Effective strategies to use a learning management system

The past two years have made us relook and transform the way we impart education. Learning had already moved to the digital space, and the pandemic only gave it a further boost. Thus, most educational institutes shifted to the online mode, and the use of learning management systems (LMS) saw a rise. While there are several benefits of using an LMS, there are ways to optimize its use as well. Here, we cite some learning management system strategies that will help you do that.

What is a learning management system?

Simply put, an LMS is a software application used for administering, documenting, tracking, reporting, and delivering an educational course or program. It helps the tutor to create lesson plans, tests, assessments, etc. In short, An LMS helps in charting out the entire educational course. It is the basis of online education, and tutors can use it effectively to monitor all aspects of digital learning.

Communicate and engage

When it comes to leveraging the LMS platform, the first step is to use it for communication and to keep your students engaged. As there is no physical presence, establish a virtual presence at the start of the course itself. Besides, effective communication will help you maintain a good relationship with your student community. You can stay engaged through online forums, posts, etc. Also, let your students know when you are available outside course hours (online) in case they need to contact you.

Create small study groups

By creating study groups that are small in size, you can customize instructions related to the course according to students’ needs. This way, you can meet each student’s individual learning requirements easily. You can tailor the instructions as per each group’s learning speed, understanding, etc. Besides, you can also assign projects, give them tests, and assess them based on their abilities. This makes it easy to track their learning and progress.

Involve the family

An LMS is a hub for parents to interact and communicate with tutors. They can stay updated about the course and their child’s progress as well. You can create a space where they can post queries, their concerns, their insights, etc., which you can address on a single platform. Thus, an LMS serves as an excellent platform to stay well-connected with parents. You can get them involved in the child’s learning process by adding them to the system.

Curate your content

Just like in classroom learning, it helps to curate your content, i.e., your course work in online learning too. Create courses as per topics, set up your lessons in chronological order, organize all around chapters, and more. This will help students go to a particular chapter, topic, or subject easily. Besides, record your sessions where students can see you on screen and make these videos available for later reference. Also, keeping our lessons engaging and interactive through the use of LMS makes online learning interesting.

Create a classroom library

A classroom library is helpful in keeping recordings of your lessons in folders that you create. This way, you can organize all content in groups, enabling a seamless teaching and learning process. Also, students who are unable to attend the live class can access these lessons to refer to before a test. Uploaded course content and lessons in the library will ensure easy access to and sharing of study material.

Assess and evaluate easily

As mentioned earlier, it is easy to assess your students’ progress and evaluate them through the LMS. You can create fun quizzes, multiple-choice questions, and interesting assignments to track their progress. This way, you can evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and help them in their weak areas separately. You can use badges as rewards, which is quite motivating for students and will further encourage them to do their best.

Using a learning management system is undoubtedly a great and a great way to make online learning accessible for students. Applying a good strategy while using an LMS is critical, which helps in leveraging the platform to its optimum. It is also one of the best ways to deliver assessments while teaching online. Hence, adopting smart strategies is an important aspect of using an LMS effectively.