The gropu consisted of vendors, developers, buyers, HR professionals and users. In a really interesting session we were split into groups and asked to discuss LMS requirements from a range of perspectives from the learner to IT departments.

The end result was a fantastic set of requirements and thoughts about what an LMS could actually be.

Barry Sampson from the ELN is tasked with documenting the input and I’m sure this will be on the ELN website soon.

The session was interesting as it featured a cross section of opinions and featured ‘needs’ and ‘wants’. I was personally interested in the key features that people looked for and it was very different from the usual top 10 features in an LMS. Flexibility and personalisation came out on top in several of the areas.

Strange to think that colleges believe that students can’t learn without an LMS. Wouldn’t it be grand if the students were set free to find courses, data and information that would fulfill the course goals and then share them in a final project?

The projects would no doubt be all over the globe and each would weigh in using the learning style that fits the student. Image the possibilities!
@mkatherine55

I notice you use the word ‘Adminsitrator’ and I’m glad you didn’t specify it down to an IT Admin. I’m an academic turned IT Admin and am finding that the push for the LMS comes from the academic admin group not IT. I think there are other alternatives to the traditional LMS that could/should be used but we’re bogged down by recording everything and insisting that students can’t cope with multiple UIs.

@marksmithers

A full project to scope a database for tracking purposes, custom-built for a company with an eye for long-term scalability is going to be a lengthy and expensive project so why not go off-the-shelf? Off-the-shelf and customizable to me would be something like Moodle with an open-source CMS on the front.

@Clark – Great! That is what I was looking for. You are right. Currently we have some WBT and a test. Very lame and just enough to justify my job. I have inadequate testing systems and no budget for things like simulations and true proctored performance but I am hoping to head that direction by creating and supporting a robust mentoring program. Again though – the competency management system would be great.

I need to pursue that idea more.

How do you assess that they’re ready? A simulation? A proctored performance? That’s what you want to track, and any finer granularity of where any performance gaps are if they can’t. Then, what’s the best remedial path *for them*. Might not be a course.

Really want a Competency Management or Assessment Management System: diagnose what’s still needed, where difficulties are, and create learning plan, not what courses have they done.

My audience is service technicians at truck dealerships and we are moving to a model where only trained technicians can work on our products. At our dealerships, there is a desire to establish and track training paths. I could go on but would be curious to know if you have any idea how to get around the LMS in that situation?

Thanks for the blog Harold!

(I’ve heard that one sooo many times…)