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When you want to invest money in building an LMS platform, little would you think or worry about the technicalities added to it? The online training teams however need to pull up their sleeves tighter. For the implementation of a new LMS, one must require online essentials to pull along with. Rather than having the technology in place and not knowing what to do with it, it is better to be well prepared with what you would need the most. Presenting you with 6 support services to consider before choosing an LMS for training purposes:

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Top 5 Elearning Companies in India

In today’s competitive positioning world, eLearning is a real survival guide. Every company wants to upgrade the skills and experiences of its valuable employees in order to stand out in the competition.

Hence, they are seeking support from the top eLearning companies in India.

Here, we will know about some of these top e-learning companies, which are offering them unforgettable experiences.

#1 SeekLMS

Offering an intuitive, feature-rich, and flexible cloud LMS, SeekLMS has made it to come up as one of the top e-learning companies of 2020.

This excellent LMS platform provides customization and therefore, the companies or organizations can introduce courses for individual needs. Some of the salient features of SeekLMS include:

Mobile App: The platform is absolutely mobile-friendly and also offers a custom-branded native Android and/or IOS app to uplift the entire experience.

Course Authoring Tool: Starting from powerpoints to videos, audios, images and voice-overs, you can upload almost every form of content to create courses.

SCORM & Tin Can: If you use Articulate, Lectora, Captivate or similar tools, the platform is ideal as it supports SCORM & Tin Can content.

Interactive Videos: You can incorporate your recorded videos or youtube videos to create interactive videos by using their in-built tool.

Certifications: The platform supports certificate validation and therefore, provides you with numerous certificate templates. You can automate the generation of certificates easily on course completion.

Free Trial: You can start your 15-day free trial version of the app without the hassle of subscribing with your credit card.

#2 Excelsoft

Incepted more than a decade ago, Excelsoft provides innovative and custom-based e-learning services to educational institutes and educational publishers as well as the corporate sector. The fields they specialize in are content development, mobile applications, game-based learning, and open source.

#3 The Boston Group

As an e-learning company dedicated to custom online content and courseware, The Boston Group has established its own course library recently.

 The services they specialize upon are employee induction, product training, management training, to name a few.

#4 Zeus Learning

Providing a wide array of e-learning services, Zeus Learning is one of the top eLearning companies in India. The company has courses for mobile and HTML5 development, software simulation, content development, animation tools, and many more subjects.

#5 Shezartech

Catering to more than hundreds of clients across the globe, Shezartech is a reputed name in the e-learning sector today. Though their LMS services are the most popular, they also provide mobile app development, web design, and app development services.

Above are some of the top eLearning companies in India, which have transformed the overall learning experience within various institutes and organizations globally.

We, at SeekLMS, offer avant-garde e-learning solutions for easy management of your staff training programs.

Our online academy software is integrated with employee training, customer training, compliance training, and channel training features to provide all our clients with an amazing experience during and after the courses.

Do you want to know about our e-learning management system in more detail?

Do you want to establish a well-managed and updated training system within your organization?

If yes, then you can absolutely feel free to get in touch with us!

Article Source : https://www.seeklms.com/blog/Top-5-Elearning-Companies-in-India/

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5 Things to Consider While Selecting an LMS

LMS stands for learning management system, which helps you to create a cloud learning infrastructure to teach or train individuals online.

There are several benefits you may gain from investing in an LMS, starting from introducing new courses to eliminate the classroom infrastructure cost and effort.

However, with the availability of various companies across the globe providing learning management software, it is crucial to know the vital aspects of the service before you hire one of them.

After all, everyone deserves the best software for their respective organization and why should you be unaware of the same? So, here are the 5 things to consider while selecting an LMS.

#1 Understand Learning Needs

No doubt this one tops the list of your priority since the primary mission of your organization would be ensuring that the learning needs are fulfilled. To achieve your goal through an integrated LMS, the trick is to have a clear idea of what would the user expect to achieve at the end of the learning session.

For instance, the structure of your LMS providing a coding course will vary from the structure of an LMS providing fashion courses. Here, all you need to do is choose an LMS that rightly caters to the learning needs of the various learners.

#2 Device Compatibility

The second point in your checklist should be finding an LMS that is absolutely versatile when it comes to various devices like computers, laptops, mobile phones, tablets, and more.

Nowadays, the mobile phone is the best choice for most learners since the tiny gadget has brought the world into the palm of our hand. Be it university students or corporate learners, logging-in to the learning systems on-the-go can be possible when your LMS is mobile-friendly.

#3 Easily Integrated

There are many integration features that an advanced LMS provides you today. There is a high chance that your learners would want to work on multiple other platforms simultaneously and therefore, Single-sign-on (SSO) and webhooks are essential. What integrations like SSO do is that these allow the users to access your LMS with the same credentials that they use for other applications.

Webhook is another discovery, which makes it possible for you to build easy communication between your LMS and the other enterprise-level systems. 

#4 Pricing Structure

Your budget plays a crucial role in any step you take and seeking an LMS is no exception. As the pricing of learning management software might vary from company to company, you can compare them along with the features each LMS provides to choose the best option.

Also, the pricing models of LMS differ from where some LMS apply feature-based pricing and some apply for course payment at the time of registration. There are many more slabs such as monthly subscription, annual subscription, lifetime subscription, and so on. For your own LMS, you can choose the most suitable price model among these.

#5 Content Compatibility

Learning programs deal with course material and therefore, your LMS must be compatible with as many content files as possible. Some of the most common contents are Word document, PDF, XML, Powerpoint, audio transcript, and video streaming.

Any learning program requires the right type of content at the right place since it helps the learners to get the best experience. For instance, demonstration courses require compatibility with visual content while theory-oriented courses require compatibility with MS Word and other content.

Hence, you need to first identify the type of your content and set your requirement accordingly.

It’s a huge responsibility to choose the best LMS for your organization, considering the fact that your entire eLearning ecosystem is to be built on it. You can follow the checklist above to choose the platform most suitable for your needs. To know further, feel free to get in touch with us.

We, SeekLMS, are one of the pioneers when it comes to developing simple and customized learning management software.

We have a team of highly skilled and experienced developers, who understand the diverse needs of our various clients and develop target-driven smart cloud learning software that is hugely acclaimed by the clients in the long run.

So, why wait anymore?

Contact us today to know which LMS suits your organization the best.

Article Source: https://www.seeklms.com/blog/5-Things-to-Consider-While-Selecting-an-LMS/

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Though eLearning has been around for quite some time, the advent of mLearning can be marked around five years back. With phone screens getting larger, phablets becoming common and preferred laptop sizes smaller - the difference between the two modes is blurring. Here’s a quick look at what still keeps them diverse: Check full post.

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7 Reasons to Invest in a Cloud-Based Learning Management System

Globalization has made it possible for entrepreneurs across the world to rely on their extended enterprises.

Be it a small-scale start-up, a big enterprise, or an organization, it is extremely convenient nowadays to expand services with the help of a learning management system or LMS.

The LMS development companies provide their clients with a customized E-learning development solution, helping the faculties and managers to teach or train individuals located in a remote space.

Considering resources and budget cuts, it may be difficult to justify investing in an LMS. However, there are several reasons why you should consider buying it even if you are working with limited resources.

To help you make a wise decision, here are 7 notable learning management system benefits that you must know before investing in an LMS.

These reasons provide you with enough benefit potentials that perfectly justify buying an LMS for your organization.

So, without any further delay, let us explore the 7 reasons to invest in cloud-based LMS.

#1 Time-Saving

With the advanced LMS, the product downtime is minimized. For example, when the employees or trainees in a company or organization attend live presentations, the production downtime usually lasts from one to two hours.

As the allotted training budget no longer supports service fees and infrastructure, the product downtime gets minimized automatically.

#2 Budget Saving

Opting for LMS helps you to save the budget in the long run.

For the in-house instructors, the effort used by them can be easily reallocated for preparing updates to existing online training material.

Or, you can also reallocate the time for creating new online training material for future online training. It ultimately saves your final budget for the project.

#3 The Flexibility of Training

For the learners, LMS has made learning much more flexible than before. Irrespective of location, time, and devices, they can attend learning programs comfortably.

Since the advanced learning systems are compatible with a variety of devices, such as iPhones, tablets, and computers, the individuals can easily get the training they need.

#4 Courses for Individual Needs

Learning or training needs indeed fluctuate over time. Suppose a new course is introduced to some university located abroad and the learners from your locality want to pursue it.

With the help of a learning management system, you can introduce the course in your institute and the students from not only your locality but all over the world can join in.

#5 Compliance Metrics

Compliant statistics or metrics is a performance indicator that indicates the overall performance in terms of specific laws, policies, or regulations in an institute or organization.

With LMS, the compliance metrics improve as the learners or trainees can control their schedules to complete the online training. The metrics also improve as the LMS can track the time each individual spends on the system.

#6 Talent Retention

By implementing online training courses, you can retain the top individuals in your organization. In an LMS, you can create courses like soft skills, scenario-based learning along with the main-stream courses.

The training can stimulate individuals and help them handle unforeseen challenges. It ultimately helps you to assess their potential and train them better.

#7 Data security

An LMS with multi-tenancy always makes sure that your data is safe and secure. While developing such software, the developers keep in mind that each instance of the LMS is separate from the others.

The LMS might provide access to all the information but there is still a barrier between portals to safeguard the data. As a result, LMS can help you avoid any potential legal issues that may result from data leaks.

Above are the seven vital reasons to choose an LMS for your organization. So, what are you waiting for? Feel free to get in touch with us for further details of the service.

We at SeekLMS provide a fully customized learning management system to our reputed clients from across the globe. With our all-new LMS, you can create engaging courses and streamline your learning delivery smoothly to automate, scale, or sell your training operations.

The best class cloud infrastructure of an LMS will surely help you to build your dream institute.

Explore our website and contact us today to know the various plans and aspects of our LMS programs.

Article Source: https://www.seeklms.com/blog/7-Reasons-to-Invest-in-a-Cloud-Based-Learning-Management-System/

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4 Tips to Improve User Engagement in Non-Profit LMS

What is your understanding of the term ‘LMS?’

LMS refers to Learning Management Systems.

It is an essential tool that guarantees the growth of your organization.

Not only can your employees gain knowledge via learning and completing e-courses, but you also stimulate their productivity levels.

Ask me how!

When employees widen their intellectual skills via constant learning, they can put enhanced productive techniques to their best use indeed.

This way, the company can benefit via mutual growth or development! It is therefore imperative that you encourage using LMS regularly and effectively by members of your organization.

Here are four powerful tips to improve user-engagement in non-profit LMS:

#1 Seamless Communication Paves Way for the New Change

Integrating LMS should not be like you trying to force food via someone’s throat. It should be gradual and seamless indeed.

Here are highlighting pointers on how you can help your employees or clients feel at ease when you introduce LMS:

Choose informal channels of communication like Facebook or LinkedIn. Your employees can log in and out of social media channels. They would not miss out on important pieces of info you try conveying.

Devise plans on how you plan to implement LMS from start to finish. Tell employees how they can implement the new systems in their daily work.

Share demos on how LMS can benefit both organizations and employees. The employee can be made to understand how it can enable his/her individual growth or contribution to the company he/she works in.

Clarify for whom you plan to roll out LMS enabled technology. Is it for your employees, clients, or your outsourced teams?

#2 Creation of Right Content

Content creators must design LMS in a simple and easy to follow manner.

In other words, the content needs breaking down into smaller and consumable fragments indeed.

Bite-sized content like quizzes, images, etc. can be received well by the employees working for your organization.

#3 Change the Culture and the System

You must create a conducive atmosphere for learning and development. Employees must not feel, they are learning a course or completing a survey program just for the sake of up-skilling their current job profiles.

There is more to it what meets the eye. When you come across new web learning courses, make sure you upload them to your LMS.

You can allow the employees and management teams to get actively involved in the same.

You can offer incentives and recognition to those employees who do their prescribed learning courses on time.

You can have ice-breaker events in the form of quiz competitions or extempore.

This way, you can have a fair idea of how far employees can impart knowledge from developing systems or web-based learning.

You can also conduct competitions on how they can incorporate their learning into daily office work.

This way, you not only change the system but also the culture of the organization.

Make sure, you do not restrict learning to roles or job descriptions alone.

#4 Make the LMS Work for You

You must track LMS on a constant and periodic basis. You can track KPIs in terms of learning management systems.

Here, the reference is made to the number of employees who take the courses and the number of courses completed by each of them.

This is over a period. This way, you understand the effectiveness of the system. You can also have feedback sessions with employees.

You can therefore receive constant inputs on how your LMS can be updated from time to time.

Make sure, you have every employee of the organization actively involved in using the learning management systems.

Conclusion

Only when you use the technology to its fullest, can you unleash the potential benefits pertaining to the same?

LMS is in no way different from the implementation of any new technology.

It offers several long-term benefits like employee retention, client satisfaction, and an overall improvement in your team’s performance!

Article Source: https://www.seeklms.com/blog/4-Tips-to-Improve-User-Engagement-in-Non-Profit-LMS/

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How To Choose The Best Learning Management System

Today learning has evolved and so have the technologies driving learning. “One size fits all” no longer works and there is no “Best” Learning Management System (LMS). Choices are plenty at the same time choosing an LMS for your organization could be a high stake decision.

So how do we go about doing this right?

1) Find out what you need...

·         Here are some of the questions you need to try answering?

·         How will I create and manage my courses - overview, objectives, and topics et all?

·         How easy it is to create, update, and organize my courses using the system?

·         Do I need any additional fields?

·         How will I organize my course materials?

·         How are my powerpoints, pdfs, docs, videos, and SCORMs stored?

·         How good is the quality of conversion from the format I upload and the format displayed in the system?

·         Can I reuse the content across courses?

·         How easy it is to search for content? Can I search within docs? Can I use one specific section (pages) of the content I have uploaded?

·         Can I define my own tags to organize my content better?

·         How easy it is to revise my course content?

·         Does the content work well on mobile devices?

·         How will I deliver my courses? How will my students access course materials?

·         Will my courses be predominantly self-study recorded lectures?

·         Will I have some real-time online classes? What options are supported by this LMS and how do they stack in terms of cost and quality.

·         Can I do classroom teaching and use the content in class as well as share it with my students?

·         Will my students access course materials online on PCs as well as mobile devices? Do I need a mobile app?

·         Will I need offline secure access to content? If yes what are the models supported?

·         How do I evaluate my students? Do I need both formative and summative assessments?

·         Will I have a large question bank over time? What is the different type of questions supported? Can I do a timed quiz?

·         Can I use a rubric for evaluation? How do I share test results with my users?

·         What will be the course completion criteria? Do I need to generate certificates?

·         Do I need a credit system or a full-fledged assessment and evaluation plan?

·         Can I define a grading scheme?

·         Can I generate a certificate of merit on course completion?

·         How do I encourage my students to complete their courses and not drop out?

·         Can I engage my students better through peer discussions and forums?

·         How do I built-in social learning elements?

·         I have heard of gamification in learning; are there any such elements in the LMS I am considering.

·         How do I motivate my students to take up the next /related course?

·         Can I have a recommendation engine to suggest courses?

·         Will I be selling my courses and need e-commerce? How will I market my courses?

·         Do I need to build a separate website for marketing or does the LMS support catalog features?

·         Can I configure specific content, URLs, titles, descriptions, and keywords for my marketing pages?

·         Can I track the pages through Google Analytics?

·         How integrated is my LMS with my portal or storefront?

·         What data do I want to track to optimize my delivery and marketing/sales?

·         How are the course enrollments month on month?

·         How many students are completing and how many are dropping out?

·         How are students doing in the assessments?

·         Can I find out the areas of strength and weakness by analyzing assessment data and take corrective actions?

·         How is my site doing wrt to SEO? How are my sales funnel looking?

So you must have got the idea by now; with every question, you need to dive deeper and gather more insights. The LMS of your choice needs to fulfill your immediate needs as well as have to have the “goods” to enable your growth plans.

2) Understand how simple and flexible the system is.

Simple things should be easy to do. At the same time does the system provide some advanced automation options?

For example, it should be easy to create and assign a quiz at any time?

But suppose I want to auto-assign an assessment at the end of every week for my popular online course, I should be able to do it.

Essentially system needs to be simple but need not be simplistic.

Also, flexibility is the key. Does the system provide too many constraints on how to do things?

3) Look at the Support and Customization

How eager is the provider to make me successful? Can I get support on “How to do things better and validate some of my ideas?”.

Do I need some customization and how easy it is to get it done?

Can I get custom reports?

4) Are the usual headaches taken care of

I want to focus on my users and don’t want to deal with hardware, upgrades, on-demand scale, etc. Also, I want to pay as I go.

Are these things taken care of?

Ensure that the LMS runs on dependable enterprise-quality cloud infrastructure and can really scale as promised.

I am OK with SAAS but is my data secure?

Ask specifically how the LMS provides secure your data.

I have tons of data already somewhere else. How do I import the data to the new system?

5) Is there a good Exit Plan

It is always prudent to have an exit plan. What if I want to move to a different provider at some point? How do I get my data back?

I will need the content as well as my transaction and other metadata.

So, as mentioned earlier, there is no “Best” system and no silver bullet solution. But by now you should feel more assured and confident to make the correct choice.

With CloodOn LMS you can create engaging learning content.

Article Source: https://www.seeklms.com/blog/choose-the-best-learning-management-system/

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Boosting Knowledge Retention With eLearning

Do you remember all the lessons from your kindergarten or the ones from your elementary school days? Or try to recall just the name of 15 topics (subject-specific) you learned during your graduation. Well! If you could recollect, then kudos to your memory’s retention power but if you couldn’t then certainly you are wondering why is it so?

The answer lies in the cognitive architecture of our brain. Daniel Willingham explains it as “We don’t remember things because of insufficient focus, time or attention spent on them, and because of insufficient practice, usage, revisiting, consolidation or application.”

E-learning has taken the education industry by storm, courses designed with it are brilliant but any course is worthless if the knowledge imparted by it is not retained by the learners. Knowledge retention has always been a challenge but with the dawn of e-learning, the subject has gained significant limelight.

Deep studies have been conducted over the years to help students learn better by enhancing the teaching methodologies and overall improve the knowledge retention rates. While information fades away from the ‘leaky bucket’ of the human brain, there are several techniques that can be incorporated while designing an online course to help students gain better retention powers.

Define your learning goals clearly

Just like life, clearly defined objectives are the key to preparing a successful course. The user should be well-aware of the course outcomes and the benefits associated, before taking up the course. Prior information ensures that the learner won’t feel disappointed after course completion. Mostly an e-learning course is taken up to attain long-term educational or career goals. A proper course map with precisely defined modules makes all the right promises to the learner.

Of course! Engage your learner

From basic visual methods like the use of graphics to advanced gamification techniques, all are intended to keep the user engrossed while learning. The most popular captivating approaches include:

Eye-catching: Use visuals, when possible (#Visuals)

Visual learning is indeed a powerful tool that comes in handy when the mode of learning is online, have a look at the astonishing facts congregated by Visual Teaching Alliance:

Human brain processes and remembers images quicker and better than text. Using graphics, charts and diagrams not only improves the look-n-feel of the content but also plays a great role in enhancing retention.

Multimedia and animations (#Hook)

Multimedia and animations are just an extension of the eye-catching images, which have eventually become an inseparable part of e-learning.

Chunks of the right size (#MicroLearning)

Dividing the content into precise chunks of information is essential to keep an online learner involved. A module or lesson should stretch somewhere between 45 minutes to an hour.

Social learning (#Digital)

Social learning has gained a lot of importance in recent times as an effective training strategy. It brings the power of communicating beyond the Learning Management System (LMS). Peer to peer collaboration results in better course completion rates as it gives them the liberty of asking questions and discussing ideas.

Surveys and external sources (#Additional)

An instructional designer uses multiple sources for research and references as providing information from reputed sources amplifies the power of an eCourse. External reading offers support material (which interested learners may refer to), this allows the instructor to include information without going beyond the domain of the course.

Color theory (#Hues)

Color theory is the science of understanding color mixing and the visual effects of a specific color combination. It is something every instructional designer needs to be aware of. Colors used while designing an e-learning course have the power to direct attention, improve readability, and thus enhance learning. Thus choosing the right colors is as crucial as any other strategy, for improving retention.

Support (#Assistance)

There will be times when learners may need a little help. Putting intuitive mechanisms to tackle any issues, are crucial to avoid loss of interest.

Take Away: Learner engagement is synonymous to knowledge retention. Integrate all possible engaging techniques to hit the bull's-eye.

Embed revision and practical implementation

The old saying accurately fits in the scenario of e-learning! Even the best eCourse may fail if the knowledge acquired is not applied, used, or repeated for a long period of time. The fading theory of human memory articulates that ���facts that you learn are forgotten when you don't review them.’ Immediate application of the learnings is necessary, thus include activities that use the concepts learned.

During an online course, spaced repetition is very important – when the learner tries to recall a topic recently taught it sticks in his mind. So, reproduce snippets of core concepts when mentioned again, after the introduction of the term/concept.

Take Away: Simulate the course material, use spaced repetition and immediate application.

Tests and quizzes – The classic tools

Assessing a learner’s knowledge, not only reflects his grasping power but also helps him memorize better. A study titled ‘The Power of Testing Memory’ states that “A powerful way of improving one’s memory for material, is to be tested on that material. Tests enhance later retention more than an additional study of the material, even when tests are given without feedback.” Look at it this way, if the learner knows that he has to appear for a test to reach the next level of a course, then obviously he’ll try to remember the best he can. Testing not only aids retention, it also identifies the gaps in knowledge and results in better organization of knowledge. Thus including a test at the end of every module in an e-learning course is a must.

Take Away: Integrate online evaluations, tests or quizzes after each module or completion of an important topic.

Though e-learning is revolutionizing the way people learn, knowledge retention has emerged as a major challenge for e-learning projects. The Research Institute of America recently conducted a study that revealed that e-learning can improve information retention rates by 60%. This clearly implies that e-learning has the potential to offer high learner engagement and knowledge retention rates.

CloodOn LMS facilitates user engagement tools required for knowledge retention.

Article Source: https://www.seeklms.com/blog/Boosting-Knowledge-Retention-With-eLearning/

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LMS Support Services to Consider for Corporate E-learning

LMS companies provide certain support services in addition to the platform. These services aim at making the platform more user-friendly and it is advisable therefore, to research thoroughly before you invest in one so that it is worth every penny spent. Not all services are indispensable to everyone.  The support you need is largely related to the type of training you provide. So, what do you need to look for when choosing an LMS for corporate eLearning? Let’s have a look!

Live Chat and Phone Support

You need to pick an LMS vendor that provides Live Chat support and helps you instantly to get through those unexpected rough patches. While some vendors have specific chat hours, others provide  24/7support. So, it helps to check their availability before you checkout. It also helps to know who handles the virtual chat, as you may need IT experts who can help you with troubleshooting.

At times, problems need immediate solutions, and you might want to talk to an expert as opposed to a chatbot. It is, after all, inconvenient to type about a complicated problem in the live chat window. So, make sure to choose an LMS vendor who offers 24/7 live chat and phone support. You can also check if they have a dedicated phone line for technical issues so that you can avoid going through the IVR.

Knowledge Base

The LMS vendor you choose needs to provide the users with support tools that explain the functioning of and how to set up a learning management system. Several vendors have pre-recorded videos that explain complex functions along with some tips and tricks. Whether it is setup or integrating the course using e-commerce integrations, you should be able to find it all with ease. So, remember to check for documentation or knowledge base before signing up.

Forums

User forums are more valuable than you can imagine. However, they are only helpful if active. Several LMS vendor websites have forums or communities that are mostly dormant and filled with questions without answers for months. Forums also need to have an archive system, which allows the users to look up a solution on their own.

If the LMS vendor you are planning to choose has a forum, check if it is active or dormant. Next, check if it has some real troubleshooting solutions. You certainly do not want to be a part of a community that only talks about the tips and tricks of the LMS.

Social Media

Almost every business makes use of social media to interact with their customers and target audience. Social media platforms have great communities and are loved by everyone due to the quick response they get. The LMS vendor needs to provide a quick solution to a problem or assist dissatisfied customers with updates and resources. A few vendors have privatized social media groups dedicated to paid or premium members.

Email and Video Support

The support provided by your LMS vendor plays a major role in the success of your corporate eLearning programme. Whenever you have a problem, you should be able to send them an email or use an option to raise a trouble ticket. While chat and phone options are perfect for urgent issues, email support comes in handy when you have a general query or need assistance. You also need to check if the emails are being attended to by real people and not just by a bot.

Another important factor to consider when choosing an LMS for your corporate learning programs is video support. There might be situations when you have trouble using the reports or editing the coding backend. This is when the technical team should be able to show you how you can perform the task via the option of screen sharing. So, you must verify the support services provided as you need to get what you pay for.

If you are planning to have online training with an excellent ROI, you certainly need to invest in an ideal LMS. The LMS you choose can impact your employee performance, the scope of the project, and the team’s overall performance.

So, do not leave the room for any error and choose SEEK LMS that not only provides excellent support to its customers but also addresses every concern with utmost care and dedication. Contact us today to know more about the services we provide.

Article Source: https://www.seeklms.com/blog/LMS-Support-Services-to-Consider-for-Corporate-E-learning/

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If you are a training company, you need to carefully incorporate your message without forcing it on learners or clients. So let's learn about four elements you can incorporate in your LMS to build credibility as a brand. So let's learn about four elements you can incorporate in your LMS to build credibility as a brand.

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Boost Your Online Course Sales with E-commerce Integration

The ideal learning management system (LMS) can work wonders for your courses. Are you wondering how? A competent LMS will make your courses appealing, accessible and interactive thereby increasing enrollments. Whether you create your own LMS or partner with a vendor, there are multiple features that you look for in a platform. E-commerce integration is one of them and for good reason, too. E-commerce integration improves user experience and sales. It also helps keep track of revenue and adds a lot of value and advanced features to your platform. However, integrating e-commerce is tricky and you have to be cautious about a lot of things especially if you are dealing with multiple vendors. Training companies can grow their sales by integrating e-commerce with their LMS. In this post, we will cover six points that you must keep in mind when it comes to e-commerce integration.

Check the compatibility

Most LMS vendors partner with e-commerce companies for their integration needs. The website of the LMS vendor will have all the details of the available e-commerce options or payment sites. If you are a training company, you can verify which payment tools work well with the LMS you are using. It is important to check the compatibility and test it before you launch the courses. If your customers encounter a problem while making the purchase due to an unseen roadblock, it not only affects your sales but also hampers your reputation.

Determine the right price for your course

As a training company, cost is a determining factor in choosing a platform. The cost can vary depending on whether you are going for a self-hosted LMS or an LMS that has e-commerce integrations. While some LMS platforms offer flexible options for the training companies, others are restricted. It is better if your LMS provides an option to fix flexible prices for online courses, memberships or subscriptions, and content bundles. The other e-commerce options you can look for when choosing an LMS are options to provide discounts, payment plans, and coupons. You certainly need robust tools that help monitor the conversions if you wish to take your online training to the next level.

Check the data security

The safety and security of data are of utmost importance. You need to ensure this to avoid the client’s or the learner’s information from falling into wrong hands. The users trust you with their personal and financial information, and hence data security needs to be prioritized. Choose an LMS vendor, who uses advanced data security measures and upgrades the technology from time to time. The vendor also needs to process the transaction quickly via third party gateways, keeping the data safe.

Storefront creation

Training companies can set up their very own storefront in the LMS or can use a third party vendor for e-commerce. If you are a training company with an existing customer base, you can opt for the latter. However, before you do that, make sure you compare the fees and other factors between the LMS storefront and the 3rd party vendor.

Auto-Enrollment

Individuals who opt for online courses expect immediate access to training videos or material. So, do not waste your time and effort with welcome emails or links after the purchase is completed. Make sure that the LMS vendor with e-commerce integrations also supports the option of auto-enrolment. Thanks to this, the users can start the training program immediately after the purchase.

Verification of In-App Purchases

Training companies need to ensure that the users need not visit an external website to purchase any products you offer. Make sure the vendor you choose provides you with an option of SSO (Single Sign-On), which enables the users to log in to both the LMS and e-commerce platforms. With this, they will be able to purchase new content or enroll in a new course from the same platform.

Training companies must ensure a smooth and fast checkout for their users. Do not let payment-processing errors affect your sales or growth. With Seek LMS, you can eliminate such hurdles and enable your users to enroll without any hassles. This is an ideal LMS for your training company, which you can use to employ a perfect training course that provides a great ROI.

Article Source: https://www.seeklms.com/blog/Boost-Your-Online-Course-Sales-with-E-commerce-Integration/

[seeklms]

4 Branding Elements You Can Use With LMS to Market Your Brand

Do you ever wonder how you would market your brand when using an LMS? Branding not only builds awareness about your business but it also helps foster customer or client loyalty. If you are a training company, you need to carefully incorporate your message without forcing it on learners or clients. So let's learn about four elements you can incorporate in your LMS to build credibility as a brand.

1.The brand logo

The logo represents your brand and is a must-have branding element in the LMS. If you are a content creator or offer courses to various learners, you must use your brand logo in all your communications. Make sure you use your logo in not only the communications but also in the marketing resources that you share via the LMS. You need to add the logo on the LMS home page too. If you are using certain course templates, remember to keep space for the company logo on them as well. By using the brand logo, you are improving your visibility, and people who take your course are likely to recommend it to their peers, associates and acquaintances. If you have not created a logo yet, make sure you do, and use it wisely. It is, however, important to keep in mind that client branding and company branding are quite different from one another.

2. The colour

The colour scheme on your LMS should preferably be in sync with your logo colours. If your brand’s logo or website has a specific colour scheme, make sure you use the same on the LMS. Using the same colour palette makes your brand look consistent and professional.

Some learning management systems also provide an option to customize the colour scheme based on user groups. For example, you can use a certain colour palette for your sales training courses and a different one for software training courses. This makes each course stand out. The option to customize the colour palette differs from one LMS to another. So, make sure you choose the one that offers multiple customization options.

3. Banners

You can create banners related to a course or your brand and embed them in the LMS dashboard. A banner not only reflects your brand and highlights its messages, but it can be used to promote other courses or products that you offer. For example, you can use a well-designed banner to promote your next online event or launch of an e-book. Make sure you display the banner to those who are enrolled in a related course, as there are better chances for them to sign up.

Most online learners view these banners like an announcement and they are likely to sign up if the product or course you are offering meets their interests and goals. Once you have enough enrollments, go ahead and update the banner with another related announcement.

4. Customize the login page

Every learner needs to login, and will thereby access the login page, and this is why it is important to customize it using your brand elements. You can add your logo there along with a catchy welcome message. However, if you are holding the session for a client of yours, make sure the login page has the branding elements of the client. The same applies to the use of banners.

Another place to add your logo and other marketing elements is the email you send to the users with the link. Note that here too you will need to add the client logo if you are doing it for them. You can even send invites to individual users informing them about the next webinar and add branding elements on the same. Applying these techniques on a regular basis will definitely help create better brand visibility.

Branding via an LMS extends beyond adding the logo, a banner or the brand message. You or your client should be able to reflect the brand values through the LMS and customize it to ensure that it is in alignment with the image.

Training companies can choose a reliable LMS, like Seek LMS, that provides unmatched support and can help customize the dashboard based on individual branding needs. Give us a call today and learn how you can increase your sales and growth with the best LMS.

Article Source: https://www.seeklms.com/blog/4-Branding-Elements-You-Can-Use-With-LMS-to-Market-Your-Brand/

[seeklms]

7 Proven Techniques To Improve Training Completion Rates

Are you conducting a soft skills training or a customer service training for your employees? Conducting any online training program can be a daunting task and  requires great efforts and involves huge expenses while organizing. If the training is not completed by a number of people enrolled then the effort and expenditure goes to waste. Thus, completion rate is an important metric for tracking the success of a training program. Completion rate is simply the percentage of learners who complete the training on or before the completion date. It is an important learning metric and why it matters so much is because "Completion rates are used in approximately 86% of summative usability tests and around 79% of formative tests" .

Did you know that only 10% of the students, enrolled online, complete the courses? To achieve higher completion rates, the context and consequences need to be taken into account. You need to list the positive impact the training can have and the negative influence it may have if it is not completed. Here are some proven techniques to improve training completion rate for your next program:

(1) Create engaging content to avoid distractions

Don’t just teach but narrate a story, transform the learning experience into a stunning journey. Use analogy or embed tales, craft it such that they look forward to ‘how it ends’. Keep the anxiety levels high and interactivity levels even higher. Allow learners to interact with the content using interactive videos with clickable areas or fun questionnaires in between the modules.

(2) Provide byte-sized content for short attention spans

Keep it short! Keep it crisp! Say only what you must say. Divide your content into smaller pieces - an average of 3 to 10 minutes long chunks. Call these information morsels - modules or levels based on the context. Several researches over the years have indicated that microlearning improves knowledge retention as well as course completion rates radically. Johnson & Johnson Vision Care re-designed their traditional training programmes into micro learning modules for their eye care professionals. This increased the completion rates of their online courses by 740% - (Elucidat, 2015).

(3) Track the learning with a module completion criteria

Set up some completion criteria for each module. It can be a simple quiz or a detailed assessment. You may even restrict learners from proceeding to next module until they spend a specified amount of time on the current one. Encourage them to move to next level! This will also ease-up the tracking process for you as you’ll be clearly able to see every user's progress through the program.

(4) Gamify the process to give sense of achievement

From boring boardroom lectures to exciting user interfaces, gamification has amplified modern learning to an incredible level. User interaction is the soul of gamification - with a highly interactive interface constantly communicating with the user, leave no room for distraction. At every step whether it is completion of a topic, winning a badge, finishing a level or just answering a question - pat the learner’s back! Make sure that the user is appreciated for whatever is achieved by him while at the same time he has a glimpse of what is going to happen next.

(5) Improve engagement with discussion forums and social learning

Social learning brings a competitive spirit with it. Let learners interact with each other - to discuss their queries, doubts and progress. Let them compete with other learners, earn badges as they move up through levels, and win virtual rewards. Allow them to share these badges and rewards on social platforms. This way enthusiasm of learners is boosted and the tendency of loss aversion keeps users motivated to do better.

(6) Remind about the progress, follow up from time-to-time

Draft and send system emails, remind them - to complete their training, how they will benefit from it, what will happen if they don’t acquire the skills this training offers. Ask them if they are stuck somewhere, finding something difficult to understand and if they need any help. Such reminders on learner’s status of training, result in improved completion percentage and they feel comfortable to communicate their concerns.

(7) Issue a certificate of completion at the end - it acts as a driving force

The good old certificate technique still works very well! Though the way trainings are conducted have changed radically over the years - issuing a certificate of completion is something which has the same impact it always had. People love to flaunt training certificates in their CVs and LinkedIn profiles. It’s even better if you can get a reputed certifying authority to validate the training certificate.

Apply these techniques now and ensure higher completion rates!

Article Source : https://www.seeklms.com/blog/training-completion-rates/

[seeklms]

Selling courses on eLearning Marketplaces vs Online Academy

Being an edupreneur is not just another job, but a 24*7 responsibility only a few can handle. If you intend to become an instructional leader and don’t mind walking that extra mile then this post will help you take a leap forward towards that goal.

So are you planning to sell your courses online or are already in the league? Do you face the dilemma of selling the courses through an eLearning marketplace or create your own online platform? Well we have the secrets to your questions. This post reveals all the insights eLearning marketplaces would never want you to know.

Below are the pros and cons associated with an eLearning marketplace, along with a tip on how your own platform might be the better choice:

Setup Cost – Spending Smart

Selling courses online in today’s competitive world is a challenging task and that’s the reason many edupreneurs may have to deal with failure in their initial years. While selling on a marketplace appears to be a low-risk option it certainly has cons too:

Pro – Initial investment in marketplaces is lower than the setup cost required for your own Online Academy.

Con – The course fees you charge needs to comply with the policies of the marketplace you opt. Most platforms have very specific rules for pricing the courses based on the hours, credibility and field.

In case of an Online Academy, you own the platform so though the investment required is slightly higher, you have full control over the pricing you’d like choose for your courses and you don’t have to give a share to anyone.

Audience – Finding your Learners

Your audience i.e. your learners are the ones who can make you successful. Reaching out to the right audience with the planned budget is what every entrepreneur dreams of. But then this is real world and no ideal scenarios can be promised ever – only dynamic practical solutions work! An eLearning marketplace may come with a large audience base but then the completion rate is high too, here are both sides of the coin:

Pro – Marketplaces gives you an opportunity to reach out a large audience base and also to go international from day one!

Con – Though you have better chances of selling your courses to more learners, sooner or later you will realize that it’s not your audience. The learners don’t identify your academy or your brand, they just recognize the platform.  And the platforms give learners many other options similar to your courses – the competition rate is high.

Though you may start with smaller numbers, you can build a stronger connection with the audience. Even if the initial reach is limited, your learners will identify your brand/academy and as  they are your learners, it's rare that you will lose them!

Marketing – Reaching your Audience

Whether your course offerings are unique or they are one among the many – you need marketing efforts to succeed. There’s no alternative, no shortcut. It may seem easier to leave the promotion and advertising to the eLearning marketplace, but heads up there’s a catch:

Pro – Saves you from planning and implementing your marketing. Even claims to cut down your overall marketing expenses.

Con – People don’t identify your academy as a brand so though you pay additional fees to promote and sell your courses the return on this investment is short lived and limited. They know the academy, it is difficult to stand out among so many educators selling their courses. Thus you face more competition and need to be the best to prosper!

Starting from scratch – that’s the only option you have if you are setting up your own academy. You need to plan your marketing strategy based on your target audience. Decide the overall budget and individual budget for various channels. Getting started will take time but in the end, all the investment will pay off as learners will recognize your platform as a brand.

Sales – Earning Profits

The ultimate goal is to sell your courses to the right audience with minimal marketing expenses/efforts. Again the advantages associated with a marketplace are short-lived but in the longer run, your academy will give you the real profits:

Pro – You sell quicker with course hosting platforms. You may have conversions from the very first week.

Con – Though you have chances of selling more with the marketplaces, the basic plans on popular eLearning marketplaces involve 3-5% transaction fees. This percentage is higher for premium plans and thus a percentage of your revenue goes to these platforms as payment processing fees or other charges mention in their terms.

With your own academy sales may take time to shoot up but once your academy gains popularity then you don’t have to give away a chunk of it!

Then what’s the ultimate solution? You just need to make a smarter choice by using the course hosting platforms as just another marketing channel for building your learner base with free courses. Become an instructional leader by setting up your own Online Academy!!

Want to start your own Online Academy?

Article Source : https://www.seeklms.com/blog/elearning-marketplaces-vs-online-academy/

[seeklms]

LEARNING new things – your phone does it all for you! Mobile Learning or mLearning is the term used to describe a sub domain of eLearning scenario in which content is delivered on handheld devices, such as smartphones, tablets, e-book readers, etc.

[seeklms]

LMS Software: 5 Ways It Affects Your Online Business

A learning management software (LMS) is utilized by organizations to create, distribute, manage, and to optimize learning and development programs. Though it was originally designed for education, organizations have been using it to deliver modules to close training gaps. Depending on its design, it can support both synchronous and asynchronous learning. For the former, there are tools that allow the instructor to facilitate the class and which enables students to engage and collaborate with each other in real-time.

Who is a learning management system for?

There are different types of learning management systems for an educational institution, a non-profit organization, or a for-profit entity to provide learning and development resources to their students. In a corporate setting, it is used to distribute materials that can enhance the training of employees and boost their skills in handling scenarios online.

What can a learning management platform do?

The best learning management system is capable of publishing learning resources in one click. Before that, it allows instructors to create their own resources and to update them at any time. It is also responsible for the streamlined distribution of guides, manuals, eBooks, and other training texts to the employees who need them.

Are there benefits in using an LMS?

There are numerous benefits of online learning platforms. An increase in worker productivity, enhanced customer service, a safer workplace, better employee retention, and employee collaboration are only a few. Read on to know more about the learning management system features and benefits.

It increases worker productivity.

Gallup reported in 2018 that U.S. worker engagement is on the rise, with 34% reporting that they are engaged. Meanwhile, 13% of workers are actively disengaged, a record low. These numbers are important because they affect the productivity of the organization, leading to higher profitability.

How does a company keep its employees engaged? One way to do it is to implement an LMS software. This solution allows organizations to enhance their skills through resources like eBooks. When employees have access to these, they can read on how they can be efficient in completing their tasks. They can also learn how to focus on their responsibilities for the day to avoid distractions. Thus, they can become more productive.

Moreover, employees can view resources repeatedly whenever they need refreshers because they are available from the company’s LMS.

Mobile learning is also a growing trend for learners to access materials on-the-go at any time.

It enhances service quality.

When starting a nonprofit, one thing that has to be considered is the growth of workers. Professional development is one of the factors that affect the decisions of employees to stay or leave. To make sure that workers get the training they need means to add to the growing list of expenses of a company. While that may be concerning, there are other ways to make certain that workers grow with the help of an organization.

LMS software solutions can serve as a training resource for employees. One of its advantages over physical training is it can be modified at any time. This means that workers can keep themselves up-to-date regarding the latest innovations or techniques in their fields. With this, they can apply what they have learned from their readings to their tasks immediately.

This is exemplified by the enhancement of customer service. Since companies can create their own learning materials, they can share general and industry-specific scenarios and guidelines on how to deal with them. These can prepare customer service agents so they are better equipped to resolve customer issues.

2. It improves workplace safety.

It is not always easy to keep employees apprised of the latest rules and regulations regarding workplace safety. While they gain initial training, follow-ups are challenging because of time constraints and variable availability of employees.

To remedy that, organizations can set up an LMS that can serve as a repository of manuals. This lets workers view guidelines on how to handle dangerous materials, for example, whenever they are unsure how to deal with them to avoid accidents. Additionally, employees can check for themselves instructions on how to use safety gear. This way, they are accountable for their safety at work.

As mentioned above, businesses can create materials specific to their operations. In a simple LMS, it is also possible to generate a learning path tailored to the needs or skill level of an employee. This can be advantageous to the health and safety aspect of a workplace since there are different sections that may require particular safety methods.

3. It boosts employee retention.

Though you can try building a startup without hiring a single person, you will have to recruit talents eventually. That in itself is a difficult task, but what’s even more challenging is retaining them.

In any organization, a high employee turnover means that workers are disengaged or dissatisfied with the workplace for many reasons. According to an article in Forbes, 2018 witnessed the highest rate of turnover in the United States. This is costing firms up to $160 billion per year due to the loss of high performers and the expenses for finding, hiring, relocating, and training new workers.

The HR Digest cites the lack of training on the job as one of the primary reasons that employees quit. As mentioned above, regular structured training can be challenging to achieve for some organizations. However, an LMS can be a remedy since employees can begin training modules on the platform at a required pace or at their own pace. This lets them develop continuously as well as grow in their roles so they can be better at their jobs. With this, they can be motivated to stay longer at a company and increase the success of training completion.

4. It fosters collaboration.

Did you know that employers put a high value on collaboration? And yet 39% of employees feel that they do not have enough teamwork in their organizations, as shown in a Queens University of Charlotte infographic.

While the main purpose of LMS is to provide additional knowledge to employees and to train them to complete tasks correctly and efficiently, it can serve as a platform for collaboration?

How is it possible?

LMS enables synchronous learning. This means that a group of students can work together in learning about a certain topic at the same time. This requires learners to be online at the same time to tackle assignments or modules. Hence, they can engage with each other and collaborate in real-time to ensure that every member of the group understands the subject.

Tips for a successful deployment

Not every LMS implementation is a success. At times, it takes several tries for an organization to say that their efforts are fruitful. Failed implementations are due to a lack of knowledge on the part of the implementation team or communication with end-users.

To resolve that, here are a few tips that an organization can find helpful in the process:

Choose a vendor wisely (check some learning management system software ranking for decision-making help)

·         Sign up for a trial run

·         Form an implementation team

·         Draft a plan and timeline

·         Migrate data

·         Train employees for high adoption rate

·         Make the switch

For switching to a new LMS, the process can be more difficult, especially if there are employees who are resistant to the change (maybe they liked the previous LMS too much). The key would be to make the transition gradual to give workers time to become familiar with the new system. This can also be advantageous because it gives the implementation team time to complete the data migration and to get everyone on board.

But of course, the implementation process does not end upon the complete launch of the LMS. Optimization is still required to draw the potential of the software to its full extent. On top of that, there are always new courses and updates to current programs to ensure that employees have a full stack of learning resources at their fingertips to fully maximize the LMS features.

Article Source : https://www.seeklms.com/blog/LMS-Software-5-Ways-It-Affects-Your-Online-Business/

[seeklms]

Today learning has evolved and so have the technologies driving learning. “One size fits all” no longer works and there is no “Best” Learning Management System (LMS). Choices are plenty at the same time choosing an LMS for your organization could be a high stake decision.