An LMS, or Learning Management System, is a platform that allows you to store, deliver, and track learning content online. The LMS is nearly ubiquitous in academia, where there has long been an appreciation of the need for online learning tools, and it has also become a key feature of many online training programs in the business world.
However, the LMS leaves the biggest problems that affect online learning unsolved. In effect, an LMS is like having a textbook online. It's there if you want to look at it, but that's about it. In contrast, an adaptive learning platform is more like having a personal tutor, who knows all of the subjects you are learning, how much progress you are making in each area, and what would be best to review at any given moment in order to build strong and stable memories.
The problems with the traditional LMS
While an LMS usually allows you to track progress in a limited sense—i.e., did the learner look at the assignment or take the exam—there are no meaningful analytics on how well they are mastering the concepts. Instead, what you get are checkboxes (yes, the student looked at the material) and a one-time test score.
But what if you want to know how well students have learned the material before the exam, so that you can provide support if needed? Is a one-time test score enough? If everyone gets the same exam at the same time in a remote setting, how can you guard against cheating?
Still more important questions are: Will the learners need to know the material well into the future? How can you predict future performance or identify top talent? Is there any difference of experience based on the learners' existing knowledge, or does everyone just get dumped into the same course, with exactly the same content?
This is why adaptive online learning is the key to driving real learning outcomes. It's not about checking a box showing that someone completed a training course. That approach is neither engaging nor effective. And yet, those are the limitations of the LMS, and simply shrugged off—despite the fact that science shows 70% of new information is forgotten within 24 hours.
| Traditional LMS | Cerego |
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Given you're reading this on our website, we're sure it'll be no surprise—but yes, Cerego does all of the above. And, not only do instructors like it, students do too.
Don't take our word for it, though—read through our Customer Stories.
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