What is a Learning Management System (LMS)?

As your organization grows, your people need to grow with you.
Learning is the primary way people grow, and most of us not only love learning but are willing to invest significant time and money to improve our knowledge and skills.
For example, “How To” is one of the top search categories on YouTube. Viewers watch more than one billion learning-related videos every day, according to YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki.
But “learning” isn’t a part of every LMS.
Companies such as Udacity, Udemy, Canvas, Blackboard, and Coursera are now part of a multi-billion dollar industry serving people who will pay for access to quality learning content. Prior to their acquisition by Microsoft, LinkedIn bought Lynda.com (now LinkedIn Learning) for $1.6 billion.
But, learning and growth go together.
What actually makes an LMS a good tool for learning and growing? The answer is different depending on what role you play in using the LMS. Whether you’re working with a Corporate LMS, an Enterprise LMS, or a State LMS, the basic breakdown looks the same:
Most Learning Management Systems deliver on the first objective for learners – completing activities – but are far from intuitive or engaging. And that can be a barrier to actual learning. A common response to seeing an email message with a link to the LMS is, “I hate going into that thing! I can never figure out what I’m supposed to do and most of it is just a waste of time!”
What explains this knee-jerk reaction to many of the existing learning management systems? Over-complicated design interfaces, lack of compatibility with other systems, weak integration for migration of content from other platforms, and confusing or restrictive templates—all these factors can make content creation more painful than it needs to be. Designers often lament, “Our LMS actually makes it harder to do my job!”
When genuine learning happens, “growth” follows…in more ways than one.
A well-designed LMS should be something people want to use. It should guide everyone to relevant content and activities that help them increase their knowledge, strengthen critical skills, and ultimately deliver greater value to the organization. And the value of that investment should be clear to learners, designers, administrators and leaders alike.
YesLMS is a flexible, modern, cloud-first Learning Management System—and the first in the US with complete universal learning capabilities.
YesLMS was created with universal design in mind every step of the way, making it possible to deliver equal educational opportunities to every learner. YesLMS is the best LMS when it comes to accessibility and ADA compliance.