How do you update your learning management systems?

Ask yourself this: Is my LMS for learning or compliance? Often times an LMS is a glorified compliance system, ensuring that users are marked as "completed" and identifying those who aren't. This is not learning. An LMS should be dynamic, learning what skills the user needs and suggesting training to them at the right time. To optimize your LMS, you need visibility of how users are interacting with the system. What time of day gets the most traffic? What are common searches and how do those searches relate to the user's skills? By asking these questions, you can identify what learnings your users are really craving, then provide them with the sustenance they actually want. We must react to the expressed needs of a learner, not dictate them.

Before making changes to the current LMS it is important to set clear goals/targets. Then clarify which resources, competencies or expertise needed. Assess your current talent pool and create a competencies map to identify the talent gap and which areas could be developed.

Technology is evolving and your LMS should too! Think about how your current LMS is capturing data and contrast that with what data you wish you could capture, and then bring those questions to your current (and maybe your potential future) vendor. Once you figure out what you can/can’t do with your existing system, you have that use case to bring with you on your learning technology journey!

When you deliver a training within an organisation (such as a large IT company) you can verify the effectiveness of your training by replicating the activities in the live environment. I've found it useful to measure how users can interact with a specific application after training by using synthetic data in a replica of the live environment. In this way you can easily identify content issues or technical challenges.

In evaluating the LMS, it is important to determine whether the features and capabilities of the system are being used effectively and fully. Too many times, a call for change concerning the LMS derives from not entirely understanding the breadth of applications' set of tools, a partially configured framework, and a lack of sufficient training and support. If, after the entirety of the LMS has been exercised, questions or concerns still exist, then the process of selecting a new system begins. Naturally, this is a comprehensive approach, involving all affected parties, and developing a needs analysis of desired features and functionality.

Right upfront, it is very important that you establish what the ultimate goal is for your learning management system. Unfortunately, some learning and development managers, think that it’s all about system usage, when really, it should all be about impact and performance improvement.

Defining your goals and priorities for your LMS is a fundamental step in ensuring that your LMS serves your organization's needs effectively. It guides decision-making, resource allocation, and ongoing improvements, ultimately leading to a more successful and impactful learning management system. A Bird's eye view towards certain crucial pointers: 1) Alignment with Organizational Objectives 2) Focus on Learning Outcomes 3) Resource Allocation 4) Measurement and Evaluation 5) User Engagement 6) Customization 7) Adaptability 8) User Satisfaction 9) Compliance and Accountability

1) Engage Key Stakeholders: Collaborate with HR, IT, and end-users for diverse insights. 2) Set Measurable Goals: Define clear, measurable objectives for each update. 3) Future Scalability: Ensure updates align with long-term scalability plans. 4) Budget Strategy: Allocate budgets wisely for immediate and future needs. 5) Change Management: Plan for smooth transitions, including user training. 6) Ongoing Review: Regularly assess and adapt to evolving LMS trends. 7) Effective Communication: Document changes and maintain transparent communication. 8) Quality Assurance: Thoroughly test updates to prevent issues before rollout.

I believe there are 2 main areas to define here: - technical training (i.e. a new software). - theoretical training (i.e. company ethics and values). Once you clarify the main focus, then you can design your LMS accordingly. A technical training will focus on replicating a software or a company app; a theoretical training should focus on engaging ways to introduce company priorities.

Who do you need to make it happen? We should always work as a team, leveraging the sinergies between different groups and experts. As soon as you have a draft of your Goals and priorities, schedule some first meetings with key resources in all the different teams that should be involved in the project. This is an excellent way to: - Understand other resources capacities and current commitments. - Understand how the goals and priorities you defined aligned with those of other key teams - Prioritize correctly the different phases

Large companies can externalise training delivery using 3rd party providers or other companies altogether. When you're in charge of this, you should project manage the training delivery to monitor budget, time and results. Moreover, you can identify risks and potential failures so it should be easy to evaluate pros and cons. Smaller (or individual) companies can apply a similar approach, but I believe they should try to maximize "in house" resources first (personal expertise, network etc.)

When updating your LMS, consider your team's expertise. If in-house skills match the update, utilize them. Evaluate third-party providers based on expertise, cost, and timeliness. Do cost-benefit analysis and prioritize data security. Consider post-update support and customization needs. Choose what aligns best with your resources, timeline, and budget.

Testing is key to success, as opposed to diving head first into a new update and hope it serves it purpose, it is way better and in the long run more cost effective to ease into things and test for functionality using a controlled group, feedback may lead to an improvement in a proposed process and offer insight into non envisaged operational scenarios.

In my experience, I have always tested updates with group leaders and with various team members (different departments or skills) to make sure all the relevant points are met in the update: - relevance - usability - effectiveness I used to keep a detailed process book in our SharePoint which was updated regularly to reflect training changes. Updates in the process book were published in our Team newsletter to make sure everyone was on the same page.

Testing in key! System updates need to be checked prior to implementation to ensure that they perform as they should as well as to see their impact on any defined business practices so they can be accounted for prior to the go-live. All the better if the testing environment contains data that closely matches the production environment. The more closely the two environments mirror each other, the better able you will be to catch potential issues rather than have them surprise you on day one. This is particularly important in regulated environments where the LMS must be kept in a validated state.

In a large company you can use ways to gather feedback: - ad hoc meetings with selected team members; - testing in a live environment (new software or new app); - surveys (anonymous if need be); - course completion rate. This should give you enough feedback to evaluate your training. All the information will be used to update the training process book. In a small or individual company the choice should be to use a LMS which has plenty of metrics available to make sure you can measure effectiveness and results

Before rolling out your update, rigorous testing is essential. Verify that it functions correctly, avoiding any errors or disruptions. Employ a test environment or a pilot group to assess functionality, compatibility, and usability. Document the update process and results for future reference and evaluation. Once you're certain of its readiness, implement the update into your LMS. Ensure effective communication with your users to notify them of the changes and any actions they may need to take. This meticulous approach helps guarantee a smooth transition and minimizes disruptions.

As an avid user of LMS in the field of learning and development, I believe LMS is the nerve center for the education sector. However, there are two aspects that must be reiterated for it to become effective - 1. Familiarity 2. Effective training and support To begin with, whatever communication has to be shared LMS should become the information center for all of it. The more users are engaged and involved the more familiar they will become and the system will also learn eventually. Secondly effective training and support, and timely escalation to get redressal go a long way in making LMS user-friendly and accessible. Change is not easy... but adapting to something which makes processes effective must be cherished.

Friendly competition goes a long way when working to create buy-in for launching a new system or even a system refresh. This can be done by creating completion between business lines, different offices/properties, etc. to gain traction on completion of courses or hiding prizes throughout the LMS they have to search for. I’ve also supported/implemented ideas surrounding using a points based system for courses and FAQs, where an associate can cash in points for company swag, books leaders recommend or PTO.

Changes in the LMS should be reflected in the process book and should be shared regularly with team members. The process book should identify clear roles and responsibilities. I've always found useful using screen recording along with instructions, especially when delivering technical training (new software or new app). One effective way to gather feedback is to hold regular meetings with selected team members to go through the process books and the relevant updates implemented.

Identify the scope of training needed by using the scope of the change the LMS update brings. An update that doesn’t move or rename user functions, but changes the look and feel needs minimal training compared to user interface overhaul. For big updates, in addition to offering training and resources prior to go-live, offering drop-in support sessions afterwards is a good way to not only support your learner base, but give you the opportunity to identify and address recurring questions to keep your FAQ up-to-date. And don’t forget your administrators! System updates often focus more on the administrative side. Ensure any administrators not part of the testing also have instructions, tutorials and FAQs available to them.

Updates can alter the user experience, so effective communication and training are crucial. Inform users of benefits, features, and changes. Provide clear instructions, guides, tutorials, and FAQs. Encourage feedback and promptly address concerns to ensure they use the updated LMS effectively and efficiently.

If you decide to either change your approach with your existing LMS or migrate to a new one, make sure to start collecting feedback right away! Qualitative and quantitative data will tell the learner experience story much better than simple metrics like number of logins or courses completed. Where are people spending time? How are they accessing content? What are they clicking on? The possibilities are broad when you have the tools to support the analytics you desire!

Ask many sides, like the superior, the staff, other related departments and, if possible, also the customers. They are the one who are directly influenced by the training. From there, the evaluation and the necessary adjustment can start from there.

In my experience the best strategy is to keep a clear process book which includes the training process, the workflow, the instructions, the FAQ's, screen recordings, roles and responsibilities. The process book should be regularly updated to include changes and feedback. Make sure the process book is shared with all relevant users and stakeholders (and customers).