eLearning has emerged as an effective training methodology. It is gaining acceptance among organizations at an accelerated pace — and for all the right reasons. The eLearning market is packed with so many best-in-class, intuitive software, which offers a comprehensive learning experience — which is fun, engaging, interactive, and informative.
Now, your next question might be: what is an eLearning platform?
An eLearning platform is an online learning platform, which is integrated with all the tools and technologies required to deliver the complete digital training experience. Additionally, it brings together trainers, learners, and related personnel and enriches them with the necessary information and resources — required to support and enhance educational delivery and management. One of the most common eLearning platforms is the Learning Management System (LMS).
What Are the Different Types of eLearning Platforms?
You can broadly segment eLearning platforms into the following types:
Learning Destination Sites
A learning destination site brings together learning materials from different vendors. In short, it serves as a shared website. Moreover, you can author your courses with the help of an authoring tool or an LMS. You can then upload or link the courses to the site.
Traditional Learning Management System
A traditional Learning Management System is software that has all the elements required to create, host, and distribute online courses. Designers and developers can use an LMS to author courses, store them, manage learning profiles, report grades, and track progress.
Open Source Learning Management System
An Open-source Learning Management System is embedded with all the basic tools, needed for developing and hosting an online course. In fact, it is similar to an LMS — with the only difference being in the charges and customization capability. Additionally, Open-source LMS is free of charge and each platform comprises a mix of vendors, who configure, host, and customize the solutions for free.
Modern Learning Management Solutions
Traditional Learning Management Systems have their own set of challenges. Therefore, this has led to a new wave of modern LMS solutions. Such vendors focus on delivering a learner experience and sometimes on specific pedagogies. However, traditional LMS solutions might not always support such solutions.
Learning Management Ecosystems
Another category of eLearning platforms is the learning management ecosystem. With the help of this model, organizations look to use best-of-breed “point” solutions and combine them together into one platform. You can then integrate the platform with elements like course authoring software, assessment tools, adaptive learning engines, eCommerce sites, and learning content management solutions. Learning management ecosystems usually pair up with a custom front end, which creates an illusion of a single system.
Custom Built Learning Platform
The final type of E Learning platform is the complete custom-built learning platform. When you implement this solution, you have to create all, or most, of the technology you need from scratch by concentrating on serving the business, learner, and pedagogy. Hence, although this solution takes time for the full-fledged deployment and arrives with high, one-time costs, it gives you exactly what you want. You even have complete control over the learner experience and course direction.
