5 ways to make your LMS Content-ready

Employee Learning and Development (L&D) is a dynamic process. With things changing at a rapid pace in the corporate world, employees are constantly looking for companies to give them more opportunities to evolve. Learning Management Systems (LMS) is an effective way for organizations to roll out training programs for employees and customers across different locations. However, it’s not enough to simply deploy an LMS and then expect employees to continue taking the same programs over and over. It is also equally important to re-evaluate the training strategy often and update the eLearning content regularly. At a time when learners have so much exposure to content in their daily life, L&D needs to find new and innovative ways to keep them engaged with frequent and updated content.

Here are 5 types of content that can be uploaded onto an LMS to make it more content-ready, innovative and useful to employees:

1.Off-the-ShelfeLearning

Off-the-Shelf or OTS courses are online repositories/libraries of eLearning courses that are readily available in the eLearning ecosystem. They cover an array of topics, are compatible with an LMS, hassle-free and offer easy deployment. This means organizations simply need to pick the right ones and their employees can kick-start their learning journey. Moreover, they are available in a variety of formats (videos, microlearning content, HTML5 designed) to suit different learning styles and are tried and tested solutions. Learners do not have to spend a lot of time navigating their way through the content. They are also cost-effective solutions and are developed by Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and experienced professionals which means their efficacy is guaranteed.

In terms of topics like compliance training too, organizations do not need to worry about maintenance and updates as the courses are developed as per industry standards and these aspects are managed swiftly by the vendor.

2.Integration with Online Content Marketplace/ MOOC

MOOCs are a powerful ecosystem of learning technology solutions that offer users a strong learning experience that standard LMSs alone may not be able to provide.

MOOCs can be added to an organization’s LMS to provide integrated benefits to employees and make the ongoing training simpler and easier. By integrating MOOCs with standard LMS, organizations can add value to the LMS and leverage it as a marketing and sales tool which carries their brand and engages all their stakeholders including employees, partners, and even customers.

Once the LMS is integrated with MOOC, employees can use the MOOC for general training and take their more in-depth training on the company’s LMS. This ultimately helps reduce the cost of training and budgets. The paybacks of integrating LMS with online content marketplaces are better personalization for learners, better branding for the company, more options in terms of interactive education and training, and a quality overall learning experience.

3.In-built Content Authoring Tool

Choosing an LMS with in-built content authoring tool is a great way of having all support needs covered in one place. Generally, companies with in-house trainers and specialists find the most number of benefits from an LMS with in-built content authoring tool. This is because it allows for speed in creating a new online training course. However, the benefits are not limited only to companies with in-house trainers. Even those who have a range of different audiences also find use from in-built content authoring tool. That’s because these tools make it easy to copy an existing online training course, edit and publish it in a short time frame.

Moreover, with the help of in-built content authoring tools, it is also possible to create relevant eLearning experiences with a shorter turn-around-time. Authoring tools allow L&D to create quick updates and revisions to eLearning course designs as per learners’specific needs. This leads to another vital advantage -- a tremendous increase in knowledge retention and recall. Since learners are able to connect with the subject matter more effectively, they are likely to remember the central ideas and concepts.

4.Outsourced Custom eLearning

Despite the presence of an in-house team, organizations can still outsource custom eLearning design. This can help take some load off the in-house team or even help in catering to any additional learning demands. Custom eLearning courses have content that is meticulously curated to address learning objectives, which plug in the performance gaps of learners. Custom eLearning content is developed through a process that includes the collaboration of varied skill sets like instructional designers, SMEs, authoring tool experts etc besides a lot of careful planning and project management to create learner-centric courses.

5.Video (Recorded ILT, Recorded VILT/ Webinar, Linking from YouTube/ Vimeo)

Another effective way is to deliver training by uploading video files on to LMSes. These could be recorded sessions of webinars/VILTs conducted or linking video files from YouTube/Vimeo.To improve the user experience, the videos can be broken down into smaller, bite-sized modules. For an element of interactivity, it is also possible to add some quiz questions at the end of each module by using the LMS assessment functionality.

While an LMS is an extremely effective way to implement learning and training in an organization, it may not be the only solution to all training problems. It is necessary to think carefully about what other types of content could be added to the LMS and then create a content roadmap so that learners are engaged and keep coming back for more.