Do you really need an LMS?
An LMS is often seen as a core building block to enable digital learning. Recently I've been questioning this focus on the LMS as the core of a digital learning strategy.
LMSs are everything that is wrong with eLearning. They are organisation centred, not learner centred, compliance focused not growth focused, and the nature of compliance courses is that they are often linear and not complex and explorative.
In a large organisation it's often complex and time consuming to get a course approved and uploaded to the LMS.
Often, uploading a course to an LMS feels a bit like it's being hidden. This is all a bit different in the education sector, where students don't have access to an intranet. In this situation the LMS becomes the core knowledge and community hub because there is no alternative.
What are the alternatives to an LMS?
1. Portal built with a Content Management System (CMS)
Instead of uploading the course to an LMS, could you build a portal with a CMS, Do such as Sharepoint? Tracking can be added using Experience API. Most CMSs include features like forums, and content from rapid development tools like Storyline and Captivate can be integrated. This ‘portal approach’ to learning often makes the resource faster to update and allows for easy content curation.
2. Low-end LMS
If you are a small organisation or small training provider there are alternatives to complex LMSs, such as LearnDash. LearnDash is built on top of Wordpress and has some basic tracking and interactive features.
3. Intranet
This is a bit like the approach of building a portal but instead of just setting up a separate portal the learning experiences are embedded in your intranet.
4. eBooks
The ePub format and Apple's iBook format allow for media and some basic interactivity. eBooks can be used offline and on mobile devices and they are faster and cheaper to build than a mobile app. If what you are building is more of a resource than an interactive learning experience then an eBook could be an option.
At the recent Melbourne Learning Cafe Unconference, Cameron Hodkinson’s session focused on CGU Insurance’s experience of designing and delivering learning programs without an LMS and using Experience API for tracking. What they are finding is that the times when they need an LMS are when managers and employees need to be reminded about completing a course.
Maybe the core question that needs to asked more often by learning and development people is, does this course really need to go on an LMS?
