7 Features to Look For When Choosing an LMS

Ready to jump into the world of Learning Management Systems (LMS), but don’t know where to start or what you should be looking for?

After considering your organization’s needs by conducting a needs analysis and identifying the goals and objectives of your training program, it’s time to choose an LMS.

But that doesn’t have to be an overwhelming process.

To keep matters simple, here are seven features you should be looking out for when deciding on which LMS is best for your organization.

1. Interactive learning

Keep your adult learners motivated and interested in your course content through interactive elements. Built-in gamification – think leaderboards to encourage competition and rewards or badges to celebrate achievements – videos, quizzes, and social learning that promotes content sharing, are all features that not only increase engagement, but help with knowledge retention.

2. User-friendly interface

An intuitive design that’s easy to navigate will boost your engagement, minimize your learners’ frustration, and all but guarantee a smooth transition when it comes to onboarding. This is ideal to not only increase the success of the learner, but to make it easier for training managers and educators to track learner progress, manage courses, and access data.

3. Customization

Your LMS should be customizable to reflect your organization’s needs. Meaning, you’re able to tailor the interface, the branding, and the way the content is delivered. This includes personalized learning paths that allow learners to progress through courses at their own pace as well as the integration of third-party tools or other software.

4. Scalability

Your organization’s needs are constantly evolving; your LMS needs to be able to change with you. Can it accommodate more users, content, and courses? What sort of pricing models does it offer? You may prefer a cost effective, tiered structure or a licensing option, depending on what’s best for your organization and budget.

5. Security

Your learners’ security and privacy should be of paramount importance when choosing an LMS. Data security breaches are becoming more and more common; it seems like every week there’s been a city, government organization, or company whose information has been targeted by cyber criminals. Privacy controls, password-protected logins, and an automated backup system are just a few ways that an LMS can protect sensitive data against potential malicious activity.

6. Reporting and analytics

Customizable reporting functions can give you measurable data that can determine if your organization’s goals and objectives are being achieved. By tracking learner performance, completion rates, downloads, and more, an LMS can give you visual data on just how effective your training content is. If your program is falling short of what your goals are, then you can adjust it, or review why it might not be effective.

7. Support and training

Responsive customer support can ease frustration when it comes to issues that arise during implementation and while you, your organization, and your learners use the LMS. Resources like training documents and articles can lead to a smooth user experience. For administrators, having online help available to troubleshoot issues as they come up, ensures that quick and comprehensive support is just a click away.

Looking for an LMS that has ALL of the above features (and more!) – check out Skillbuilder® LMS. Contact us for a free trial to see if it’s everything your organization has been dreaming of.

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