What is an LMS? Maybe for some teachers, the term LMS is no longer foreign. LMS or Learning Management System is a tool or application to support teaching activities. This LMS is important, not only for distance learning during a pandemic, but also when studying at school or campus.
The features offered by LMS are able to ease the task of teachers and students. In this article, we will discuss more about LMS, starting with the definition of what LMS is and also its advantages and disadvantages.
Definition of what is an LMS
The definition of what is LMS or Learning Management System is a software developed for tracking, reporting, assessing and managing teaching activities. With LMS you can not only give quizzes, assignments and more but also assess the work of students.
Therefore, LMS is considered as a software that will greatly assist distance learning and direct learning at school or campus. Sometimes the LMS is not only used in the scope of education but also in offices. The Learning Management System can also be used in the professional sphere to train new employees.
LMS function
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What is LMS (Learning Management System)[/caption]
After knowing the definition of what a learning management system is, let's find out more before exploring the advantages and disadvantages of LMS.
Actually, the function of this LMS is defined by its name. Let's discuss one by one.
- Learning – become a source of knowledge sharing or learning materials for users.
- Management – an organized system makes it easier for teachers to assign assignments and students to do them.
- System – everything is automated from the determination of deadlines to the scoring system so that teachers don't have to bother doing it manually.
So if summarized, this LMS serves as a source of knowledge sharing that makes it easier for students and teachers in the learning process because everything is automated by a sophisticated system.
Advantages and Disadvantages of LMS
LMS with all its sophistication has advantages as well as disadvantages. Well, with this maybe you can consider using it or not. In the following, we will explain the advantages and disadvantages of a learning management system.
Advantages of LMS
The following are some of the advantages of LMS that can help your teaching activities and the learning process of students.
- Efficiency of assigning assignments and materials, no need for paper modules and circulating via drive or email.
- Students can access teaching materials even before the schedule starts so they can study first.
- Flexibility to conduct quizzes and track the success rate of students taking quizzes.
- Easily measure the effectiveness of the lessons given.
- Lessons can be more fun because the teacher allows uploading files such as audio, video and images.
- The results of students' work can be recorded, stored and even processed by the LMS system, making it easier for teachers to recap grades.
Disadvantages of LMS
Now, after discussing the advantages, it is incomplete if it does not discuss the disadvantages of the learning management system.
- Sometimes LMS subscription fees are not cheap, not to mention having to use a fast internet connection.
- If you use the free one, the features are less able to cover an automated learning process.
- If you don't have an IT team, maybe you will be a little bothered if you have to customize the LMS that will be used.
- It doesn't support fast real-time interaction, so you have to use another platform if you want to have a quick discussion.
In the following, we have explained the advantages and disadvantages of LMS. To use it or not, will of course be your own decision. But, in our opinion, using LMS today is very necessary because it will facilitate the learning process.
Learning Management System (LMS) features
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Learning Management System (LMS) features[/caption]
This easy learning process certainly cannot be separated from the features that support the LMS. In this section, we will explain to you, what are the features that make this LMS easy for teachers and students to use.
- Smart scheduler – schedule consultations, tests, etc. and send notifications about important dates.
- Data tracking – helps teachers to see how students are following the assignments and folders that are shared.
- Automated notifications and alerts – there will be notifications from the LMS to remind you about due dates, quizzes, and others.
- Customization of views – views can be adapted to the institution where the teacher and students are located.
- Mobile learning – not only through the web which is usually accessed via a PC, LMS can also be used via mobile with applications.
- Asynchronous learning – students can learn anywhere and anytime without having to meet face-to-face in real-time with the teacher.
- Creating exercises – LMS allows teachers to create various types of practice questions such as essays, matching, multiple choice and others.
After exploring the basic features offered by LMS, it's time for you to find out what are the best LMS.
The Best Learning Management System
In our opinion, there are many things that make the LMS on this list lined up as the best learning management system. Starting from the features, prices and also availability across devices.
Well, the best LMS according to SSL Warehouse are:
- Moodle – This LMS is open-source and can be customized according to your agency.
- Docebo – cloud based, easy to use and can integrate with many apps.
- Edmodo – easy to use because it is user-friendly, cloud-based and more economical.
- Learn Upon – a clean and attractive interface makes it easy to use.
- Google Classroom – available for multiple devices, so it's more flexible.
However, if you feel that the available LMS is inadequate, creating your own LMS website can be the right solution.
Also make sure the LMS website you are using will have an SSL certificate. Hopefully this article is useful for you.
