The world of training and education has changed. It’s no longer enough simply to provide in-person classroom based learning. Instead, more and more students are expecting their learning providers to go above and beyond with their educational provision.
Many training providers and language schools now offer a range of different types of training. This includes traditional courses, but also online and distance learning. Students also often prefer to work with language schools who offer additional online resources such as course notes, recorded lessons, online assessments, video chatting, telephone conferencing and online revision activities.
A Learning Management System (LMS) makes it far easier to do all of these things. This kind of educational platform acts as a single hub for all digital training resources. When chosen carefully, an LMS can be a software investment that could make or break the success of a training school.
Some educational platforms are designed with a kind of one-size-fits-all mentality. However, though many training schools have similar needs: it’s important to recognise that they are not all the same!. Because of this, it’s really important to ensure the LMS you choose can be personalised.
Why is personalisation important?
Voluxion, our newest LMS educational platform designed specifically for language schools, was created with personalisation in mind. After all, this type of software is only valuable if it fully meets the needs of the training provider using it.
LMS software is meant to save time and make it easier to run a training school. if you’re working with a piece of software that can’t be personalised, this is unlikely to be the case. Working with an educational platform.
that can’t be personalised will mean you have to rely on clunky work-arounds, ignore as-yet-unused features and put up with other people’s priorities. It may also make it difficult for your students to know which parts of their virtual classrooms they are meant to be using.
Conversely, when you have an LMS that can be personalised, you’ll be able to decide which bits of the software both your staff and your students are able to see and access. This will mean that you can ensure things run as efficiently as possible, and that your virtual classrooms look streamlined and professional.
If you’re still unsure what you might like to personalise within your LMS, here are a few suggestions:
#1. Home screen options:
What will staff and students see when they log into your educational platform? The options available on the home screen are important for a number of reasons: firstly, because this will help to make the right first impression, and secondly because it will help everyone involved to be able to do what they need to do quickly and more efficiently. It’s likely that you’ll also want to upload your own branding to your home screen.
#2. Course sign up forms:
Whether for use by students, staff members or both, there can be a lot of value in personalising course sign up forms. This will help to ensure that all the information you need is collected as part of the sign up process.
#3. Assessment formats:
The way each training school chooses to assess students can differ hugely. Because of this, it’s important to be sure you’ll be able to personalise the format of online assessments.
#4. Hide features that aren’t yet in use:
The best types of LMS software are fully scalable. Because of this, it’s highly likely that when you first invest in a system like Voluxion there will be features included that you won’t be using right away. Instead of directing staff and students to ignore these, you’ll want to personalise the virtual classroom so that these features aren’t visible until you want them to be.
#5. Upload and share a range of different resources:
Undoubtedly the most important way to personalise an educational platform is to add learning content and resources! All training providers will want to do this a little bit differently, so it’s important to work with an LMS that will offer a lot of options for how to do this.
#6. Work with whatever class size suits you:
Class sizes range from school to school and course to course. In some cases tutors may want to work with students on-to-one, whereas certain courses may require much more heavily populated virtual classrooms. Avoid limitations by ensuring the educational platform you’re working with can handle all eventualities.
The only way to ensure an LMS is as unique as the training school it is a part of is to personalise it. If you’re currently looking to invest, do make sure you choose an educational platform that has all the personalisation options you need. Why not take a look at Voluxion? We’ve been providing LMS software for more than a decade and have worked with training schools worldwide, including Dexway courses.
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