Turning Your LMS into a Multi-functional Powerhouse
Some friends of mine recently went Like/Share/Thumbs Up-crazy about an item on our Facebook news feeds. All of this excitement was about a Kickstarter campaign for an invention called the COOLEST COOLERwhich, if ever brought to market, promises to be:
"… a portable party disguised as a cooler, bringing blended drinks, music and fun to any outdoor occasion."
The bottom line is that this is a plastic cooler that contains audio speakers, a blender, and a USB charger. The funding campaign has been highly successful, so far raising $13,285,226 (yes, that's millions) for its inventor. If we approach this from a psychological what-the-heck-is-going-on-here angle, I think it's safe to say that the human brain goes nuts for inventions that do more than one thing. The folks at Victorinox figured this out decades ago and became rich by getting us to buy Swiss Army knives just because we couldn't resist the allure of a knife that also could uncork a bottle of Pinot Noir. As learning management system technology continues to evolve, LMS do more than simply deliver courses and track learner progress. You may, in fact, be able to use a LMS for many common activities:
- Marketing
- Bulk communications
- Company Intranet
- Document management
- Morale booster through activities such as contests
Employee reviews, common in almost all workplaces, can also be managed with the right LMS. Here's how:
Create fields to store each review criteria: Have the employees' managers log into the LMS and rate their employees on each criteria. Here's how Lady Gaga has rated her four direct reports: Once the employees have been reviewed, they can be automatically enrolled into the correct course(s) to address areas of weakness. In the example below, anyone who scored below "Meets expectations" is automatically enrolled into the appropriate course: Your LMS may not be able to make you a Margarita but used this way for performance reviews, can provide a direct link between learning and workplace performance. Not a current Absorb LMS customer and want to try it for yourself to see what it can do? Sign up for a free instant demo portal of the learner interface and our team will help set you up with full software sandbox access.
