LMS, acronym for the expression Learning Management System, which means Learning Management System, is also called VLE, ​​Virtual Learning Environment.

All the acronyms above translate the following concept: virtual platform for distance education. The LMS, however, stands out for presenting a better developed and finalized management, which automatically advises the manager at all stages of the courses.

Through the LMS platform, it is possible to evaluate and conduct the performance of each student individually. In addition to having an interactive proposal between students and teachers, facilitating communication and analysis of all stages.

It also serves to facilitate student enrollment, issuance of certificates, control of payments, etc. If your intention is to coordinate and manage distance courses, for your EAD to work, you must use an LMS platform when developing it.

The LMS is a software created to specifically serve the management of the most diverse types of digital courses, via educational institutions or corporate universities.

And what is the LMS for?

Basically, the LMS serves different EAD projects, from the most complex to the simplest, whether in an educational institution or a corporate university. If you are looking to be able to monitor the details of the courses you will develop, either through evaluations or through supervision of use, you will certainly find advantages in the LMS.

However, it is important to warn that the platforms are not standardize, that is, the individual characteristics and functionalities of each one must be analyzed to understand which one will be the best suited to your project.

When was the LMS created?

Before the emergence of the LMS, in 1924 the first teaching machine was create, develope by psychologist Sidney Pressey. This machine made it possible for students, when answering multiple-choice questions, to receive instant feedback on their mistakes and successes.

Pressey’s work was later adapted by fellow psychologist Skinner, which came to be known as Programmed Instruction, where the content was arrange in several modules connected together.

These inventions, combined with computer and internet access, helped in the development of the first LMS, in the 1990s, for the Mac system. Several evolutions later, it was only in 2008 that the LMS came into existence as an online platform, allowing the system to be handle without depending on any internal network.

In 2012, the LMS developed to the point of being fully host in the cloud and thus became a trend, being adopted by several companies internationally. Finally, the LMS has become a mandatory element when it comes to corporate education, helping in the management of learning and adding elements that are increasingly creative and innovative in its intentions.

How does the LMS work?

The LMS has the following main features:

1. Personalization

The visual identity of a brand is one of the most important factors for its positioning in the market. We are, by nature, very visual beings. Being able to create an LMS platform with components that immediately refer to your company’s brand is something necessary for the development of your business.

With the customization of your LMS you can show the characteristics of your work, the culture of your corporate environment, greater customer loyalty and positive impacts on the market.

When purchasing a Learning Management System, you should check if it allows for the customization required, especially if you already have an educational job in person and are taking your first steps on online platforms. Anyone who already knows her work and her brand will certainly not have difficulty recognizing her in this new project.

2. Video Hosting

On a distance education platform, video classes are the essential model present in all LMS projects. The system’s ability to work with videos is one of its biggest advantages, both for engagement and for the interactivity that this type of resource provides between student and teacher. Through videos, the learning process ends up being faster, accessible and uncomplicated.

3. Follow-up

The LMS allows, via monitoring tools, to control the journey of classes and employees.

By analyzing a class, teachers can understand how to target materials to that specific group of students, also analyzing the biggest sources of difficulty, adding extra classes, etc.

By analyzing each student individually, the LMS coordinator and the professors are able to assign grades, understand whether the planning for the course is achieving positive results, and capture the points where improvements implemented.

4. Interactivity

Interactive tools help in better development of your LMS. The exchange between students and teachers is essential in any teaching management, whether face-to-face or distance learning. With communication via message, chat and even forums, the teacher can, often instantaneously, solve doubts, propose debates and also encourage joint participation of a certain class.

The different means of interaction present in the LMS stimulate the commitment and involvement of students, being responsible for the decrease in the dropout rates of distance learning.

5. Diversity of courses

Within the same LMS you can segment several courses. The software offers this type of support and guarantees individual classes and within each of these courses. For it to work, it is enough to have a clear and structured management of all the content.

6. Evaluation

With the LMS, using an ODL teaching platform, assessment mechanisms can be quite innovative. It is necessary, however, that evaluations are create with functionality in mind for both sides. For teachers, when analyzing them and for students, when solving them. One of the most interactive and playful forms of assessment widely used today is gamification, where the learning process takes place in a very light and relaxed way.

7. Website Aggregation

As a functionality of the LMS, there is also the option of integrating sites, where it is possible to gather all the questions of the platform in a single environment, generating confidence in the name of the company and the educational institution over time.

8. Extra material

In addition to videos, interactivity tools and other possibilities, the LMS has the ability to host extra materials necessary for the intended learning processes. The platform can attach materials such as PDFs, in the case of handouts and slides, in the case of presentations.