In many organizations, workplace learning consists of getting people into a room to listen to an instructor. If the workforce is distributed, the room used may be virtual instead of physical, and the donuts served may be imaginary instead of real.:
When these organizations become fed up with the effort of trying to manage their learning initiatives using pen and paper, spreadsheets, and various stone-age tools, they acquire a learning management system. The smartest of these organizations don't then abandon instructor-led learning, but rather aim to provide learners with quality content in many different formats and learning modalities:
In evaluating learning management systems, you should consider the ability of the LMS to support instructor-led events even if you presently think you'll only be serving self-paced courses to your learners. Your needs over time may change. (Just ask anyone who's ever paid to have a tattoo removed.):
Here's a list of LMS features required to manage instructor-led events:
- Instructor-led courses can take place in a physical or virtual classroom
- Instructor-led courses can issue certificates as well as educational units, credits, or points
- Instructor-led courses can be configured to have prerequisites
- Instructor-led courses can be part of a blended learning curriculum
- Instructor-led courses can have multiple sessions
- Instructor-led courses can have sessions that automatically repeat daily, weekly, etc.
- Instructor-led courses can have sessions that start and end on specific dates
- Enrollment into instructor-led sessions can be restricted to specific groups of learners based on any criteria (location, business function, role, etc.)
- Instructor-led course sessions can be configured to require approval from an administrator or instructor before a learner is fully enrolled
- The system manages venues, including maximum seating for each room
- The system manages wait lists
- Learners on a wait list are automatically notified if a seat becomes available
- The system is smart enough to uncover conflicts, where an instructor or venue is booked for two different events at the same time
- The system provides a way for learners and instructors to add course sessions to their personal calendars (Outlook, etc.)
- The system provides a calendar-view of sessions to learners, instructors, and administrators
- Resources such as study guides and other supporting materials can be attached to instructor-led courses
- The system can provide instructors with teaching materials associated with their classes
- The system provides an easy way for instructors to take attendance, ideally using a mobile device such as a phone or tablet
- Learner performance in an instructor-led course can be graded by an instructor
- Students are automatically notified if a change is made to the scheduling of an instructor-led courses
- The system provides learners with clear e-mail communication regarding enrollment, session reminders, and course completion
- Instructor-led courses can be branded with images so that they appear distinct from other learning content in the system
- The system has an easy way to provide learners with course evaluation surveys (Kirkpatrick level 1) once they've completed an instructor-led course
