3 Things you need to know before implementing an LMS in your university

1. What is an LMS?

A learning management system (LMS) – or virtual learning environment (VLE) – can be a valuable tool for your university. But what is an LMS? An LMS provides higher education institutions with a centralised and user-friendly online environment where teachers, students, and administrators can all connect and support one another.

By implementing an LMS, universities and colleges can identify learning gaps, create lessons, deliver content and courses, and assess student performance with real-time data monitoring. An LMS—in the simplest terms—improves teaching and learning.

An effective LMS helps to support educational and organisational needs by providing a consistent framework for teaching and measuring student outcomes, creating a central hub for standards and course content, and improving efficiency through increased communication, curriculum management and professional development.

2. How can an LMS help you?

An LMS is a multidimensional platform that can provide a home for most of the educational technology services and tools in your university. Implementing an LMS can improve outcomes at your institution in a variety of ways.

LMS Fundamentals Include:

• Curriculum and content management features increase teacher efficiency by decreasing the amount of time spent doing repetitive tasks and switching from one disconnected learning program to another.
• With the ability to align lessons and learning resources to standards directly in the learning platform, teachers can ensure curriculum consistency for all students, improving equity and access.
• Robust reporting features support data-driven decision making, giving teachers real insight into student performance and enabling them to create personalised learning strategies for each student.
• Access to the LMS from any device, anywhere, at any time promotes student engagement by giving students ownership of their learning and simplifying their learning process with easily available resources.

3. Which LMS is right for your university?

Before implementing an LMS for your university or college, it’s important to select an instruction and learning model. By deciding what your goals are for instruction and learning in your institution, you can determine exactly what technology will be most effective in supporting your organisational needs.

Important features offered by an efficient LMS include being a one-stop-shop for all tools and resources, single sign-on and interoperability with other important systems your university utilises, access to a wide range of standards-aligned resources and content, automation of routine tasks, transparent student data reporting and strong communication and collaboration tools.

To choose the best LMS for your university, it’s important to collaborate with all stakeholders in the learning process. After understanding the fundamentals of an LMS, form a review committee of representatives including information technology experts, administrators, curriculum coordinators, academic leaders, and anyone else who will utilise the system you choose. By making educators part of the decision-making process, you can expect a fair evaluation of each LMS based on its ability to support your whole organisation’s needs.

Choosing and implementing an LMS is an opportunity to transform teaching and learning in your university. Learn more, how has VIA University College inspired their teachers to adopt a new LMS?