Goodbye LMS, Hello OLS

The first learning management system (LMS) is likely the EKKO, developed and released by Norway’s NKI Distance Education Network in 1991.

Since then, there has been an explosion of LMS providers globally. How many LMSs are there now?

It is hard to estimate. Industry observers believe there are around 500 to 1000 LMSs globally, but this includes only LMSs found easily online.

Excluding any East Asia’s in-house developed LMSs and informational platforms, the numbers in this region remains relatively opaque. But one thing is for sure, there are a lot of LMSs!

Any recent college graduate would have experienced some form of LMS in their curriculum, and corporate executives of mid-to-large sized companies as well.

However, anecdotal encounters with users all over the world have indicated a shift away from LMS.

I decided to find out more. Before we begin, what is an LMS? According to Wikipedia – the source of all knowledge nowadays (sarcasm intended) – “An LMS delivers and manages all types of content, including video, courses, and documents.”

A survey of all LMSs points to the high level of similarity between platforms, with each brand attempting to outperform each other by adding features and new tools like gamification, analytics, mobile… you have heard them all.

It is noted, however, that most corporate LMSs are very much the same as educational LMSs.

In the same definition by Wikipedia, added that “in the education and higher education markets, an LMS will include a variety of functionalities that are similar to corporate versions; but will have features such as rubrics, teacher and instructor facilitated learning, a discussion board, and often the use of a syllabus.

A syllabus is rarely a feature in the corporate LMS.

Here, I would argue that institutions and schools still need an LMS, because they are (still) primarily concerned with individual learning.

Even MOOCs are focused primarily on the transfer of learning for institutions or trainers to individuals in a unidirectional format.

This does not adequately meet the needs of organisations which must increasingly operate as a dynamic adaptive organism to survive in a highly competitive environment. “Your ability to learn faster than your competition is your only sustainable competitive advantage,” wrote Arie de Geus in his book, The Living Company, which examined the features of companies lasting longer than 200 years. To commercially meet organizational learning objectives, a paradigm shift from traditional Learning Management Systems (LMSs) to Organizational Learning Systems (OLS) is crucial.

“Organizational learning is the process by which an organization gains new knowledge about its environment, goals, and processes.”

Herbert Simon posits three ways in which organizations learn:

1. Individuals within the organization continuously learn new facts or procedures,
2. The organization ingests outsiders with knowledge not already in the organization, and
3. The organization incorporates new knowledge into its files and computer systems.

Therefore, three key processes that drive organizational learning are knowledge creation, knowledge retention, and knowledge transfer.

Many learning models and tools can be created to support the desire for organizations to learn.

Some of the features that I believe an OLS must have include:

• Creating a Learning Network – Whilst supporting individual’s need to learn independently, an OLS must create opportunities for us to create connected groups or teams as part of a networked environment. This enables us to learn more easily and rapidly from within groups, encouraging knowledge and expertise sharing between communities.
• Content Creation and Co-Creation – Learning at the speed of competition requires us to create content to be shared across the organisation quickly. Instead of waiting for months for a courseware to be built, an OLS must enable the creation of learning content in much shorter learning cycles on a daily basis. To do this, we must also delegate responsibilities downwards to subject matter experts rather than HQ bureaucrats.
• Operational Learning Support – Knowledge is no longer an asset held by a few, but also those who are at the point of action. An OLS must allow all front-line employees the ability to capture, codify and share lessons quickly. All findings and resources must be made available to organizational content authorities to be made into syllabuses, institutionalizing them as organizational knowledge in the long term.

I started the article with some controversy over the demise of the LMS. That is obviously meant to tease.

LMSs will continue to exist due to its innate management function, which fulfils some base requirements of large institutions at best.

Josh Bersin, a principal with Deloitte Consulting and the founder of Bersin by Deloitte, believes that the LMS will continue to exist albeit in a different form. 

That “it is no longer the centre of learning; it has become more like the back-office mainframe we use to run payroll. It’s there, it does important things, but we don’t see it that often.”

As we continue the conversation towards organisational and lifelong continuous learning, it is more critical than ever before for us to start exploring the use of an Organisational Learning System, to ensure we remain relevant and engaged for the Industry 4.0 economy. How are you reinventing learning within your organization?

Please see PX blog for more discussion about this.