What is an LMS? Learning Management Systems Explained

What is an LMS? Learning Management Systems Explained
5 min read

Are you confused by the terms LMS, Learning Management System, Learning Management Platform and LMS Software? First, it is important to understand that all these terms refer to the same thing. They are used interchangeably to describe “a software application for administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, automation and delivery of educational courses, training programs or learning and development programs”. 

To translate this into simple language, an LMS is software that helps you create, manage, organize and deliver online learning materials to students. Students can be school students, vocational training students, university students, university students or employees of any type of organization. That is, anyone interested in lifelong learning and accessing learning materials on one device, predominantly over the Internet.

What is the history of learning management systems?

The concept of online learning or eLearning started in the early 20th century through the use of audio and video communication for remote or distance learning. This was further developed in the 1980s when the use of computers began prominently in the delivery of learning materials and in some form of assessments. The emergence of teaching via the internet was first seen in the 1990s and allowed for more sophisticated class delivery, exercise and practice programs and more individualized instruction.

As an example, the Moodle LMS, one of the world's leading learning management systems, is used by hundreds of millions of learners around the world. Its origins can be traced back to Moodle founder and CEO Martin Dougiamas and his experience of attending school through distance education in the wilderness of Western Australia. His positive experience with remote learning sowed the seeds of his vision in the late 1990s to use the characteristics of the Internet to take education beyond physical classrooms that have barely changed in hundreds of years. The first official release of Moodle 1.0 took place in 2002, and over the past 20 years, Moodle has evolved through a commitment to pedagogy, open source philosophy, and a collaborative global community of like-minded educators and technologists.

Growth of LMS platforms

By 2026, the global online learning market is expected to reach over $370 billion . This is not surprising, as according to a June 2021 report by TrustRadius , 99% of educational institutions provide LMS and educational technology support to their students. Additionally, the LinkedIn Learning 2021 Workplace Learning Report indicates that 73% of L&D professionals expect to spend less on ILT (instructor-led training) and 79% expect to spend more on online learning.

What is the best LMS?

Moodle LMS is one of the best learning management systems . It provides teachers and trainers with a toolbox to create personalized learning platforms. It is a feature-rich, secure and open source software platform that runs on any computer server and all common devices to create a web-based virtual learning space containing “courses”.

These course spaces are where teachers, educators or trainers create and organize a wide range of resources and activities into a rich learning experience; where enrolled students and students interact and work with each other to achieve course learning objectives.

At Moodle, we believe that the best learning management systems should support good pedagogical practices, be feature rich, open source, accessible to all, secure and integrate seamlessly with other platforms.

  • Open Source – The Moodle LMS is, and will always remain, open source, which means its source code is licensed in a way that allows anyone to download all the software for free and change the way it works by writing new code. to add features to it. 
  • Affordable – Moodle LMS is WCAG 2.1 AA compliant. Our built-in content accessibility checkers also help you create courses that accommodate all learners.
  • Secure - Moodle's development practices include security by design, and as an open source LMS, the Moodle LMS allows you to have full control over your data to meet local legislation requirements, including GDPR compliance. It also allows organizations or institutions to own their infrastructure.
  • Flexible and feature-rich – Moodle goes beyond the basic content features of most learning platforms and is rich in activities that support good pedagogical practice and require students to actively engage with the learning content and with each other in a variety of modalities. In addition, Moodle has over 300 plugins (software add-ons) in the base distribution and nearly 2000 additional plugins created by the Moodle community.
  • Integrations – Moodle LMS seamlessly connects to third-party platforms and services; from plagiarism detection to content repositories.

Hundreds of thousands of organizations , in every sector of education, in every country in the world, in almost every language, use Moodle to manage their online learning.

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