The main thing!

I had written earlier about how the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing!

So, what is the main thing in an LMS implementation?

It certainly is NOT the technological act of installing the LMS on a server, creating the structure and adding learners. What is the point of having a system that tracks learning, if there is nothing to learn? Which brings us to the next item in the LMS implementation - courses.

At a basic level, courses will be either Instructor Led, which means that the LMS is used simply to track attendance and feedback. So, in this approach, the LMS turns out to be a very expensive attendance and feedback tracking system.

At the next level, we have content dumps - pdfs, videos, slide decks, audio and animations, which are simply uploaded for learners to view. Again, quite an expensive proposition to simply store and run content repositories.

The real impact of an LMS really comes to the fore, only when content is created specifically for self-paced learning, which is packaged for the LMS, so that at least the basic benefits of tracking progress and assessment scores can be achieved. This in turn allows learning administrators to analyse data and trends from real-time learning activities that an LMS is adept at tracking. Therein lies the true value of an LMS.

Therefore, in my view, in an LMS implementation, packaged self-paced learning content is the main thing in an LMS implementation. Without this, the LMS will remain a tool which is used to track attendance and maybe feedback, which in turn will lead to less usage of the LMS.

Which brings me to my next point... When budgeting for an LMS implementation, it is absolutely important to budget for development of content. This budgeting for content development can be either in-house or out-sourced (the quintessential make vs. buy conundrum), which will be dealt with in another post.

Therefore, I submit

Content is King, And that is the Main Thing!!

Whose LMS is it anyway?

Continuing with my earlier post on LMS, I wanted to write about "the main thing", but Manish Mohan's post on What type of CLO are you, inspired me to write this post instead.

So, who does the LMS belong to? Here is a list that might sum up what you would have heard in several organizations.

• L&D: Well,duh! Aren’t we responsible for all learning-related matters? So, the LMS is ours!!!
• HR: Now, wait just a minute. We have this fantastic HRMS and LMS is part of it, so it’s ours!
• IT: You think this system will run on thin air! We control where and how it runs; it’s ours, and if you don’t agree, we’ll remove all your access rights. :)
• Finance: In this day and age, when websites can be made free, we don’t understand why we paid a tonne of money for this system, and it seems we will continue paying more. So, it’s ours; we need to keep a close watch on this!
• Operations: Meh! Who’s going to use this system? Us! Back off now!! It’s ours, and we will use it as we please.
• CEO: I think you are all forgetting, who agreed to this huge investment. It is my baby! I want to showcase it to the board as my idea and I will show what impact it has had on revenue, bottom line etc.

I guess in any organization, who the LMS belongs to, depends on various circumstances and situations specific to that organization. But what is most important is that in order for any LMS implementation to be successful, all involved departments must be in sync, and all three types of CLOs need to be satisfied!

Yell, Yum, Yes!!!

Yes, I am a South Indian, and yes, that is how many South Indians would pronounce LMS (Learning Management System), but that is not what this post is about.

Having interacted with a variety of stakeholders who want to get on the LMS bandwagon, I can broadly categorize them into the following three types.

The Yell type, the Yum type and the Yes type!!!

Yell
These are the ones who make a lot of noise. For them, the LMS is yet another means to publicize the work that they are getting done. Typical things you will hear from the Yell varieties:

• I need to make sure that I can justify to the board / top management etc. the investment that has been made in the LMS.
• How can we ensure that all people are enrolled in the system from day one?
• What kind of reports can be published to show usage?
• We need to populate this with as many courses as we know!

Yum
The yum varieties are those who are looking for the yumminess in the LMS. For them, this is another thing that must look good, feel good and be marketable. Typical things you will hear from the Yum varieties:

• We need the best-in-class LMS. Cost is not a consideration.
• Let's only upload high-end courses. All courses must have plenty of 3D animations, video, multimedia, the works!
• The interface must be customized to suit our company colors etc.
• We must have a learning companion / avtar throughout the course.

Yes

The yes varieties are the ones that we love. They are the ones concerned about the learners and learning! Typical things you will hear from the Yes varieties:

• What type of tracking is available?
• How easy is it for learners to search for courses?
• What types of assessments are available?
• Can learners retake the courses as many times as they want?
• What types of media are supported?

So, while I am sure, as an e-learning professional, you would love to have as many of the Yes varieties as possible, remember that you will come across a mixture of the above. Also, since typically, you will be dealing with multiple people in the same organization, you will find predominant Yells, predominant Yums and predominant Yesses.

The challenge with the Yells and the Yums, is as Stephen Covey would say:

The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing

And in an LMS project, the main thing is to ensure managed learning!!!