Which LMS do you use and why?

Nov 03, 2011

Hey all,

Just a quick question to you....what LMS do you use and why? 

I use Moodle 2.1.2 currently.  Why?  It seemed like a good idea at the time!  Now I'm frustrated with the SCORM reporting and interface.

Any thoughts?

-Dave

301 Replies
Roxanne Smith

Wow, this has been an excellent thread, thanks everyone!  Like many, I went with Learn that lead to Taleo then Oracle.  We are in the process of looking for something else now. My team does not want another confining LMS. They want the content to be accessible to many without the seat restrictions, yet still have reporting capabilities for those who access the courses. I am just learning about SCORM Cloud and wanted to ask the group if anyone is using this type of format to deliver their content? 

Thanks in advance.

Killian Holmes

James Starr said:

We use SkillSoft. If you threw your custom courses down the toilet and caught what came out the other end, you'd have something better than SkillSoft.


This just about sums it up. It is a piece of junk. Any ideas around best settings for publishing to SCORM using html 5 and accessing on an iPad?

Toni Lamarche

I am a newbie and lots of Uni people I am talking to are saying - Moodle coz it is free - but then I have heard others say that it is hard to learn....I am just about complete with my first Storyline course and need to make a decision on where to put it.  Maybe Articulate Online to begin?

Any suggestions on where to go from here would be really appreciated.

thanks.

Gordon Ledbetter

I went through trials last year and ended up choosing Litmos.   I'm all about simple and the process to choose an LMS provider was simple as well. I "googled" LMS providers, of which there are MANY, and narrowed it down to 6 on a short list.  The BASIC criteria I used for the short list : 1)how many learners we had 2) Price 3) US support 4) Ease of use.  Then I assembled a team of 4 to attend webinars presnted by the LMS short list providers and we posed questions and watched their demo.  A few we called back for a "second interview webinar".  Litmos was the hands down favorite because it met all the criteria, ease of use, being THE most important.  We all figured it out without even needing a user guide.  Litmos is not as robust as some products that are out there but we didn't need a full talent management product and we didn't have time to stumble through an un-intuitive product. 

Bert Koekemoer

We used CMS 4.0 for the past 4 years. The system is outdated due to compatibility to 64 bits system. We're in the process of investigating to implement a new LMS and reading the comments does not help very much. Our criteria for a LMS is 1. Compatable with SAP 2. Course design 3. Records and reporting. I will appreciate any assistance.

Alberto Pastorelli

Hi all, in the past week as been released the new Forma Lms, a new open source platform is based on the last open source release of Docebo (405 Community Edition): it has all the quality and features of the original open source versions of Docebo, an includes a new template and more than 70 changes in new functionalities and bugfixes, coming both from the community and from the partners experience. It is also possible to seamlessly upgrade from any previous Docebo Open Source version, find here more details!

Jane Maloney

My employer has been using Kallidus for about 7 years now, I have to say, my experience with this system so far has been anything but straightforward.

Currently heading up a project to replace Kallidus with Absorb by Blatant. Inital testing has shown Absorb is a much more efficient and straightforward system. The customer service provided by the vendor we are dealing with is significantly better than that we have experienced with Kallidus.

I definitely have to agree with a previous poster; there isnt one LMS that is perfect for everyone. You need to take the time to scope out your requirements, and then test a number of systems to find the one that not only meets your requirements but it easy to use for both the Admin and the learner.

Clement Dupuis

I agree with Docebo being a fantastic LMS that is very easy to use at great price as well.

However, if you're someone looking to monetize your content by selling courses and subscription online that are completely automated, this product may not be the best.  Even adding their E-Commerce module gives you only VERY basic sales capacity.

Other than that the product is fine with it's known limitation such as not being able to create sub folder when you upload files for example.

It is cookie cutter and you can get it up and running in warp time.

Best regards

Clement

Kirsten Smith

We use EZLCMS.

On a scale of 1-5, 5 being best, I would give it a 2.

On the plus side, the interface is pretty easy to work with for the most part. Their User Guide provides more of a high level overview of functionality than a detailed explanation of how items are connected. Everything I learned to do in the LMS is self-taught (manage users and groups, reports, adding courses and so forth). I created my own user guide to share with our training team so that they could better understand how things work.

The downsides are 1) the reporting and 2) responsiveness.

The reporting features are very basic. We need a lot of robust reporting for our executive team, and the only way that we can get what we need is to spend a lot of time playing with Excel spreadsheets. It's not an efficient use of our time. A few extra information filters in the LMS would made things so much easier.

Communication from EZLCMS is pretty spotty as well. They did a huge content release several months ago and did not provide any release notes. We logged in to find some interesting functionality changes that we had no idea were coming. They also have a habit of closing support tickets without a) fixing the issue and b) notifying us that the ticket was closed.

I work for a software company, and we NEVER close a client ticket without asking the client if our solution solved their issue, and our clients receive an email when their ticket is closed. We also provide release notes on our product home page when changes are coming so that our clients know what to expect.

I think price was the deciding factor when our management selected our LMS. In this case, we got what we paid for.

Kimberly Valliere

Wow, this is the LMS conversation that just keeps providing great info! To the recent mentions of Litmos, yay! I have trial tested them recently and was pleasantly surprised with the ease-of-use. There are a couple pitfalls for me with them, but I picked up the basic functions in just a few minutes. I had a sales call with my contact to answer the questions I jotted down while testing and he seemed very rushed. Of course I won't hold it against the vendor completely since I'll use their support if we implement their system. I'd love to know some of the downsides people have had with them.

I'm currently using Blackboard (Learn for SalesForce) and while it does so much, I'm using a small fraction of that. And the small fraction of what I'm using doesn't perform quite the way I wish it would. And while the platform is somewhat intuitive, it does so much that I'm usually on a hunt for the features I don't use all that often. They are clearly still an education sector focused platform and some of the features just aren't suitable for the financial services industry's regulation requirements.

I've chatted with vendors from eLogic Learning (my sales rep is highly personable and responsive), GreenLight (sales rep again is great) and OmniPlex partnered with Absorb (again, super responsive and helpful rep). I had a really good chat with an Ireland-based company called LearnUpon while at TechKnowledge and I think in a year or two, they could be serious contenders for the easy pricing structure that Litmos has. I heard many great things about Cornerstone while at TechKnowledge as well, but I haven't reached out to their sales team just yet. Some of the cheaper platforms may get me what I need, though the Salesforce app integration is nice (Litmos has this as well, so does Blackboard).

Cary Glenn

I've used Oracle as an LMS. I don't know if it was the Taleo Learn Cloud though. It was a free add-on to the Oracle HR application. It wasn't worth the money. Our IT department may not have set it up correctly when we first got it. Oracle as an LMS was truly hated by developers, learners, and managers.

Marty Blevins

Lynn Wonsick said:

Does anyone use Oracle Taleo Learn Cloud?  I really would like to hear some honest feedback.


I can't recommend it, sadly.

Learn.com was weak in a few areas, but overall a solid tool in its time with a fantastic support team.

The Taleo acquisition relegated the Learn component to a back-seat position, so development was no longer quite as robust and the support took a hit.

Since Oracle acquired the product, it has suffered significantly. A large portion of the development is now related to fixing bugs and modifying the system to match Oracle design standards. That makes it difficult for the system's development to keep pace with the market-leaders. Add to that the support issues that plague the Oracle version of the product (think >18 months to correct some issues caused by their own 'updates'), and it paints an unfortunate picture.

The base system is still solid (if a little dated) and the tech team is knowledgable, but unless you've got some serious contracting leverage and can build in penalties for service issues, I'd set my sights elsewhere (and build acquisition insurance into that contract, as well).

Kimberly Valliere

It really amazes me that no matter how many of these threads I read, there really isn't a general consensus on what LMSs are used most often. I guess that's what gives the little guys a fighting change to gain market share.

My list of LMS companies that I've reviewed is fairly small, 5 to be exact. Absorb, GreenLight, Litmos, eLogic Learning, and LearnUpon. It really feels like I should have a firm grasp of at least 10 companies in order to truly feel as though I've hit a variety of offerings (I can't review all ~550) in order to present 3-4 of the better solutions for our situation to the deciding powers.

Who should I add? I can't do Moodle, Docebo or any of the other open source platforms. It just isn't possible for my company. Also, if the pricing/year for approx 250 users is north of $20,000 (doesn't include implementation costs), I'm probably not interested in that either.

Ralf  Baum

Kimberly, I can understand your point. I think the main question for companies is:

Do we have the budget for a commercial LMS or do we want to use an open source LMS?

I can only speak reviewing the german/austrian/swiss market but this is here really a crucial question. Even larger companies use customized open source LMS.

The problem is that the LMS market is quite confusing. A lot of companies have chosen one LMS several years ago and if you have already a LMS you won't bring the LMS into question because of the workload if you choose a new one. The companies intend to upgrade the existing LMS.

I have seen about 15 different LMS and it is difficult (as a content builder) to see differences on practical side. I am not involved into user management so it is only important for me that a LMS supports Scorm, TinCan and AICC and that it ensures data protection (very important in Germany). A lot of LMS offer a lot of different features but the question is: The additional features (e.g. automatic calendre import) may not be worth the money you pay for it?