With Coronavirus pandemic and the resultant lockdown changing the nature of jobs across sectors, upskilling has become a vital part of staying relevant. To combat the spread of the virus, organizations across the globe had to move to a remote working model overnight. Unexpectedly, digital transformation took center stage and started to appear at the forefront of organizations’ strategy. This left organizations with little time to train and skill employees for a seamless transition to ‘Virtual Workplace’. 

With major IT giants in the country announcing work from home for at least 75% of its staff till next year, it has further accelerated the need for reskilling of talent. This has given rise to many organizations opting for online skilling and training modules and programs for its employees. For seamless online training, having a learning management system is an absolute necessity. Since employees are opting for these training sessions from the confines of their homes, it becomes imperative to keep a proper track of their progress and experience. 

Below mentioned are top 5 reasons why organizations need to adopt Learning Management System (LMS) to facilitate online skilling initiatives:

Employees can access learning material in one location through a single login credentials - Instead of having learning content spread over different hard drives and devices, learning management system enables organizations to store entire content and data in one location. This reduces the risk of losing important data and makes it easier to create online learning courses. With cloud based learning management systems, every member of the training module can access the information stored from any location and at any given time of the day. 

Provides unlimited access to reading materials - To enhance learning, in addition to online lectures and training, it is important to upload supplementary reading material for employees. Once the content is uploaded on the learning management system, participants have unlimited access to the information they need. Even those who are on the go can login to the LMS platform via their smartphones and tablets.

Easily tracks attendees progress and performance - The best learning management systems enable trainers to keep a track of learners’ progress and ensure that they are meeting their performance milestones. Hence, most learning management systems feature reporting and analytics tools that not only allow trainers to pinpoint areas where learners need improvement but also where they excel. 

Accelerates learning and understanding - A Learning Management System reduces online training time, as it doesn’t bombard learners with extra information. It provides them only with the requisite material in a direct and organized manner. Hence, instead of sitting through lengthy training sessions, learners can simply click on the online modules they need and absorb the knowledge in a fraction of the time. 

Makes the online learning interactive - The most significant part of having LMS is that it makes the online learning interactive and consolidated. Trainers and attendees can come together on a single platform to collaborate in real-time. This makes the learning process interactive and engaging as participants can assess their understanding by taking online exams or quizzes, participate in live scenarios and simulations, and watch eLearning videos that highlight complex processes or tasks.

Some of the distinctive features of a Learning Management System (LMS):

Carefully crafted teaching plan - It enables trainers to design the learning plan for each subject and every attendee is aware about the kind of assignments and tasks they need to perform for successful completion of the training module. 

Assignment planning - Using LMS, trainers can create assignments. Attendees get an assignment notification as per their learning plan. They can complete the assignment on LMS and submit it. Trainers can review it in real-time and grade the attendees. The system stores all assignments, details and send grading and feedback to each attendee. 

Centralized communication tool - This tool provides centralized communication platform to facilitate one-to-one or one-to-many conversations amongst trainers and attendees. 

Interactive tools for holding quizzes and polls – These interactive tools enable trainers to create quizzes, comprising of various formats such as multiple choice or matching answers. These are held online and attendees are graded and provided with feedback instantly. 

Forum Tool - This tool enables participants to initiate discussion on specific topics amongst themselves. It is equivalent to social media conversations. However, these discussions are closely monitored by the trainer. 

Supplementary reading material - Supplementary reading material to speed up the learning process can be periodically uploaded on LMS so that attendees can refer to it in their spare time to fast-track their learning process.

WiKi Tool - It allows participants to add and edit a collection of webpages. This can be an individual or collaborative activity. 

Workshop - This is a peer-to-peer assessment tool. Using this tool, participants can go through each other’s work and grade it. This promotes collaboration and teamwork amongst the attendees. This is closely monitored by the trainer. 

Calendar Tool - This tool helps attendees to keep track of their academic as well as company training calendar, training deadlines and updates on virtual group meetings.

In a global market that has been redefined by changing consumer habits, and affected markets, the usage of LMS is poised to grow at a fast rate.  Factors like policy and enterprise mobility, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), and the growing inclination towards Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) will aid in this growth and transformation of eLearning in both corporate and academic set ups. In fact, the global LMS market is pegged to grow at a CAGR of 14% and touch USD 25.7 billion by 2025. 

Similarly, in the Indian scheme of things, this market is poised to clock in a 120% growth by the end of 2020, with a value of $1.7 billion, according to recent reports by Omidyar Network India and RedSeer Consulting. With a lot to offer, EdTech, powered by innovative learning management systems will bring in a much needed contemporary and forward looking approach towards education, leading a revolution for the benefit of all involved.