#DevLearn Session Notes: LMS/LCMS: What’s Next?

Bersin & Associates

Agenda:

• Forces Driving Change
• LMS Marketplace (Provider)
• LMS Marketplace (Buyer)
• Portals, Learning 2.0
• Choosing a Provider Today

LMS providers definitely have Web 2.0 on the brain. Social networking is in their plans.

Bersin will be publishing Learning 2.0 study in Q1 of 2009. Best practices, etc. Biggest challenge today is overwhelming volume of information. How do we make sure we’re getting them the right information (that is valid) at the right time?

Context and Standards – two things that the industry needs.

New goal for T&D is to enable Learning 2.0. Enable the workforce and the knowledge workers to do more.

Directions of the LMS Market:

1. Increase in Enterprise Learning Capabilities, including L2.0
2. Increase in Talent Management Capabilities

Most recent activity (in development and purchasing) is in Performance Management (integration with LMS), including development plans, goals, etc.

Vendors:

• LMS Training Administration is moving to Talent Management
• LCMS is moving to On-Demand

Buyers:

• Only 60% of those surveyed (850 companies) have an LMS – interesting number.
• Tracking and reporting the biggest function needed from an LMS.
• Reducing training costs is very low on the listed benefits (6%!)
• Biggest challenge is customization and content integration.
• Current LMSs do not provide the information the user needs (60+% said it was poor or fair)
• LMS consolidation or replacement is in the plans for the majority.

Learning Portals:

• IBM Learning On-Demand (I need to look more into this)
• Personalization (What I need, right now; what skills/competencies do I need)
• Search (IBM returns info, courses, and experts to contact – very cool)
• Web 2.0 Social Platforms (companies selling canned networks and softwares to companies)
  Alternatively, could you just open up to existing networks (Facebook, Twitter, Yammer) but have guidelines and lockdown?

Four Cs of Social Software:

1. Conversations
2. Content
3. Connections
4. Collaboration

Companies using social software mainly for succession planning and onboarding.
Why not combine the two, gain succession planning by using the experienced workers to mentor the new workers and capture the information shared.

What I want:

A knowledge portal containing instant info, knowledge gathering and publishing, good search that brings it all together, tied to elearning, instructor-led training, virtual training (webinars) and documentation, and an AIR app to launch it from desktops and distribute with alerts, reminders, etc.

Final Notes:

Attending this following Dan Roam’s speech on using pictures was painful. Boring, text-filled slides with bar charts we can’t read. Different types of charts and color schemes, so no continuity. And yikes, some of the colors they used were not projector-friendly. Think people, think! I need to do a session next year on how to present at DevLearn. I think I made that comment last year…hmmm.