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Interact Better With Your Distant Students: 5 Things to Look for in Learning Management Systems

How the Learning Management System Ensures Effective Communication

Effective tutor-learner engagement is important in sustaining a supportive learning environment. ELearning classrooms depend on a learning management system (LMS) to achieve this smooth communication. Educational platforms that use an ineffective tool or fail to implement one may fail to achieve their primary purpose—(which is) to impart skills and knowledge. Educators using e-learning strategies must understand the art of communicating and engaging with students in a friendly and professional way. In an interactive environment, students are free to express their views and ask for clarifications.

Remember, an institution’s role is to ensure that at the end of the course, learners master the skills and knowledge they went seeking for. Your platform should enable you to conduct such surveys and discover your learners’ opinions on your teaching and assessment strategies. The right LMS should be accessible across devices and feature all the components that matter to teacher-student engagement.

What is a LMS?

Wikipedia defines a learning management system or LMS as a software application useful in the running, documentation, tracking, automation, reporting and delivery of academic courses and training sessions. The idea of a LMS sprung from the need for better control in the electronic learning process. And while these solutions first kicked off in learning institutions, most systems today serve the business world where they help organizations manage staff training.

Thanks to analytical data and reporting, LMS solutions help spot gaps in education and training. The primary role is to enhance electronic learning but can accomplish multiple tasks. LMS tools simplify classroom management both in tutor-guided training and flipped classrooms in learning institutions. In simple words, it acts as the “control room” in any virtual class. Given its critical role, choosing the wrong product or bad software practices can easily harm a course or training program´s bottom line. With that in mind, you want to learn the possible challenges to communication and how to choose a learning management system that will suffice.

Barriers to Teacher-Student Communication in the Online Learning Space

Effective teacher-student communication is important in maintaining a healthy learning environment. Your LMS can make or break your experience. Achieving top-level engagement can be a hassle when training students or recruits through software-led learning management systems. Though there are merits to using LMS platforms, poor implementation can lead to communication problems. Factors like trainer and student knowhow and the LMS’s effectiveness come into play— and can affect how you interact and connect with learners.

These systems are built to facilitate the online learning process. In essence, they try to mimic what a physical classroom would look like by allowing tutors and students to engage like they would do face-to-face. In fact, the best platforms make online learning more effective than in a classroom setting. But most software developers still haven’t met the mark when it comes to tutor-learner interaction. So what communication features should each LMS have to encourage and support effective tutor-learner interaction?

Teacher-Student Communication Features that Matter to Every LMS.

LMS tools simplify classroom management both in tutor-guided training and flipped classrooms in learning institutions. These tools act as the “control room” in any virtual class. Given its critical role, choosing the wrong product or bad software practices can easily harm a course or training program´s bottomline. The right learning management system and online examination platform for you depends on the kind of course you offer.

That said, always double-check you LMS alternatives for the following;

1.Easy Expression & Detailed Demos.

A comprehensive class or lesson goes beyond a lecture. Savvy instructors know they must express points further using detailed demonstrations. This is easier done through the use of real-life examples, graphical representations, images, videos etc. But even with this knowledge, an instructor cannot do much without a competent tool or LMS? Make sure your learning management system has all the tools you need to communicate and interact with students using demos.

Because of the existing tutor-learner long-distance relationship, you must rely on software that will allow both parties to engage like they would in a physical classroom. Video and audio capabilities are particularly important in a digital classroom because you have to engage your students in real-time. Incorporate these when teaching and assessing learners in a digital environment. Lack of these crucial communication features can lead to ineffective communication between a tutor and students.

2.Learner Feedback is Important.

The right LMS should be accessible across devices and feature all the components that matter to teacher-student engagement. It is misleading to think that your student’s opinion about the way you teach or assess the course. Remember, the role of an institution is to ensure that at the end of the course, learners master the skills and knowledge they went seeking for. Your platform should enable you conduct such surveys to find out your learners’ opinions on your teaching and assessment strategies.

Beyond that, a well-built platform enables a learner to post a comment (without revealing their identity) after at the close of a lecture or at later on. Instructor ranking is also possible. But minus this kind of feedback system, an instructor may never be successful in passing knowledge to learners. Why? You may be doing one thing when the entire class wants the opposite. So a learning management system that does not allow you to gather learner feedback is not a good idea.

3.Learner support too.

A lecture is never enough. What is crystal clear to one student during a live session may not make sense to another. So the next best practice is to be there for your learners in case they need any clarifications. In some instances, a fellow student may offer peer assistance. But all these are easier said than done in a virtual setting. The right LMS should be accessible across devices and feature all the components that matter to teacher-student engagement. This kind of help calls for a two-way interaction which is only possible with an LMS engineered with all these in mind.

Go for a tool that will eliminate the distance between you and your learner by enabling you to offer seamless support. Setting aside a separate protocol that focuses on handling student issues so that learners don’t have to get stuck for days just because “they can’t reach their instructor”. Immediate or almost-instant learner support is essential in creating an interactive course that won’t bore students.

4.An engaging class experience.

Again the most creative and innovative platforms are not teacher-dominated or one-sided, everyone should play a role and have a voice. Now, it is easy to keep track of everyone in a physical classroom. But online back-benchers can really go mute you may never notice them. So how do you keep everyone on their toes in a setting where everyone is torn apart? But with the right LMS you can lead an interactive and engaging class. Students learn and spot mistakes better in an active online learning environment.

5.Student Monitoring.

Progress monitoring is also an important feature to a Learning Management System. An instructor must have an eagle’s view into every learner’s performance and progress throughout the span of the course. That way, an instructor can tell each learner’s weak points and tell which areas they need to focus on. Plus it can be an excellent way to keep everyone jogging knowing you are tracking their progress. So with a carefully built LMS, you still get the convenience you would have in a physical classroom.

Failure to monitor student progress makes an online class lose its meaning because performance monitoring and improvement is a critical part of learning.

Closing Up

An institution´s role is to ensure that at the end of the course, learners master the skills and knowledge they went seeking for. Your platform should enable you to engage learners actively and professionally to achieve this objective. Remember, the tools you choose can make or break your course experience. And with many LMS solutions available, you want to make good use of those free-trials to test if it has everything you are looking for. Don’t rush for a learning management system before looking into its features, reading online reviews about it and trying their charge-free version. Lastly, only a good work-person benefits from his/her capable collection of tools. Always follow best practices to ensure effective communication.