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.entre-ed.org
www.minedu.govt.nz
www.newschools.org
www.capterra.com

Related questions

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