What do your learners want from the LMS?
You have very specific wants and needs for your learning management system. You need to be able to track who took what course. You want to be able to automatically assign courses to learners. And so you pick a solution that fit your needs. But did you stop to ask what your learners want?
The best LMS won’t help you if your end-users, your learners, hate it. You need to test your LMS from your learners perspective. Some questions to ask yourself:
- How do you know what courses are assigned to you?
- Where do you see the courses you’ve completed?
- How do you take the test or complete the electronic signature requirement?
- When do you learn about new courses as they become available?
- How can you add a course to your learning plan?
When you’re testing, document what’s easy to use and what features your struggle with. Then, you’ll want to make an implementation plan. The eLearning Guild offers a great list of tips for implementing your LMS with your learners in mind. Check out their 339 Tips, paying particular attention to Section IX, Tips on Training Users. There are several great suggestions, including:
- Explain what the learning management system can do for them and why they should use it.
- Consider only implementing the easiest features, adding more complex functionality over time.
- Train, train, train!
August 27th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Kristen, I love this video. While funny, it’s true. Folks won’t use a new tool if they are intimidated, unable to comprehend the purpose, or lack specific direction. This video does put it into perspective.