All posts by C4action

In the pursuit of success, organizations must recognize the critical role that learning and development (L&D) plays in fueling growth and empowering employees. L&D initiatives go beyond simply providing training; they empower individuals with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to achieve their full potential and drive organizational success. This article explores the transformative power of L&D in fueling success and the tangible benefits it brings to individuals and organizations.

Building a Culture of Continuous Learning:

At the heart of L&D is the creation of a culture of continuous learning. Organizations that prioritize L&D empower employees to embrace learning as an ongoing process. By promoting a growth mindset and providing opportunities for development, organizations foster an environment where individuals are motivated to enhance their skills, acquire new knowledge, and stay ahead of industry trends. A culture of continuous learning fuels success by enabling employees to adapt, innovate, and excel in their roles.

Unlocking Potential and Enhancing Performance:

L&D initiatives have the power to unlock the untapped potential within individuals. By investing in training and development programs, organizations empower employees to expand their capabilities, improve their performance, and reach new heights of excellence. L&D equips individuals with the skills, knowledge, and tools needed to overcome challenges, maximize their strengths, and deliver exceptional results. Through L&D, organizations fuel success by harnessing the full potential of their workforce.

Nurturing Employee Engagement and Satisfaction:

Investing in L&D demonstrates a commitment to the growth and development of employees. When individuals feel supported and valued by their organization, they become more engaged and satisfied in their roles. L&D initiatives provide opportunities for employees to enhance their skills, pursue their career aspirations, and contribute to meaningful work. Engaged and satisfied employees are more productive, innovative, and committed to the organization’s success, fueling overall performance and achievement.

Promoting Talent Retention and Attraction:

In a competitive job market, organizations that prioritize L&D gain a competitive edge in attracting and retaining top talent. Talented individuals seek organizations that offer growth opportunities and invest in their professional development. By providing robust L&D programs, organizations become magnets for high-potential employees who are eager to advance their careers. Moreover, when employees see a clear path for growth within an organization, they are more likely to stay, reducing turnover rates and associated costs.

1. Cultivating Leadership Skills and Succession Planning: L&D initiatives play a vital role in cultivating leadership skills and ensuring a strong pipeline of future leaders. By providing leadership development programs, organizations nurture the capabilities required for effective leadership. L&D equips individuals with essential skills such as communication, decision-making, and strategic thinking, enabling them to guide teams, inspire others, and drive success. Cultivating leadership skills through L&D ensures a smooth succession planning process and strengthens the organization’s long-term sustainability.
2. Enhancing Innovation and Adaptability: Innovation and adaptability are key drivers of success in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape. L&D initiatives foster a culture of innovation by encouraging employees to explore new ideas, embrace change, and think creatively. By providing training in emerging technologies, critical thinking, and problem-solving, organizations empower employees to drive innovation and adapt to market trends. L&D fuels success by equipping individuals with the skills and mindset needed to thrive in an ever-changing environment.
3. Measuring Impact and Continuous Improvement: To maximize the benefits of L&D initiatives, organizations must measure their impact and continuously improve their programs. By setting clear learning objectives, gathering feedback, and analyzing data, organizations can assess the effectiveness of their L&D initiatives and make informed decisions for improvement. This iterative process ensures that L&D efforts remain aligned with organizational goals and fuel success through ongoing learning and development.

Elevating Excellence: The Impact of Learning and Development:

In today’s competitive business landscape, organizations must continuously strive for excellence to achieve sustainable success. One key driver in this pursuit is investing in learning and development (L&D) initiatives. L&D plays a critical role in equipping employees with the necessary knowledge, skills, and mindset to excel in their roles and drive organizational performance. This article explores the profound impact of L&D in elevating excellence within organizations.

Developing Specialized Skills:

L&D programs enable organizations to develop specialized skills among their employees. By identifying the specific competencies required in various roles, L&D initiatives can tailor training programs to address these needs. This targeted approach enhances employees’ expertise, enabling them to perform their tasks with a higher level of proficiency. Developing specialized skills elevates the overall quality of work and contributes to the excellence of the organization.

Fostering a Culture of Continuous Learning:

Investing in L&D fosters a culture of continuous learning within the organization. When employees are encouraged and supported in their professional development, they become more motivated to seek out new knowledge and skills. L&D initiatives provide avenues for employees to engage in ongoing learning, whether through workshops, online courses, or mentoring programs. This culture of continuous learning enhances individual performance and promotes a collective commitment to excellence.

Enhancing Employee Engagement and Satisfaction:

L&D initiatives have a significant impact on employee engagement and satisfaction. When employees have access to meaningful development opportunities, they feel valued and supported by their organization. This fosters a sense of loyalty and commitment, leading to higher levels of engagement. Engaged employees are more likely to go above and beyond, contributing their best efforts and driving excellence throughout the organization.

Improving Performance and Productivity:

Investing in L&D directly correlates to improved performance and increased productivity. As employees acquire new knowledge and skills, they become better equipped to handle their responsibilities and overcome challenges. L&D programs provide employees with the tools and techniques to streamline processes, enhance efficiency, and deliver high-quality results. Improved performance and productivity at the individual level contribute to the overall excellence of the organization.

Nurturing Leadership Capabilities:

L&D initiatives play a crucial role in nurturing leadership capabilities within organizations. By providing leadership development programs, organizations identify and groom future leaders who can drive excellence and inspire others. These programs cultivate essential leadership skills such as effective communication, decision-making, and strategic thinking. Nurturing leadership capabilities ensures a pipeline of competent leaders who can steer the organization towards excellence.

Encouraging Innovation and Adaptability:

L&D initiatives foster a culture of innovation and adaptability. By encouraging employees to explore new ideas, embrace change, and seek creative solutions, organizations create an environment conducive to excellence. L&D programs equip employees with the skills and mindset to embrace innovation, adapt to evolving market dynamics, and seize opportunities for growth. Embracing innovation and adaptability is a cornerstone of organizational excellence.

Strengthening Organizational Resilience:

Organizational resilience is a key attribute of excellence. L&D initiatives contribute to the strength and resilience of an organization by ensuring employees are equipped to handle challenges and navigate uncertainty. By providing training in areas such as problem-solving, decision-making, and change management, organizations build a workforce that can adapt, recover, and thrive in the face of adversity.

Learning Management Systems – Learning Management Systems have been used extensively for the last 30 years to effectively structure learning and development with internal or external stakeholders. LMS is an online system that enables organizations to internally store, manage and distribute e-learning content. It also allows you to monitor the progress of your students. Some open source LMSs are Moodle and Blackboard . Many organizations use LMSs to support learning and development, with course curricula, discussion boards or quizzes, in short, in all areas of learning and development.

What Are The Benefits Of LMS?

LMSs are generally used for internal or external purposes. Generally, public or private sector organizations use LMSs in-house. There are also LMSs that sell training to the final consumer. Non-governmental organizations whose main purpose is to raise awareness through trainings or campaigns also use LMSs. learning management system comparison can be used for volunteer management in civil society or many other in-house training programs, as well as for fundraising through training sales.

What Is LMS?

All details of face-to-face training can be transferred online via LMSs. Performance support can be created and a LMS ecosystem can be created. What are the LMS Types? Open source (free) code LMSs Open source LMS software is created using code shared by a group of people or communities and allows collaboration on the system. One of the biggest LMSs is Moodle. However, most LMSs are closed source, owned by commercial companies.

An open source LMS means you won’t have to pay a license fee to a vendor, but that doesn’t mean the LMS is free. There are still hosting, usage and maintenance costs. Target group Some LMSs serve corporate companies with more than 1,000 employees, while others focus on smaller companies. The main difference lies in the management and reporting features. In general, it is done by comparing the interface and features of the students.

Cloud-Based Or Behind Your Own Firewall LMS:

Today, LMSs are commonly configured to be cloud-based and pay-for-service. Under this model, you purchase a software license and pay a maintenance fee each year. The license only covers the cost of the software, while the subscription fee covers hosting and technical support. What is Fully Advanced LMS and Lightweight LMS?

Fully Advanced LMSs can be configured in depth according to the needs of the institutions. Lightweight LMSs, on the other hand, are a learning platform with only the main functions of an LMS based on course hosting and results tracking. With so many types of LMS software available, it’s important to understand the differences and choose the one that best fits your organization’s needs.

What Are the Management Features in LMSs?

Course management: This feature allows you to deliver the right learning materials to the right student at the right time. Learning materials can be e-learning courses and PDFs, videos or even live training sessions. Evaluation and monitoring facilities: This allows an organization to track students’ results and progress while recording their activities.

Reporting: Student reports provide insight into both student engagement and results, often with options to integrate with an external HR system. Supporting standards: There are standards in the learning world such as SCORM, AICC, LTI and xAPI. These standards allow for the conduct of a course and the monitoring of results.

What Are the Learning Features in LMSs?

Course interface: This is where learning happens. Students interact with this interface to interact with existing e-learning content. Forum: Students in the same course can participate in discussions using a forum. Learning Path: Learning paths are a set of learning activities that the learner must complete in order to achieve a specific goal.

Gamification: Game-like elements can force learners to be more active. For example, leaderboards encourage a competitive, game-like experience. Course library: In addition to communicating specific programs to students, most LMS also offer a library to their students.

LMS as Part of the Learning Ecosystem

Learning needs are changing. So is learning itself. In the past, the focus was on formal, top-down learning organized by the learning and development department using face-to-face meetings or formal e-learning courses. Now, that focus has shifted to empowering knowledge sharing and supporting employees at work within an organization we call the learning ecosystem.

Course creation is no longer an outsourcing job and has turned into “ Employee Generated Learning” driven by internal people . At this point, the tools needed to create and maintain content also transform. Creating effective information sharing and performance support has been the common goal of LMSs. In general, there are four areas of learning and development in an institutional setting: talent development, formal learning, knowledge sharing, and performance support.

In the last few years – due to the trend of shifting from top-down  to knowledge sharing among peers – the e-learning world has seen a shift towards the knowledge sharing quarter. Also, the Learning eXperience Platforms (LXP) that facilitated it experienced a rapid rise. We are now seeing a growing interest in supporting employees at work.

These changes lead to the need for all kinds of -related tools to create, maintain and publish content. The combination of these tools is what we call the  Ecosystem . Do We Understand the Emerging  Experience Platforms Recently? In  Experience Platforms, there is a need for Netflix-like structured platforms where the student will take the initiative and learn over and over again. Not only video call based, but also library based LXPs are needed.

The nature of an LXP not only makes it easier for the student to take control, but it also makes it much more convenient to facilitate Employee Generated  by enabling employees to publish their own content. Like Netflix challenging TV, LXPs offer information sharing, challenging the top-down approach of LMS.

Do You Need an LMS?

It is experiencing a tectonic shift in the field of  development. The top-down approach in the education sector no longer makes sense for all training, as employees increasingly need just-in-time resources. LMSs, on the other hand, are generally designed top-down due to the traditional need to monitor and certify results, and requirements for compliance training and regulations.

To answer the question of whether you need an LMS, it’s important to consider the bigger picture, namely the  ecosystem. Ask yourself what tools are needed to empower your students and course builders, while helping to streamline and improve your  development services.

Remember: LMS may have a role to play in internal or external  development, but this is only one part of the learning and development ecosystem you will create. LMS that has many partner institutions that come together on one platform. Unlike the other LMSs on this list, this one is aimed at college-level education.

Course designers can create lessons that are often video-based. They can be programmed or adaptable. Scheduled courses are live and have stricter expiration dates, while adaptive courses allow students to work through the curriculum on their own terms. Kadenze allows educators to award certificates when students complete courses. However, there is a layered membership model that can affect how students receive feedback on their work.

What makes an LMS?

For something to be considered an LMS, it needs some core functionality. We can say that an LMS needs to allow creation, management and evaluation. The first thing you need is for an educator to be able to create a course. This can be done directly in the LMS through an authoring tool or the ability to load courses created in a third-party environment. The courses created must support not only text, but also rich media such as images, audio, video and interactive components.

In addition to being able to create courses, an LMS needs to allow an educator to manage the course. This means that the educator can make changes such as adding new classes, organizing courses, or managing users. This can be done because an LMS includes an administration interface.

As I wrote in ” What is e-learning? “, along with the development of the Internet and the expansion of networks within companies, e-learning has become a familiar presence for companies.
The LMS (Learning Management System) (hereafter referred to as LMS) is a platform that delivers e-learning through the Internet.

In addition, LMS refers to “learning management system”, but there are synonyms such as “e-learning system”, “education management system”, and “training management system”.
These have almost the same functions as Learning Management System).

Functions Of LMS

The main functions are “management of students and teaching materials” and “management of learning progress”. You can manage learning such as In recent years, in addition to learning, there are many cases where systems that promote communication such as questionnaires and discussions are installed on the site.

This system can be used not only as a learning management system portal, but also as an internal portal for in-house announcements, submissions, and other communications.
In addition, the use of the site as a community site among employees is also increasing, and by creating a community where employees can “tweet” in their daily work and discuss improvements within the company, conversations are born in their daily work. Learning happens by facilitating things.
This type of learning that occurs through interactions between employees is called “informal learning.”

LMS Usage Scene

LMS is mainly used to make it easier to understand the results of a large number of trainees, such as corporate training systems. Learning Management System also has a role as a portal site for learners, and learners log in from LMS and perform a series of operations such as study and examination. In addition, as a complementary function, an electronic bulletin board for communication between learners and between instructors and learners is often provided as one function of the learning management system.

Recently, in the form of live classes, there are cases where the instructor and the target person log in at the same time to have a system that communicates on the spot.
Click here for a description of our live classes

Background Of The Birth Of LMS

Drawbacks of traditional e-learning In e-learning before the spread of the Internet, computer learning was done using CDs and DVDs.
As long as the distributor of the teaching materials delivers the teaching materials such as CDs and DVDs to the students without delay, each student can start learning using the teaching materials.
However, with this conventional method, it was difficult to maintain the motivation of the students, and the disadvantage was that the distribution side could not manage the students at all.
Since the distribution side cannot manage information such as whether the student has completed the course, what level of knowledge the student has, and which course is necessary for the student, it was not possible to improve or verify the effect. .

This is where the e-learning learning management system (Learning Management System) comes in. Things made possible by using an LMS LMS, which is an e-learning learning management system, stores and accumulates learning materials by distributors and instructors, appropriately distributes learning materials to students, learners’ learning history, quizzes, drills, exam results, etc. is managed in an integrated manner.

By introducing an LMS, it is possible to grasp the progress of the student’s learning and to know how much the test scores are. In addition, it has become possible to acquire and manage data that serves as a guideline for individual guidance, such as which fields are weak and which are strong. In addition to this, the number of LMSs that allow communication between students has increased so that they can gain more awareness by having discussions on the LMS.

Emergence of LMS service vendors

Even after the spread of the Internet, the technical knowledge of the Internet and the knowledge of servers were necessary for the distributors and instructors to know the progress of the students’ learning, which required a great deal of cost and time. However, as the Internet spread, the need for Learning Management Systemincreased, and an ASP-type LMS developed as a product appeared. With the advent of this service, the distribution side of teaching materials can use LMS even without technical knowledge of the Internet or knowledge of servers, and it has also been possible to reduce costs. As a result, opportunities to introduce e-learning increased, and e-learning became more accessible.

I heard that an LMS is necessary to implement e-learning, but what is an LMS?”

Since the early 2000s, companies have gradually started to use e-learning in human resource development, but in 2020, after the new coronavirus swept the world, attention to e-learning increased further. I was.
In Japan, in particular, there were many companies that emphasized “group training” and thought that e-learning was just a supplement to that, but the situation is clearly changing.

Along with the growing interest in e-learning, interest in LMS, which is a system for distributing e-learning, has also increased. However, many people say that they do not understand the relationship between e-learning and LMS.

Roughly speaking, “e-learning” is a “learning method that utilizes the Internet”. According to that definition, Internet services and systems that can be used for e-learning, such as posting and sharing lecture videos on video sharing sites, giving lectures using web conferencing tools, and storing manuals in the cloud environment. are innumerable. However, the advantage of LMS is that it can perform the necessary “management” when conducting e-learning strategically as an organization , which cannot be done with those systems .

・Delivery teaching materials to only those who want to deliver them at the appropriate time・
Visualize the learning situation of each person In this column, we will comprehensively explain such Learning Management System), from the basics such as “Why is it necessary?” and “What types are available?” The whole book is divided into two parts, so if you are a beginner, please read from “Introduction”, and if you already have basic knowledge, please read from “Advanced”.

learning management platform15 Free Learning Management Systems Mathieu October 21, 2021
Learning is an integral part of being human. Our brains are meant to absorb and retain information, both big and small. However, the way information is packaged can help determine how well you remember or recall information. Learning is usually associated with the classroom, but as smartphone technology becomes more prevalent, mobile learning and e-learning are gaining popularity in the workplace. As it stands, the global e-learning market is expected to reach US$325 billion by 2025.

According to a market analysis by Global Industry Analysts, Inc, 77% of US companies are already using online learning to train their employees.

Do You Have A Free LMS?

There is no shortage of e-learning Management platform options, but which ones stand out? A free online learning management system is a software application used by schools and businesses to help manage, document, track, and report on the delivery of educational courses. Training programs have always been present in corporate life and a free online LMS allows companies to fine-tune their learning programs to meet their objectives. Not to mention it makes it more attractive to your team and increases their chances of engaging with the material!

Here Is A List Of The 15 Best Free LMS Systems Available.

1. EdApp
EdApp is a completely free, mobile-first training Management solution used by some of the world’s leading organizations, including United Nations, Mizuno, Shell and Marley Spoon, to train teams large and small around the world. You can see what EdApp clients are saying here . With intuitive authoring tools and a free editable content library , our award-winning platform uses a template approach to make creating lessons and sending them to your team even easier. The course library contains pre-built courses from industry leaders that you can drag and drop into your account.

These courses can be used and edited to customize to your team’s learning  Management needs. And because the EdApp platform is mobile-first, learners can complete courseware from their personal smartphones. Best part? Training your team with highly interactive, results-driven microlearning is completely free and unlimited. EdApp’s learning ecosystem (pictured above) consists of four main elements: editable course libraries, authoring tools, administration, and learner apps. Let’s break them down below.

Free LMS Features

Editable Course Library A completely free editable course library is built into EdApp. It’s filled with beautiful, world-class courseware designed by thought leaders and leading industry experts around the world. This unique collection boasts hundreds of lessons. This learning Management content is fully editable, so you can select, update, and deploy to your team however you like. One of the best parts about our editable content library is that it grows every day. So you’ll never run out of valuable resources to train your audience.

Authoring Tools To complement existing content, you can also create your own content using EdApp’s powerful data-driven authoring tools . This tool gives you the opportunity to design beautiful, engaging and effective micro-lessons using the built-in course authoring tools . No coding required. An all-in-one tool like this hosts endless multimedia possibilities Management . You can easily embed videos, images, audio files, and external URLs into your EdApp micro-lessons simply and effectively.

learning management platform15 Free Learning Management Systems Mathieu October 21, 2021
Learning is an integral part of being human. Our brains are meant to absorb and retain information, both big and small. However, the way information is packaged can help determine how well you remember or recall information. Learning is usually associated with the classroom, but as smartphone technology becomes more prevalent, mobile learning and e-learning are gaining popularity in the workplace. As it stands, the global e-learning market is expected to reach US$325 billion by 2025.

According to a market analysis by Global Industry Analysts, Inc, 77% of US companies are already using online learning to train their employees.

Do you have a free LMS?

There is no shortage of e-learning platform options, but which ones stand out? A free online learning management system is a software application used by schools and businesses to help manage, document, track, and report on the delivery of educational courses. Training programs have always been present in corporate life and a free online LMS allows companies to fine-tune their learning programs to meet their objectives. Not to mention it makes it more attractive to your team and increases their chances of engaging with the material!

Here is a list of the 15 best free LMS systems available.

1. EdApp

EdApp is a completely free, mobile-first training solution used by some of the world’s leading organizations, including United Nations, Mizuno, Shell and Marley Spoon, to train teams large and small around the world. You can see what EdApp clients are saying here . With intuitive authoring tools and a free editable content library , our award-winning platform uses a template approach to make creating lessons and sending them to your team even easier. The course library contains pre-built courses from industry leaders that you can drag and drop into your account.

These courses can be used and edited to customize to your team’s learning needs. And because the EdApp platform is mobile-first, learners can complete courseware from their personal smartphones. Best part? Training your team with highly interactive, results-driven microlearning is completely free and unlimited. EdApp’s learning ecosystem (pictured above) consists of four main elements: editable course libraries, authoring tools, administration, and learner apps. Let’s break them down below.

Free LMS Features

Editable Course Library A completely free editable course library is built into EdApp. It’s filled with beautiful, world-class courseware designed by thought leaders and leading industry experts around the world. This unique collection boasts hundreds of lessons. This learning content is fully editable, so you can select, update, and deploy to your team however you like. One of the best parts about our editable content library is that it grows every day. So you’ll never run out of valuable resources to train your audience.

Authoring Tools To complement existing content, you can also create your own content using EdApp’s powerful data-driven authoring tools . This tool gives you the opportunity to design beautiful, engaging and effective micro-lessons using the built-in course authoring tools . No coding required. An all-in-one tool like this hosts endless multimedia possibilities. You can easily embed videos, images, audio files, and external URLs into your EdApp micro-lessons simply and effectively.

EdApp’s extensive template library includes over 50 intuitively designed templates suitable for all types of learners. Choose from interactive templates that include multiple choice, gamification elements, concept formats, surveys, and more.

Free LMS Template Library

Additionally, EdApp is the only LMS in the industry to include Canva integration , unlocking millions of images and graphics to create and include in your micro-lessons.

Free LMS Canva Integration

Similarly, EdApp’s PowerPoint conversion tool means you can convert dated PowerPoint training slides into beautiful, interactive, and up-to-date micro-lessons in minutes. If you’re training a global team, EdApp’s cloud-based translation tool is a game changer. Using Google’s machine learning cloud translation engine, EdApp seamlessly translates courses into over 100 languages ​​in a few clicks and minutes.

Management EdApp’s suite of management tools gives you ultimate control and flexibility over how learning content is delivered and managed.

Learning platform analytics and reporting allows you to easily monitor courseware performance, identify skill gaps, and assess behavioral trends from your dashboard via progress metrics. The platform’s advanced analytics let you collect and manage results via built-in tools like push notifications . This can act as a custom reminder for learners so they don’t get left behind. Another element of the administration portion of EdApp includes a wide range of branding opportunities, providing learners with a truly bespoke training experience.