A learning management system (LMS) is a software-based program that allows for the creation, administration, and distribution of educational content. LMS are popular in the context of online courses, but they also have a lot of applications in the corporate world, including onboarding and upskilling employees.
If you currently have an LMS in place, but your employees aren’t engaging with it to the extent that you would like, here are eight ways that you can increase employee engagement with your LMS.
8 Ways to Increase Employee Engagement With Your LMS
Remove Barriers to Participation
The first step to getting employees engaged with an LMS is making sure they understand how to navigate the system. Not all employees will have worked with an LMS before, and even if they have, this LMS will probably be different, and not everything they know will translate to the new system.
Be sure to offer them whatever resources they need, whether that is a video tutorial, an instructive webinar, or even an in-person demonstration. Basically, you want to make using the LMS itself as painless as possible.
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Employ Gamification Strategies
Playing games increases participation and information retention, making gamification an essential strategy for increasing employee engagement. Take advantage of whatever gamification options are offered by your LMS, which will probably include leaderboards, achievement badges, group games, and similar functions.
For the best engagement, offer rewards that translate into something tangible, such as digital points that users can trade in for company swag.
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Make It Easy to Track Progress
People love to feel like they are accomplishing something, and tracking their progress is a huge part of this feeling of accomplishment. Show them how many modules they have completed, how many they have left to go, and what their estimated date of completion is.
You should also see if the LMS offers the options to present these analytics visually, either in the dashboard or in a separately generated report. You might also want to send each user a “report card” of their progress either weekly or monthly to further nudge them to engage with the LMS.
Incorporate Varied Media Content
Doing the same type of lesson over and over will get old fast. When designing LMS courses, make sure you break things up by incorporating a bunch of different media, including text, images, audio, video, and games. This will help hold users’ attention and keep them from getting burned out on a single type of content.
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Break It Down Into Smaller Lessons
Not only is an hour-long lesson daunting, it’s also unrealistic to expect employees to carve out so much uninterrupted time to devote to an LMS. Instead, break your modules down into smaller lessons that will only take five to 15 minutes to complete.
Employees are far more likely to have shorter breaks than longer ones, and keeping the lessons short will incentivize them to hop into the LMS and use that down time to complete a lesson instead of putting it off until they have a longer break.
Offer Options for Personalization
Not everyone learns the same way or wants to process content in the same order. Instead of forcing every employee to go through the exact same LMS modules in the exact same order, offer a level of choice in terms of which lessons they complete and when.
This will make them feel more in control and encourage them to actively engage right from the beginning rather than just passively accepting whatever the next lesson is. The more choice you give, the more invested and engaged they will be.
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Harness the Power of Social Learning
Social learning can take many forms, including asking questions, participating in a forum discussion, and playing an educational game with coworkers. Social learning adds variety to the LMS and also contributes to employee engagement and accountability.
If your LMS courses don’t currently include a social learning component, check the software’s capabilities to see if you can add that in to boost employee engagement.
Go Mobile First
Employees are constantly on the go, and they may not spend all day sitting in front of a desktop computer. Thus, it is crucial that your LMS offers options for both smartphones and tablets, so employees can access it from anywhere with a cell signal or internet connection.
If your employees use devices with different operating systems, make sure the app is available for iOS, Android, and whatever other systems they use, so no one is left out.
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Find the Right LMS
Not sure if you have chosen the right LMS, or are you still looking for the right system for your company? Learn more about what LMS features to look for, or contact us today to schedule a free personal consultation with one of tech experts. We can help you find the perfect LMS to fit your business’s needs and increase employee engagement.
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