One of the major ways in which the eLearning world is developing is with the learning content management system (LCMS).

It can sometimes feel difficult for educational organisations to keep up with the constantly evolving world of the online learning platform. We are lucky enough to be surrounded by all manners of technical innovations, and there are dozens more tools and virtual opportunities at our fingertips than there were even just a few years ago.

gestion de contenido

What is a learning content management system?

A learning content management system is a type of intelligent cloud-based software that makes the online teaching and learning process a great deal more straight-forward to handle.

Your LCMS will work by enabling you to create and manage all the necessary teaching materials and resources for both blended learning or entirely online courses. It acts as a centralised online learning platform to host all these resources, making it a very handy archive for both students and tutors.

In addition to acting as a place to store resources in the cloud, an LCMS is also important as it provides tutors with invaluable tools for designing and creating content. With the support of a learning content management system, tutors and other staff members will be able to create a full range of teaching resources including course guides, text documents, charts, data sets, revision activities, videos, voice recordings and assessments.

How is a learning content management system (LCMS) different to a learning management system (LMS)?

The key difference between a learning content management system (LCMS) and a learning management system (LMS) lies in the missing word: content.

Functionality of an LCMS is centred around the creation and hosting of teaching and learning resources. In comparison, the functionality of an LMS is about distributing, disseminating and tracking how those resources are being accessed.

In order to be as effective as possible, a comprehensive online learning platform would include the functionality of both LCMS and LMS systems.

content management

An LCMS is right for your organisation if…

  • …you teach courses that are offered fully online
  • …you incorporate blended learning or flipped classroom principles into classroom-based courses
  • …you are dedicated to creating and distributing high quality learning resources and materials
  • …you want to be able to offer staff members and students access to an online learning platform where resources and materials are easily searchable
  • …you want to improve the standard of the learning resources you are currently offering to your students
  • …you want to benefit from high quality tools to make course content creation easier and more successful
  • …you are searching for a way to make course planning more time effective for your staff members and cut down on unnecessary admin and repetition
  • …you want to introduce automation to some parts of the course creation process in order to make better use of your teaching time and resources.

How can you get the best from your learning content management system?

#1. Invest time in staff training

In order to make the most of the software they have available to them, it will be important for your entire staff base to have been properly trained on how to use it. Though most LCMS options will be intuitive to use, issuing formal training will ensure that your staff are aware of all the available features and how they can be most effectively used.

#2. Customise your system to fully meet your needs

Many types of LCMS online learning platform will allow you to completely customise the experience you and your staff members receive. This means that you can set available languages, ensure the educational platform is fully branded to fit in with your corporate identity and even set up different educational hubs within the system to meet different needs.

#3. Make the most of tracking and assessment tools

An effective learning content management system will offer a range of assessment and tracking tools designed to make the learning process more effective throughout your organisation. Using these automated assessment and tracking features to their full capability will enable your tutors to spot weak areas and identify struggling students.

 

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