Is the LMS Dead?

Web-based learning and collaboration tools are driving a new breed of learning management.

Social networking, Web 2.0 tools, online collaboration — these are all concepts that have forever changed the technology world and the way we interact with each other online. These solutions also represent a significant milestone in the evolution of learning management. As a result, the learning management system (LMS) has been reborn to include social networking and collaboration tools that capture informal learning and foster internal collaboration.

Learning management has evolved in both of these areas to drive workforce productivity and innovation; facilitate information sharing and employee collaboration; and extend formal, informal and just-in-time learning initiatives across the enterprise.

Social Networking and Collaboration for the Workplace
By breaking out of the traditional “formal” and “informal” learning silos — and embracing the synergy that exists between these two areas — organizations open themselves up to potentially greater results, including more productive employees, shorter time to competency for new employees and partners, and more engaged employees.

To do this, LMS solutions have been “reinvented” to incorporate the best social networking, Web 2.0 and collaboration tools alongside powerful LMS capabilities. Social networking and collaboration tools provide organizations with an easy way to connect employees to each other, direct access to information and an environment for them to contribute to the content. These types of tools can help bridge the gaps between traditional or formal learning and less tangible, user-driven, informal learning.

In today’s “new” LMS, user-driven content should be able to be shared, enhanced, commented on and rated, with the goal of increasing workforce efficiency and productivity. Learners should be able to post questions, documents and best practices and also be able to locate subject-matter experts and information quickly and easily. These shifts in functionality serve to not only make learning more social, but also complement the formal learning capabilities found in traditional LMS solutions.