24 Feb
“Hey, Anoop… What are the different types of LMS in the market..??”
This is the most popular question that I have been asked. I will try to be as simple as possible while explaining the concepts to you.
A Learning Management System is a computer-based system for learning, training, and managing education. LMS is used to monitor student performance, course progress, attendance, and participation.
The development of the Internet has made online learning more accessible. Nowadays it is not necessary to have a physical classroom or instructor to provide training for employees. A Learning Management System allows trainees to access training courses via their own computers or mobile devices. They can access this at any time they need without being physically present in the classroom.
Online learning has become an important resource for training employees due to its many advantages over traditional forms of education. Trainees are able to learn anywhere at any time with complete flexibility in their schedule and location – this will allow them to keep up with the rapid project changes happening nowadays.
“Learning Management Systems are used to organize training courses. They are also used to create, manage, and deliver these courses. The technology is designed to keep everything in one place for the trainer or the learners.”
An LMS Can Be Used For A Variety Of Things, Including:
-Creating an organizational structure that can be used to learn policies and procedures
-Publishing course content
-Scheduling tests for learners
-Assigning tasks to individuals
-Engaging with quizzes or games
-Providing students with guides or PDFs or downloads
A Learning Management System Consists Of Two Parts:
An Admin Interface
A User Interface
Inside the admin interface, administrators can create course content, upload course materials, and assign users to courses. The admin interface is often used by the trainers, instructors or teachers themselves.
They enable educators to maintain information like course assignments and grades on individual students and track student progress as well.
Types Of LMS
Now that you know what an LMS is, time to take a look at the LMS types. Like most software, there isn’t just one type of LMS. In fact, when you begin to search for an LMS to implement in your organization, you may feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices that exist.
Let’s break down and compare the main LMS types to help you find out what would be the best fit for your business and training needs.
Based On Deployment Model #1
Cloud-based LMS
A cloud LMS is one that’s made available for you by a third party, usually under a subscription model. The team that created your LMS will take care of installation, updates, and server monitoring. Your cloud provider might also offer free or paid backups, as well as various upgrade options. This only means that the organization has to pay monthly or yearly fees for using it. The subscription model can include all kinds of training needs, whether it’s webinars, online courses, live courses, assessments, or other learning activities.
“ Pricing for this kind of software varies depending on the company’s requirements and usage frequency. ”
Self-hosted LMS
A self-hosted LMS platform (or locally deployed) is basically a web application, usually sold as a licensed product. You install and maintain the platform on your own server, which makes this LMS option more secure.
You need to install a self-hosted LMS on your own and be responsible for things like backing up your data and updating the server software. You’ll also need to contact the vendor and renew your license after version upgrades.
“ This kind of setup provides extra flexibility for integrating with your local infrastructure as well as the option to alter its code to fit any special needs you might have.”
Private Cloud LMS
Halfway between the locally-deployed and cloud options, you get a secure and private LMS environment that doesn’t share resources or code with other businesses, giving you the best possible performance and security.
“ Installation, monitoring, and updates are taken care of for you, while you retain direct access to your LMS to customize or integrate it with your other infrastructure. ”
Based On Deployment Model #2
Saas LMS
A cloud LMS runs in a Software As A Service (or SaaS) model. This means that you choose your software provider, run a free trial if available, and then pick a pricing plan based on the features you need.
Most LMS software providers offer different pricing packages, so you can choose the one that covers your needs and not pay for features you won’t be using.
Free plans of paid LMSs are a good option if you have basic training needs. When your team scales and needs more sophisticated features, you can upgrade to a paid plan.
“Your LMS will be hosted on the provider’s server, and you won’t need to install anything on your hard drive or computer. You can rest assured that your LMS vendor takes care of data privacy issues and software bugs.”
Open Source LMS
An open-source LMS, on the other hand, requires a dedicated IT team, as you’ll have to install, customize, and maintain the system on your own. You’ll also need to update the system manually when needed.
You have no licensing costs if you choose an open-source LMS, but you’ll probably have extra costs down the road, as you’ll need to integrate and maintain your system.
You can host an open-source LMS on your company’s server, so you need to pay for that server and hire an internal or external IT team to customize and support your system.
Now that you have a pretty good idea of what you can achieve with an LMS, it’s time to build one by yourself.
“You can watch Build your Own LMS – Video Presentation, where a detailed explanation of building an LMS and a lot more things for your coaching business on WordPress is shown.”
