9 Steps to Implement An LMS System
Online learning and its related aliases have exponentially grown over the years, not only making education reachable, affordable and engaging, but also profitable. It goes without saying that the Learning Management System, which helps learners learn anything you put up with a little help from the internet and instructors/administrators create lessons and monitor progress, has paved the way for an innovative and futuristic twist on education. Learning isn't restricted to the classroom anymore, where you would find teachers slaving across their black or whiteboards in the hopes that their students understand the message being delivered. This has not only become an anytime-anywhere process, but has also helped garner the need for a two-way learning.
An LMS, in short, is that tool that help you set up your courses on the internet. It doesn't just stop with the creating, editing and publishing: it comes fitted in with cool tools to help you manage the courses that you publish, and comes with multiple options of how you want to host them online. For more information on that, you could gladly click here. We've got everything detailed out, just for you.
That's enough talk about what an LMS is, let's get to the next major step: the Implementation. You must have narrowed your options down to a handful, and picked the one tailored to your requirements. What does it take to pull off a successful implementation of an LMS? Well, it takes solid support and scrupulous planning, especially considering the wide range of impact the system is going to have on not just you as an individual, but the organization as a whole. So, without further ado, here are 9 steps that will help you successfully implement your LMS software:
1. Identify Your Objectives.
What does your organization strive to achieve with the software? Yup, I'm talking about goals, because without those, you wouldn't be anywhere near the starting line. It definitely helps to list down the kind of goals that are to be met. Assigning a timeline for each goal and objective you list down will build up as your very own road-map to success. Do remember to prioritize your objectives, with the ideal goals bagging the top of the list.
2. Gather Your Best Minds.
You've got your list of objectives, with the desirable dates. To begin your adventure, you would need to group together a team that will enable you to spearhead the LMS implementation process. The team needs to have representatives from diverse sections of your organization including HR, IT, Training/Learning, Management etc. You can lay out a timeline for the team to meet, which help them manage their jobs and come closer to meeting the collective goal.
3. Get Top Management On-Board.
This is a big step, or rather a leap, into the future. The future in technology and education continue to grow, therefore success in these field can only be guaranteed if you have the support of the people at the top. The commercial aspect of your organization will be handled by your higher management, so keeping them in the loop about all the on-goings of the process is a good starting point.
4. Enlist Stakeholder Support
The first step to making sure you don't miss out on the sweetest deals with potential stakeholders is to make sure they understand their roles. Stakeholders are the individuals and groups who are directly or indirectly affected by the LMS. A lot of groundwork is put into implementing your chosen software, and it would all go in vain if your stakeholders aren't on board with the idea.
5. Develop A Strategy To Provide Proper Training
Gaining adequate technical support is imperative from the beginning stages of design to managing issues that may arise after implementation. Which is why before you implement your system, you must ensure that you have put together a training guide for your instructors, management, and administrators to take reference from when in doubt. This guide should be able to answer all questions related to courses, data inflow and storage, notifications, hosting, and other features that come along with it.
6. Arm Your IT Department
An LMS may seem like a pretty easy system to use, but it does come with a handful of tasks that are bound to keep an IT team scratching their heads for weeks at a stretch (story of my life). The ever persisting problem of an ill-prepared IT team looms over the implementation process of your software. The IT team is responsible for the smooth management of data and other IT-related tasks during the course of the implementation. In short, these include software authentication, system configurations, data security management and solution integration.
7. Ensure Proper Configuration
It is important that you keep the needs of the organization in mind while implementing your LMS. You and your team must have a strong understanding of where your actions would align the company in terms of their expectations and goals. You must also possess a strong understanding of the operations and necessary data for the implementation.
8. Conduct Discussions with Stakeholders
The best way to convey the endless possibilities of your LMS system is through strong communication channels for an easy deployment process. Conduct focus groups with key stakeholders, key users and deaprtments so that the most vital needs, problems and objectives are understood and addressed. LMS discussions that leave management clueless can have devastating impacts.
9. Your Post-Implementation Plan Should Be Ready
The LMS implementation does not end at launch. Since it is the very beginning of the journey, you should ensure that the foundatio for support and training is secured. Make sure that your help desk is prepared with the necessary documentation.
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