branding the system. Your LMS should look and feel like your organization. Find ways to customize it so that it feels bespoke. End users quickly tire of cookie-cutter solutions that feel foreign in comparison to all of the other software tools with which they interact. The LMS branding should be fun and motivational so that learners become engaged and eager to return to the platform. Once an LMS is implemented, the road does not stop there. Regardless of how automated the system is, regular content additions, curation and promotion are key to keep learners coming back. Overlooking making content feel fresh, easy to find and relevant to the current business need will leave your LMS in mothballs. Balance your system admin and instructional designer hats with your marketing hat. (Remember that’s the one with feathers.)
Consider how the system can and will grow with you. LMS contracts are often 3-5 years and once you have uploaded a vast amount of content and developed a wide array of records, switching systems is not easy. For this reason, consider selecting a system that offers what you need today with room and features that you can grow into along the way. Pro tip: Strive to identify a few fun tools to rollout a few months after launch to reduce the hurdles involved with initial learner adoption, keep learners coming back once they have grown accustomed to the system and to lessen the strain on your team during the initial implementation.
Speak with a current client. If possible, ask to speak to a reference to get the inside scoop on their day-to-day experience using the system. If a reference cannot be provided, ask your network if others have worked with this system in the past. What bumps and bruises did they encounter on the way? What do they like and dislike? What would they change? What do they wish they knew when they were in your shoes?
Gentle Reminder: Ask every silly or seemingly “dumb” questions you have. Make no assumptions. Leave no stone unturned. Each LMS has its own quirks, and it is best to find them early on. Also, do not fear asking for the sun, moon and stars; these may just inspire new product features. Most vendors are open to hearing them.
To the Point
Let Me Say (LMS)….selecting and implementing an LMS is no small feat, nor should it be! The platform which will be the mental touchstone that learners will associate with professional development is critical. It must meet modern adult learners where they are and play a large role in leading them to where they want to go.
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