Challenging the historical LMS – building for success from the ground up

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Libby Cross, Senior Marketing Executive

L&D professionals from across the UK gathered to discover and discuss expert tips, compelling ideas and helpful hacks that will transform training delivery and drive engagement.

Product expert, Sam Morgan, hosted the session and showcased how to make the most of the modern LMS and leverage gamification concepts to grab your learner’s attention – and keep it. Check out some of the innovative ideas he shared below!

What do your modern users expect?

Expectations of fluid and convenient technology mean learners demand their training reflects the same experiences.

BYOD and multi-device is already commonly happening in training within organisations, allowing users to train on the go and at their point of requirement.

But what about the LMS? What can you do to build an LMS that replicates the same journeys and personalised experiences your users are having outside of the workplace?

• Easy to find courses or resources – Push content to users through a well mapped out learner journey. Consider the user experience and utilise audiences to guide different pathways.
• Simple, clear and relevant interface – Apply the lessons learned by others and reflect the experiences on social media and online to your learning environment.
• Convenient access – Ensure your LMS is available on multiple devices and provide your learners with a seamless learning delivery regardless of device or internet connection.
• Personalised experience – Consider your users’ past performance, skills gaps, audiences and job role to push relevant content and information. Imagine a Netflix approach to your LMS where you can provide a seamless and relevant experience based on previous activity. You can recommend appropriate content or activities to your employees at the time they require it depending on who they are or where you want them to go in your learner journey.

Let your LMS do the work for you

Sam explored some of the functionality available in Leaning Pool’s LMS that supports this strategy.

• Audience creation – Dynamically move learners from group to group depending on their activity, engagement or type. For example, if a user is not very active, move them to a group that addresses the issue and works on re-engaging and communicating with them.
• Social activities – This allows your users to rate any activities, work collaboratively in teams and review posts by leaving comments in forums.
• Flexible user interface – Reinforcing the element of personalisation, you can change the user interface depending on who your learners are or where they are in your mapped out journey. glh Hotels created a targeted user experience by implementing four on-brand portals which reflected the four independent brands under the glh umbrella, meaning every employee logged on to an LMS interface that reflected the brand they work for.

Using gamification concepts to drive engagement

Gamification continues to prove it’s value in organisational training, but how can you leverage the concept in your LMS to drive engagement?

Sam explored a few interesting gamification features, some of which you could easily incorporate into the build of your LMS:

• Leader boards – Utilise badges and leader boards to encourage healthy competition between your learners, let them gain points when they perform certain actions or activities and create a dashboard to provide them with a daily update of their (and their peers) current progress and achievements.
• Levels – Implement levels to drive your learner to their next activity, ensure each challenge is harder than the next as the increase in difficulty generates the urge for learners to come back for more and complete the next stage.
• Instant positive feedback – Consistent and instant feedback is a key part of game play to encourage regular self-evaluation throughout their training experience.

Want to find out more about how to build for LMS success? Watch the full webinar recording below.