LMS Implementation Tips

After deciding which LMS to use for your training courses, you may feel like the hard part has passed and that you can actually start using the new platform instantly.
That is rarely true.

The period of time before implementation is proportional with the size of the company.

There are some things that you need to consider before starting the implementation itself. For example, you have to consider some general conventions, like if the usernames should be auto-generated, created by the employees or just consist of their email address; same for passwords: a standard password that can be changed by the user, a user-defined password or a generated one? These conventions should be clearly stated in order to be understood by all participants.

The branding of your portal is also important, should the LMS permit wide customization.

If the courses are tightly connected with your existing company, then using the same logo, colors and slogan is probably the best idea.

You should gather all the necessary information before the actual implementation of the LMS, so that no time is wasted with changes and different design ideas. If the LMS needs to be connected to the corporate systems, you should learn how it can be done and how long it will take, by consulting the IT department.
If certificates will be issued at the end of a training course, a good idea is to show the participants exactly what they signed up for, in the initial phase.

This means that you should have the certificate design available to upload on the platform, for users to see.
Moving on to usability issues, there are some things that you should have in mind before starting implementation, which will result in greater productivity for your course.

First of all, the menu should be clean and intuitive, with well-defined headings and sub-headings, where the students can find everything they need, without being overwhelmed by irrelevant information.

Another basic point here is that external links should always open in a new window or tab.

Clicking on a link that opens in a different window will prevent from losing the students' work, making the whole process more fluid and pleasant. This can be easily and quickly done by picking the "open in new window" box, whenever adding a hyperlink. You can also think of content in this preliminary phase - what subjects will be covered, how they'll be explained, exposed and evaluated.

When it comes to content, you should make sure that it's always fresh - adding content each week is very important in a dynamic web 2.0. A blog might be a good idea, especially if you engage the employees in discussions, and even in writing. The website can be personalized with company pictures, videos or posts of the "quote of the week" type. Forums should be active, because that's their sole purpose; you can choose to make forum discussions mandatory, in order to make sure that you won't have to face a forum thread with zero replies. Other solutions are to choose really interesting topics, suggest controversial discussions and debates.

Take these ideas and develop them to match the profile of your company.

Then you can start implementing your new LMS.