Forum Discussion
LMS Recommendations
Hi everyone,
We are looking for a new LMS and I thought I'd reach out to the community to see if anyone has one they absolutely love. We need to track ILT, and we are a franchise system so we need to be able to have groups that are managed independently, as well as overseen by a super admin (me). We currently only use Articulate for elearning software. We are looking to keep the cost fairly low of course, but what we use now is very clunky and basic. I'd love any suggestions of what you are using that you are very happy with. Thanks in advance!
I would not recommend Cornerstone; its back-end is chaos. TalentLMS wasn't terrible. In general, I think we are moving towared xAPI and LRSs, so you may want to seriously consider that industry trend before investing in an LMS.
Hi Pierre,
Not the OP, but intrigued by your comment. Do you mind explaining in simple terms what an xAPI is? We primarily use our current LMS to track compliance training renewal dates, and are just now getting into creating and loading trainings into the LMS. However, not a big fan of the LMS experience for our learners.
Any insight you can share would be much appreciated.
Cheers!
I am not well versed in this at all, and am going to beg that somebody notices my floundering to correct me and to better inform you, but let's give it a go! #DunningKruger :D
So Articulate Storyline has for a long time provided us a way to track users completing training using SCORM. Usually, that looks like a "completion" based on viewing so many slides or getting a score. You need the LMS to unpack that SCORM-reported data. If you don't have the LMS, a person might complete the training, but the trackable data doesn't go anywhere.
A growing practice is to put bits of JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) in an interactive training that leaves a trail of what behaviors the user took to complete a training. That JSON has 3 keys: actor, verb, object; and they combine to make an xAPI statement: "the actor acted on the acted". This statement is sent to an learning records store (LRS).
It is my understanding that many LMSs have an LRS built-in. Cornerstone has an LRS, so if I put an xAPI reporting course on Cornerstone, I can go to the LRS and see the actions a user took as they navigated a course. Meanwhile, I can still use my LMS to do all of those other things that the LMS does, like assign training.
Rumor has it that there is a way to provide a training without the LMS, and still be able to find the trail if you have the training linked to an LRS. I don't know where it goes. But still more rumor has it as possible to have person take a training at multiple locations, and route all of the behaviors from the various locations back to a single LRS.
The primary benefit of an LMS, as far as I understand, is the "management" of your learners. If you are training, but don't need to control the people, you could do with just an LRS... maybe.
First, a nod to my fellow Cheesehead and CSOD "sufferer" to the west. I'll be looking for you in Saba's Online Community! 😉
Second, you can certainly start with eLearning Industry's Learning Management Systems list where you can "find, choose and compare the eLearning Industry's Top LMS Software."
eLearning Industry also hosts "the top articles about Learning Management Systems, their benefits, concepts, features and many more from the best eLearning authors." Get started here.
Some of the items in this article might be of value.
Here is a list of Learning Management Systems eBooks that may be helpful.
The Learning Guild published a 5-article series from Steve Foreman, Five Steps to Evaluate and Select an LMS: Proven Practices.
HTH
Thank you very much!
I've used CSOD twice, Skillport (basically a bolt on to Skillsoft content and not great), and SumTotal (which was bought out by Skillsoft). CSOD, like others said, is kind of overengineered. I have a pretty high tolerance for back end complexity as long as the front end is clean for the users. The back end didn't drive me crazy, but it is easy to have it get messy if you have multiple admins and they aren't all careful. CSOD also seems to focus on rolling out new features before fixing bugs in existing features IMO.
I'm looking at Reach 360, a very "light" content hosting platform Articulate recently rolled out. We're only considering Reach 360 because it is inexpensive (12K/yr for up to 6000 licenses over the course of the year - users get counted on 30 day cycles, so if a user is active all year, they'll essentially count as 12 licenses). You cannot do ecommerce (charge external users for courses), and it doesn't host anything except SCORM files from what they tell me.
My biggest recommendation is doing a MoSCoW rating - what things do you absolutely need, what is nice to have, and what can you live without? Then lay out the LMS options you're considering (or alternate options to an LMS) to see if they meet all of your "must have"s.Choosing an LMS is challenging, not least because there is a vast array of LMS's available and they are often built for different markets.
I wrote a LinkedIn article recently on the the subject of differences between LMS's:
(6) Not all LMS's are born equal... | LinkedIn
The bottom line is that understanding your requirements (including what information you want to track) is vital. At the risk of making the choices over SCORM or xAPI even more confusing, it is worth mentioning that there is a third option cmi5 which is supported by Storyline and many LMS's that extends the range of data sent back to the LMS without having to go to full xAPI and implementing an LRS.
Good luck with your search,,,
