Traditional classroom-led learning is gradually becoming outdated and being replaced with e-learning. Although the transition is smooth and swift, it is sparking curiosity in the education sector. Education sector is rapidly undergoing a major transformation with the Learning Management Software taking the centre stage. Looking at the benefits of the invention, adoption of it is the perfect recipe for institutional success. Vidyalaya endorses the new change and aids for digitalized education. Learning management system always improve the learning process with new skills and increase the reach and speed. Almost all leading educational institutes have chosen the LMS as the educational partner to set their students ready for the future. If you are still doubting it or are confused about how to select the right LMS System for you, then you are in the right place. Spend some time on reading this worthy article and at the end, we hope you are ready for the right adoption of the LMS.

What is Learning Management Software?

A Learning management software is a software application that manages, delivers, monitors, and tracks the learning courses and programs under one roof. This centralized hub is beneficial for educators in administering the content and programs, while learners can access the course content, assignments, and assessments from their preferred location and time. Here are some of the highlighted benefits of the Learning management system:

• A central repository for course content
• Makes learning more convenient as if offers to learn from anywhere, anytime
• Scalability and flexibility
• Wide choices for course content storage and presentation
• Parents can get insights into the ward’s education on their smart gadgets
• Efficient tracking and reporting
• It offers a simplified learning experience

What are the steps to be followed when selecting an LMS system for your school?

Naturally, one may be confused while selecting the learning management system as the market gives you diversified options. We have come up with a detailed guide for selecting the apt learning management system for you.

1. Recognize your Needs:

The first step in the selection of Learning management software is precise selection criteria. You must have no doubt about what exactly you want.

Decide your goals:

Ask yourself questions like ‘What I want through the LMS system?’, the answer will give you the expected outcome. Make sure your expected outcomes are practical, achievable, specific, time-bound, and smart. Get every role of the user into consideration so that not a single stone is left uncovered. Analyse the system from different perspectives to make the goals comprehensive. With clear objectives, you can track the progress, and stay focused on your objectives.

Identify your target audience:

Understand what is the target audience of your Learning management system is. They are students, teachers, administrators, and sometimes parents. Here are some of the key considerations:

• Understand the age range of the users, their educational qualifications, and cultural diversity that may affect the handling of the LMS system.
• As it is a digitalized interface system, the digital literacy of the user will be one of the core pointers. Also, you need to understand their access to technology to use the system efficiently.

2. Note down your LMS Requirements:

There are different types of LMS systems available in the market-cloud-based, open-source, and industry-specific. Go through the pros and cons of each of the types and determine which may be the best fit for you.

Feature specifications:

A key point here is that you must have a clear distinguished picture of mandatory and nice-to-have features of the Learning management software. We have listed both of them for your reference:

Mandatory features:

• Content management
• Content creation
• User management 
• Mobile accessibility
• Security features
• Tracking and reporting
• User-friendliness
• eLearning Support

Nice-to-have features:

• Gamification
• Custom branding
• Integration with other systems
• AI and machine learning
• E-commerce capabilities
• Social learning

Pricing and Budget Constraints:

It is also advisable to keep your one eye on your budgetary constraints while luring with the features. Go for the LMS platform with transparent pricing plans. You may choose from charge per user/tiered pricing if you are a small or middle-sized institute. Here are some common pricing models:

• Subscription-based
• Per-user pricing
• Tiered pricing
• License fee
• Pay-per course
• Open source
• Freemium Model

Each pricing model has its pros and cons. Evaluate them thoroughly based on your institute’s size, budget, future plans, and specific requirements. Also consider if there are any additional costs included along with the base amount like integration, upgrades, support, and customization.

3. Traverse through the Market:

Now you have a clear idea of your needs and features in the expected learning management system. The next thing you have to do is traversing of the market which is already flooded with different options. You can accomplish this step with the following tricks:

Identify leading LMS platforms:

Get the help of survey sites to compare and analyse the LMS platforms. You can get an idea of user reviews, specifications, features, pros and cons listed there.

Sneak Peek Industry events:

Try to attend industry events, exhibitions, seminars, and webinars to understand pedagogical approaches and emerging technologies. Focus on industry reports and award/recognition holders to set up the criteria.

Contact Industry Experts:

Reach out to the industry experts who have implemented the LMS system to get insights into the selection process. Take the help of social sites to get user satisfaction reviews, or take the help of eLearning consultants.

4. Check out Vendors:

The traversing of the market, you may end up with a list of preferred vendors that you may rely upon or probably shortlisted for consideration. This step will give you a final list of potential vendors to whom you may approach with final consideration for your Learning management software.

Evaluate the vendors:

Try to collect as much detail about the vendors, their backgrounds, position in the market, product portfolio, client testimonials, etc. Don’t forget to take a glance at their website and social media accounts.

Ask for a free demo:

Nowadays, all leading vendors are ready with a free trial of their products. You can ask for it for a specific period (almost 14 days). During this trial, you can have hands-on experience to ensure your functional requirements are getting ticked or not. In this period, explore the system as much as you can, upload images, audio, video, and other multimedia formats, set up different users, and use the system from that perspective, course creation, assessments, reporting features, etc.

Assess the User experience:

Come up with a decision based on how you feel about the system as a user. Your ease while operating the system, help menus, customization, navigation, setting up different options, etc. Keep some markings to compare the experience with other options.

Don’t forget the customer support:

Ask the vendors how they can provide the in and post-implementation support. Evaluate them based on their instantaneous, SOPs, service quality, and effectiveness. 

5. Zero down your LMS System:

It may be an obvious case that you may come up with multiple LMS systems that may fit your requirements. The next step is to create a document called a Request for Proposal (RFP) to approach the vendors to get thorough information for comparison. Here are the steps:

Drafting of RFP:

In the RFP, you need to specify some details like your needs, exceptional use cases, and requirements along with:

• Company’s background and project objectives
• Budget and pricing specifications
• Technical and functional requirements
• Expected integrations and customizations
• Security and compliance standards
• Timeline constraints and scalability expectations

Send RFP to selected vendors:

You have a list of selected vendors, send this RFP to this list with a cleared deadline for responding.

Evaluate the received proposals:

Once you get a response from the vendors, compare them based on:

• How the LMS is exactly fitting your requirements
• Budgetary requirements fulfilments and ROIs
• How reliable the vendor is 
• Clarity in the proposal

We hope that after following these steps; you get your perfect LMS System that exactly fulfils your requirements and takes your educational visions ahead! 

Closing Words!

We all know that the future of the education sector clearly includes a learning management system as it provides an intuitive, tailor-made, and effective learning experience. With the smooth integration with groundbreaking advancements like AI, mobile learning, and extended reality, big data analytics, we are expecting more personalized and apt learning management software. The dynamic, learner-centric, and effective features of the software make it a perfect selection for your institute.

Vidyalaya has been a pioneer name in the EdTech industry and has been facilitating diverse clients for over 23+ years. Our top-notch products are already smoothening the workflows and making them more efficient. If you are also looking to adopt the future of education, the fusion of e-learning with the LMS System is your perfect go-to strategy! Drop us an email or call on our contact number to have a discussion with us!