Learning Management
Systems and educational entrepreneurship and career prospects of
science graduates
Swathy.s.s
swathyssuresh@gmail.com
Learning
Management System
A learning
management system (LMS)
is a software
application for
the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting and delivery
of e-learning education
courses or training programs. LMSs range from systems for managing
training and educational records to software for
distributing online or
blended/hybrid college courses over the Internet with features for
online collaboration. Colleges and universities use LMSs to deliver
online courses and augment on-campus courses. Corporate training
departments use LMSs to deliver online training, as well as to
automate record-keeping and employee registration.
LMS
Characteristics
1.
INTEGRATION- It is necessary to have one system used by all
stakeholders including, administrators, instructional designers,
instructors, and students.
2.
SCALABLE AND FLEXIBLE- The LMS needs to be both scalable and flexible
to meet the ever-changing needs of the educational system, and
flexible enough to adapt to what the world of technology throws its
way.
3.
COST STRUCTURE- Along the same lines as being scalable, the cost must
align to the resources and funds available. Having multiple levels or
packages available will help with this.
4.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT- While the LMS needs to be cost-effective, it
needs to prove its value with effective measures of growth by
learners, in order for the institution to see the value in the
system.
5.
USER FRIENDLY- The system's features and layouts need to demonstrate
an ease of use by all of those involved.
6.
LEARNER-CENTERED FEATURES- In order for learners to take ownership of
their learning, they need to be able to personalize and customize the
LMS system to meet their needs. This includes interface, as well as
to the extent they are able to enroll in courses.
7.
ADMINISTRATIVE COMPONENT- Administrators should not only be able to
track student progress in a course, they should be able to check
enrollment status, grades in other courses, payment information, etc.
8.
PRODUCT- LMS should provide a wide array of product as well as
integrate products already used by the institution.
9.
SCORM- With the constant evolving realm of distance education, the
LMS needs to work in a variety of environments and should be able to
stand to SCORM standards.
10.
TECHNICAL SUPPORT- In order for an LMS to be adopted and used to its
maximum ability, there needs to be support provided by LMS company
for all stakeholders involved.
Advantages of LMS
For Administrators
Streamlined training process
Using
an LMS to manage blended learning will improve and streamline your
training administration process, allowing you to plan your training
activities calendar and share it with your learners, trainers and
co-administrators.. Overall, it centralizes your training function
and reduces your time and cost expenditures.
Ability to deliver engaging and motivating training
Choosing
the right blend will help you break the monotony of a classroom
session and the impersonal-ness of online learning. By pulling in
formal and informal learning channels together, you can increase
communication and collaborative learning not just amongst your
learners but also between learners and trainers.
Scalability and wider reach
With
an LMS’ robust and scalable architecture, training is not limited
to the seating capacity of your classroom. You can reach out to a
large number of learners, irrespective of their location and
department.
4
.Easy
and secure exchange of learning data
The
LMS’ secure system and robust server, facilitates uploading,
storing and sharing of learning resources in the form of courses,
assessments, documents and manuals that complement your blended
learning program.
5. Technology leverage
. By
leveraging an LMS to deliver blended learning, you can not only make
your training future-ready (brought in by Mobile and Social
Learning), but the use of everyday devices as a means of training
delivery will make learning an easy and interesting process for your
learners.
For Learners
6.Flexible access to training resources
.
Apart from attending face-to-face training session or participating
in a live group discussion, learners can continue acquiring and
exchanging additional knowledge over the LMS through social learning
and knowledge collaboration features like chat rooms, forums, online
access to experts/ trainers, wikis, blog, etc.
7.Multiple learning channels and multiple media formats
. It
offers learner-centric online as well as offline learning channels to
cater to different learning needs and demands. Your learners can
access a variety of learning elements in different media formats,
like HTML courses, videos, podcasts, text files and lot more, stored
on an LMS.
8.Reduced dependency
Learners
are not completely dependent on one source of information, but can
access it from the LMS whenever they need it. This also encourages
self-paced learning amongst the learners and increases knowledge
retention as it is acquired at their own level of comfort.
9.Increased interaction between learners and trainers/instructors
. As
I mentioned earlier, collaborative and social learning tools, and
online help provided by trainers/experts/instructors facilitate
interaction between learners and trainers
10.Twin benefits – traditional and innovative tools
The
benefits of both learning methodologies – traditional and
contemporary- are pronounced and transferred to the learners when
delivering blended learning via an LMS. While the learners can
benefit from the personal interaction brought in by classroom and
virtual training, the collaborative environment provided by knowledge
collaboration and social learning tools ensures that knowledge is no
longer contained in silos defined by geography, function or domain,
and can be shared and viewed transparently.
Learning Management System Software Products
Firmwater
LMS
Firmwater
LMS is the savvy choice of successful e-learning businesses. Manage
all your clients through a single interface. In just minutes, set up
a client with their own LMS and grant access to all or part of your
content library. Each client has its own branding, settings, users,
and content library. A clean and simple user interface makes the LMS
easy to use, reducing your support costs.
CourseWebs
CourseWebs
is a powerful, flexible, and affordable LCMS that includes
assessment, certification, eCommerce, learner management,
notifications, reporting, and multi-languages.
Talent
LMS
A
super-easy, cloud-based learning platform to train your students,
employees, partners or customers
ASAP
Browser-based
Learning Management System that enables non-programmers to deliver
eLearning courses.
E
FRONT
eLearning
platform that promotes effective student/professor cooperation;
EduWave
Integrated
learning management and student information system for K-12 and
higher education.
Moodle
Moodle
is a free online learning management system, providing educators
around the world with an open source solution for e-learning
Educational
Entrepreneurship
“Self-employment
through business ownership which has significant elements of
risk,control and reward.”-definition of Entrepreneurship by
John.E. Hughes. Entrepreneurship in this sense refers to an
individual's ability to turn ideas into action. It includes
creativity, innovation, showing initiative and risk-taking, as well
as the ability to plan and manage projects in order to achieve
objectives. This supports everyone in day-to-day life at home and in
society, makes employees more aware of the context of their work and
better able to seize opportunities, and provides a foundation for
entrepreneurs establishing a social or commercial activity.
Entrepreneurship education is thus about life-wide as well as
lifelong competence development.
Entrepreneurial
teachers must
- Reward individual initiative,responsibilitytaking and risk taking
- Accept failure as an integral part of a learning process
- Learn to manage risk
- Exchange with their peers and meet up regularly.
- Use a variety of creative methods as innovative pedagogic tools.
- Acknowledge not only the solution but also the process.
- Use social media for their own peer learning and exchange of information
Benefits
of Educational
Entrepreneurship
- Creation of entrepreneurial thinkers who also have the skills and tools to start their own businesses.
- Write a business plan
- Use strategies for idea generation
- Manage risk
- Translate problems into opportunities
- Apply basic accounting principles
- Engage in ethical business practices
- Demonstrate financial management
- Self-worth
- Ability to control one's own life
- Self awareness
- Self management/ personality responsibility
- Transfer of learning
- Motivation
- Teamwork
- Interpersonal communications
- Problem solving
- Creativity
Career
prospects of science graduates
- Educational institution manager
- Educational software designer
- publisher
- writer
- e-content developer
- e-content editor
- Educational product and marketing manager
- Educational event manager
- Educational library science with respect to science
- Organized teacher trainer
Reference
- en.wikipedia.org
- www.capterra.com
Related
questions
- Define Learning Management System.What are its characteristics?
- What are the advantages of Learning Management System?
- What is Entrepreneurship Education?
- What are the qualities of an Entrepreneurial teacher?
- What are the benefits of Entrepreneurship Education?Also mention the Career prospects of science graduates
MCQ
- LMS stands for
- Learning Management System
- Learning Marketing System
- Learning Maintanance System
- Learning Material System
- Pick the odd one out.
a.
Moodle
b.
Wikipedia
c.
ASAP
d.
EduWave
- __________________ is the Self-employment through business ownership which has significant elements of risk,control and reward.
a
.LMS
b.
Entrepreneurship
c.Business
Administration
d.
None of these.
