When many people think of learning management systems (LMSs), they think of “online training” or eLearning courses.
On the flip-side, what many people don’t think about is instructor-led training, classroom-style training, face-to-face training, field-based training, OJT, weekly safety meetings, and similar things that happen when people are working together to learn.
But you CAN use an LMS to administer instructor-led training and similar face-to-face training in different working environments, and doing so makes life easier for training administrators and for employees as well.
In this article, we’ll look at some examples of how you can use an LMS to administer instructor-led training at your workplace and show how doing so makes work easier and more efficient and also makes your blended learning training solution more effective.
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How can you administer instructor-led training with an LMS, you ask?
Isn’t it impossible to use a learning management system, a tool for online learning, for face-to-face, instructor-led, classroom-style training?
Nope, it’s not impossible. Actually, it’s very possible and it’s very easy.
In fact, an LMS is a perfect tool for administering training as a blended learning solution. Not sure what blended learning is? We recommend you back up, click that link you just whizzed by, and read the article. Even better, download the free blended learning guide.
But, to condense the basic point into a few words, blended learning solutions provide training to people in many different training methods–eLearning; instructor-led; written materials; videos; webinars; task-based training in the field; job shadowing, following, and/or mentoring; online quizzes, and more. And study after study show it tends to be the most effective way to train people. For example, check this research study from the Department of Education or check the results of this metastudy from the famous learning researcher Dr. Will Thalheimer.
And you can use an LMS to administer all that training (not just the e-learning). You can assign it all. Your employees can see a list of everything that’s been assigned. You can give people credit for completing it all. You can run reports on it all. You can store records of completed training for all the training. And you can do every more than this, such as set up a class with multiple sessions and allow employees to select the session that fits their schedule best.
So sure, you can’t use the LMS to deliver instructor-led training to your workers the way you can with eLearning. Your workers can’t complete instructor-led training online (unless you set it up as a webinar). But you still can take advantage of all the other administrative benefits that save so much time, effort, and money, and that make your training program so much more efficient and comprehensive.
So, let’s take a look at some ways you can do this.
An LMS will allow you to create instructor-led classes with different “structures.” What does that mean, you ask?
It means the class may include one or more session. And it means the class may have only one instance of each session, or it means the class may have multiple instances of each session.
Let’s make that even more clear by sketching out some examples.
Here’s what that might look like in an LMS:
You can also use the learning management system to specify the date and time on which your class will be held (or, if it’s a multi-session and/or multi-instance class, as described above, specify the date and time of each session and instance).
This date and time information is sent on to employees who are later assigned to attend the class. It’s also visible to other LMS administrators who may be scheduling their own class.
Here’s how that might look in an LMS:
You can also schedule where the class is going to take place. Conference room A, the training room, the warehouse, an offsite hotel, a third-party training consultant, an OSHA or MSHA regional office, or anywhere else.
It begins when you create a list in the learning management system of places where classes can be held–it’s as easy as clicking “New,” entering some information, and clicking “Save.” Then you can select a location from your list when you’re creating each class. It’s a lot like how you select a meeting room or location in an email program when you’re setting up a meeting.
Here’s how that might look in your LMS:
One common problem with instructor-led training at work is that it’s often held at a time that’s inconvenient or impossible for employees to attend.
But a learning management system gives you tools to manage that problem. If you want, you can assign workers to complete a class and, if the class has multiple sessions and/or instances, you can specify which sessions/instances each employee has to attend.
Or, on the other hand, you can assign workers to complete a class but allow them to self-register for the different sessions and instances that they’d like to attend.
Creating this self-registration process helps to put the employee in charge of his or her training schedule. This provides more flexibility so that the employee can fit the training in around his or her work schedule. It also generally makes the employee feel more respected, self-empowered, and accountable. All of which are important adult learning principles that will provide valuable training benefits to you and your organization.
If you do set up a class to allow self-registration, the employee that has been assigned to complete the class will be notified that he/she must self-register for the different sessions and instances. And don’t worry about getting too many people in any one session–the LMS will “cap” registration for any session-instance at a maximum number of employees (selected by you).
The self-registration process might look something like this in your LMS:
Not only can you create and assign a class in your LMS, you an also select an instructor.
Not only that, but if you’re creating a class with multiple sessions and/or instances, you can select the same instructor or different instructors for each session/instance.
Here’s what that might look like in your learning management system:
Once you’ve created a class in your LMS, it’s an easy process to assign various workers to complete that class.
What’s better, your LMS should make it easy for you to select one or more individual employee, or all employees in a given team, department, or site, or all employees in a custom group of your own creation, or to mix and match to create your assignment (such as 3 individual employees, one custom group, and two teams).
Here’s how that might look in an LMS:
Once you’ve assigned the class to the employees, they’ll be notified of the assignment and will be able to see the class on a list of their assigned training. Clicking on the class within the list of assigned training in the LMS will show them key details, such as date, time, place, instructor, and any other details you provided.
Here’s how that might look in an LMS:
With an LMS, you can create a record of an employee completing a class with just a few keystrokes or mouse clicks.
What’s better, the LMS will give you the flexibility to create a completion record for one employee, for a selection or employees, for all the employees in a custom group or on a team/department/site, or however you want to slice and dice it.
Even better, those completion records are:
Here’s how that might look in an LMS:
Even better still, there are ways to do with this mobile devices in the classroom itself or even by swiping employee badges.
Many work places pass out a paper-based sign-in sheet during a training session. Employees print their name, sign the sheet, and write down the date, and then employers store these sign-in sheets in a seemingly endless collection of manila envelopes in metal filing cabinets, often in different rooms at different ends of a large facility. All of which makes these records hard to manage and retrieve when necessary.
With an LMS, you don’t need to do this, but if you want, you can still hand out those paper-based sign-in sheets. And you can still collect those printed names, signatures, and dates. But what’s better is you can then scan that sheet and electronically “attach” the scanned sign-in sheet to the completion record you give to employees when they complete training.
The LMS will store that electronic version of the sign-in sheet indefinitely, and it’s no more than a few clicks of a mouse to retrieve one when you need it.
Here’s how that might look in an LMS:
One of the great things about having records stored in a computerized system is that it’s easy to run reports on them.
That’s no different when it comes to completion records stored for instructor-led training/classes within an LMS. And that makes it easy to see who’s done and not done with an assigned class.
Here’s how that might look in an LMS:
Of course, you’ll probably use a blended learning solution for training at work. Meaning, you’ll assign workers to attend instructor-led classes but also to complete other forms of training, such as e-learning, written materials, task-based training completed in the field, and more.
So you’ll want to be able to run a report to see if someone has completed a series of training activities of multiple types.
And an LMS makes it easy for you to do that as well.
Here’s how that will look in an LMS:
And finally, those records of completed training will be stored indefinitely in a secure, online location.
No need to worry about fire or floods. No need to worry about hauling records back and forth from a back closet storage area. And no need to worry about computer malfunction–the records are backed up repeatedly onto two different servers in two different cities throughout the US.
When many people think of learning management systems (or online learning), they think it’s all about e-learning courses.
As you’ve seen, though, an LMS lets you work with instructor-led training too. And even if the LMS can’t deliver the training for instructor-led classes directly online (unless you’re doing a webinar, which we’ll talk about in a different article), the LMS still provides you with tons of efficiency and power in terms of your training administration.
If this is nothing new to you, use our comments section below to share your experiences and insights.
And if this IS new to you, take a moment to consider expanding this new idea to other types of training, such as task-based training, written materials, and more. Because, yes, you can use an LMS to administer that type of training too. In fact, here’s another article that shows you more about what you can do with an LMS and “online training.”
If this article has made you curious to learn more, watch the 2-minute Convergence LMS video overview below, read any of the linked LMS-related articles below that, and/or download the free LMS Buyer’s Guide Checklist at the bottom of this article.
Here are those LMS-related articles you may enjoy:
And that free checklist is ready for you right below.
Learn what you need to know BEFORE you begin your search and get a free checklist to guide you, too.
