LMS: A viable option for associations
Among the opportunities the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has opened up is the use of digital technology in associations’ activities including member engagement and networking, organizing learning and educational programs, building communities of practice and volunteer recruitment.
In less than a year since the Covid-19 pandemic started, with restrictions on public gathering and travel enforced, associations have been working on how best to serve their members and constituencies. Providing continuing educational programs to members is one of the essential value propositions, as well as revenue generators, for associations so a learning management system (LMS) offers a promising opportunity.
A recent webinar on LMS was organized by “Answers for Associations,” an Australian- dedicated community for association professionals looking to connect and join special interest groups to discuss relevant issues with their peers. The presenters were Katherine Millward and Glen Luttrell, corporate learning consultant and technical LMS consultant, respectively, of D2L ( Desire to Learn), an Australian LMS technology service provider with offices in Canada, the US, Europe, Brazil and Singapore.
In technical terms, LMS is a software or web- based application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, automation and delivery of educational courses, training programs, or learning and development programs. LMS, in layman’s term, is putting learning in an online environment.
The main objective of LMS is to enhance the learning process. It does not only deliver content, but also handles course registration and administration, skills gap analysis, tracking and reporting.
LMS was first introduced in the late 1990s, preceded by correspondence teaching, multimedia teaching, distance learning idea, telematic teaching and teaching through the internet. Modern LMS, mostly web-based, includes intelligent algorithms to make automated recommendations for courses based on a user’s skill profile, as well as extract metadata from learning materials to make such recommendations even more accurate.
An LMS delivers and manages all types of content, including video, courses and documents. In the education and higher education markets, an LMS will include a variety of functionality similar to corporates but will have features such as rubrics, teacher- and instructor-facilitated learning, a discussion board and often the use of a syllabus.
There are six major advantages of LMS: interoperability, accessibility, reusability, durability, maintenance ability and adaptability, which in themselves constitute the concept of LMS. Specifically for associations, the D2L team cites that LMS can:
Support your members to connect and network with peers and partners.
Create communities of practice and harness the evolving shape of member engagement.
Monitor and measure engagement to inform planning for future offerings.
Understand the importance and need to continue learning online for personal and career growth.
LMS has been around for more than 20 years now and has evolved into a powerful tool to deliver learning experiences. Associations, more than ever, should consider adapting to an LMS environment to maximize their potential in helping members get much-needed learning and education programs, share best practices with peers and engage with the community where they belong.
The column contributor, Octavio “Bobby” Peralta, is concurrently the secretary- general of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific and the Founder & CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives. PCAAE is holding the Associations Summit 8 on November 25 and 26, 2020 with the theme, “Leading with Agility.” The two- day virtual event is supported by Adfiap, the Tourism Promotions Board and the PICC. E-mail for more details on AS8.