To LMS or Not to LMS
One of the most common questions I receive from viewers of my YouTube channel is how can they distribute their elearning course to their students without an LMS. The answer to this is relatively easy. An elearning course is essentially just a webpage and therefore can be uploaded to any web server. Here is a video I recorded a few years ago on the steps to publish your Adobe Captivate elearning without elearning reporting turned on.
In this Adobe Captivate video, I’ll show you how to publish your Adobe Captivate eLearning project as HTML5 for the web.
Publishing without Reporting
Of course, that’s the simple answer and solution. There are smaller details that need to go into that answer. For example, Adobe Captivate publishes its multi-media as JSON files. Your web server needs to support this file type so that will be a parameter you may need to turn on in order for your learners to be able to see this content. Similarly, some web servers may not support SVG images and that’s another parameter that will need to be adjusted.
I always point out that publishing an eLearning course as just a web page is fine but remember that the data associated with each student’s interaction with that course will not get reported anywhere. One of the primary reasons elearning is selected as a method of training is that you can track results. If you don’t use an LMS this information is lost. I promise you that if someone is paying you to create elearning, and paying the students to complete this eLearning, they will want to know they are getting a return on their investment. One day your company owner, CEO, or the like, will ask you how everyone is doing with their training. Without an LMS the answer can only be “I don’t know.“ The ability to tell your boss that your employees are completing the training, and what percentage has been successful is huge.
What an LMS Captures
Another aspect of having the ability to track results of eLearning is interaction data. Interaction data tells you what students answered when they attempted to answer one question or another. Why is this useful you might ask? Well, let’s say that everyone always gets the answer to question six in the test wrong. This would tell me that one of two things is the problem. First, it might be that the content related to that question isn’t being taught in an effective manner. As the eLearning designer, I might need to return to this course and determine if there is a better way I can teach this material. Alternatively, the question in the assessment itself might be written in such a way that students are having a difficult time with it. In either case, an LMS and its ability to report how everyone is answering a particular question is crucial to this sort of continuous improvement. You can’t improve your elearning if you don’t capture the data.
How to Select an LMS
The LMS Selection Checklist - Katrina Marie Baker
I think people shy away from taking the step to implement an LMS because they either think it will be too expensive or difficult to implement. Also, there are hundreds of LMS out there so it can be difficult to know which one to select. Knowing what questions to ask an LMS vendor is a really good first step. I recommend Katrina Marie Baker’s book the LMS Selection Checklist to help you get started with this process. You can order your copy by clicking on the image of the book to the right.
The Widget Solution
Sometimes people will share solutions like Captivate widgets that can email your results to a particular email address or store the percentage a student received to a google sheets file. Here is such a solution that many have used: https://www.cpguru.com/reporting-widget-for-adobe-captivate/
My concern for such solutions is that this solution will not grow as your organization does. The author of this solution is not actively developing this product, and I question how long this solution will work with new releases of Adobe Captivate in the future.
Moodle
Learning management systems come in all levels of functionality and with all price points as well. The classic example of a “free“ LMS is Moodle. You can install Moodle on your own web server if you are so inclined. Where Moodle might cost you is if you need help getting it up and running. There are Moodle partners out there that do the heavy lifting for you and provide support for the LMS. This is where it can cost you. Here is a video about Moodle if you would like to understand what is the Moodle LMS.
Rise 360 & Rise.com
If you are looking for an authoring tool at the same time as trying to find an LMS you might want to consider a solution that includes both. Articulate has two products that combine well together as a single solution. Their authoring tool Rise 360 can publish out to their Rise.com LMS solution. The advantage of this solution is that you have an entirely cloud-based solution that is completely responsive design. Perfect if you and your students access their training remotely and if you need an easy to implement solution.
Adobe Captivate Prime
If you don’t want to spend the time setting up your own Moodle site or are already using Adobe Captivate you can use an LMS like Adobe Captivate Prime. Adobe Captivate Prime doesn’t require you to have your own web server. They provide the webserver for you. One of the things about Adobe Captivate Prime that I really like is the scalability they offer. Rather than charging you a flat fee, they charge you only for the learners you have. There is a minimum of ten users but at only $4 per user, it’s affordable for even the smallest of organizations. They also allow for an option to only bill you for monthly active users. This is useful if you offer short-term access to your training. For example, if you offer initial training to your customers but will likely not see them return for additional training in the future. Here’s a video that showcases some key features of Adobe Captivate Prime:
Don’t Forget
Selecting a way to record the results of your elearning and capturing data about your students is not a decision you should rush to. Nor should you make this decision alone. One of the mistakes elearning professionals make is to only consider their most immediate needs and not consider others within the organization. An LMS is a complex software solution that touches all areas of your business. It makes sense to include the feedback from as many parties as possible. Some of the people to include in the selection process for an LMS are the following:
CEOs
Department heads (Learning and Development, HR, Finance, Legal)
Instructional designers
Course stakeholders
Subject matter experts
System administrators
Of course, don’t forget to include representatives who will ultimately have to use the LMS i.e. the students themselves. You want a solution that is easy and intuitive to use. Best of luck in what you ultimately decide to do for your organization.
