What is LMS? Learn about the learning management system

Computing has revolutionized many areas in recent decades: healthcare, security, finance and many other sectors have been impacted by the use of this technology – including education. In this sense, the LMS, Learning Management System (or Learning Management System in Portuguese) emerged , a tool that brought innovations and improvements to distance learning.
Are you curious to know what LMS is, its usefulness and its impact on learning processes? We'll explain everything you need to know to implement this technology in your company – and more, tell you the new trend in this area!

What is the LMS or Learning Management System?
Basically, the LMS is an online education platform . This tool is built from a pedagogical methodology and uses distance learning technology to make the learning process more accessible, dynamic and attractive.
In practice, SGA is software that allows you to create, customize, organize and manage online courses and training, which are used by various sectors such as schools and companies. This entire process is carried out in the same system, centralizing these tasks and thus facilitating the control of activities by those responsible. In this way, the LMS brought innovation to traditional EADs , also called e-learning.

What is the LMS for?
The system came as a complete solution for distance learning, bringing several additional features that will help and facilitate the work of professionals involved in the area.

In addition to making the content available online, it is usually possible to do other activities such as recording student grades, customizing some areas according to needs, checking participant performance data in real time, and interacting with students through the platform .

 

In this way, the LMS is a step forward to streamline the learning process of students – whether from schools or company employees undergoing corporate training – and facilitate the management of this task.

Types of LMS Platforms
The LMS basically has two types of platforms, educational and corporate. Each one has different features, which are better suited to the specific needs of each environment.

Therefore, there are companies that specialize in platforms aimed at educational LMS and others to serve organizations in the corporate sphere. It is also possible to find platforms that target both contexts.

See below for each of the types of LMS platforms.

Educational LMS Platform
The LMS platform focused on the educational context is used by educational institutions in order to operationalize the availability of courses for their students or as an aid tool for courses offered in the classroom mode.

Corporate LMS Platform

The corporate LMS platform is focused on the business environment, that is, it is used for corporate education. It aims to train professionals, customers and partners. But, in general, it is a tool used for employee development, that is, to apply training and development in order to change the results of the corporation.

Features of an LMS
The functionalities of an LMS vary from platform to platform. Here, we will share the main ones. Your company should note which features are relevant to the objective you want to achieve.

For this, when choosing an LMS, it is essential to detail the features your company needs. Using an RFI and RFP is the most correct way to do this. Thus, your company reduces the chances of not having effectiveness in the LMS project.

Gamification

Gamification is a tool that uses game resources to make the LMS environment more playful, such as scores, achievements or badges for users who complete training; reach a certain level and other features that can be implemented on the platform.

The company that chooses to use this tool aims to motivate users to access the course, achieving the proposed objective. Some corporations go further and provide real awards according to the professional's performance in training.

Classroom Management
LMS can also be used to manage face-to-face courses, as they have resources to account for student attendance and organize all course schedules and resources.

The platforms enable a series of actions, such as allocating instructors, equipment, managing the classroom schedule and other resources necessary for it to happen, making it impossible for possible conflicts in the schedule to happen.

Content Management
The purpose of the LMS is to distribute content to users, therefore, every LMS available on the market has some mechanism with this functionality for insertion and content management.

Contents can be published in different formats: videos, PDFs, audios, animations, files in general, HTML pages, external links, SCORM packages (e-learning content standard), among others.

There are those platforms that allow the creation of content in the system itself, with this the institution can insert text, videos and images without much effort and in a very intuitive way.

Tests and surveys
With the LMS, the company can also develop tests and surveys in different ways:

Numerical answer;
Open response;
Multiple choice;
Relationship between columns;
True or false.

It is even possible to configure maximum possible time for the completion of tests and surveys; weight the questions and create tests with random questions.

Benefits of an LMS
Some benefits of adopting an LMS in your organization will depend on the intended use, but there are some that support all LMS platforms. See what they are:

Training Costs
An LMS reduces or even completely eliminates several costs generated with on-site training, being one of the most beneficial features for companies that adhere to the system.

Expenses with location rental or displacement of people to carry out the training, for example, are some that can be eliminated when the LMS platform is implemented.

Not to mention that, once a course is attached to the platform, it can be used recurrently, something that does not happen when training is done in person, another feature that guarantees savings.

Engagement
The learning system makes it possible for professionals to carry out training anywhere or at any time, and also for them to proceed at their own pace.

All this freedom promoted by the LMS generates in employees motivation and interest in training and this is transformed into productivity and increased results in the company.