Just curious around learning platforms, all have a place, and most are not perfect so what do you think? Context of the post is I’m working with a client who says they need an LMS (nothing in place right now). Yet the turnover rate in this small business is 1-2 people/year (~70 total employees) and the focus of work performed is at remote, client, locations.
What I think they need is a content repository to store, and easily access, their schematics, procedures, and blueprints the remote technicians need access to rather than an LMS where they have to “enroll” in a course. I’m showing them a SharePoint site (they’re a MS Office shop already) as an example but curious what others think. Sharing post that got me thinking about this! What is a Learning Content Management System (LCMS)? Learn Why It Matters! (paradisosolutions.com)
Like any other request, this sounds suspiciously like they’ve already ideated a solution without clearly identifying the problem. How many times have we had a client (internal or external) come at us with a variation of “I need you to create a 1-hour, instructor-led course on ‘X?’” Hang on: what’s the actual problem? What’s (who’s?) the business-driver of this request? What’s been done in the past which hasn’t worked? And, most importantly, what trade show did you recently attend where the vendor insisted his/her solution would solve ALL of your problems?
What is the actual ask? An LMS is most-definitely not a “content repository to store, and easily access schematics, procedures, and blueprints the remote technicians need access to.” If that’s what the ask is, then they need, surprise, a content repository. I see zero LEARNING in their ask, at this point.
I agree with you @MilwJoe and I have asked many “innocent” questions to obtain the info I shared above. New update, I had asked if a few of the field users could help me “test” the SharePoint site and the initial feedback is positive, one comment was liking the “search and immediate access to parts list”.
But the question I remain curious about is where you (and everyone else!) see the different platforms. There’s still a place for an LMS, compliance and new hire fit nicely but what would you choose and why for what purpose and/or reason? So many choices, limited funds, even less IT support resources so what might be the biggest bang for the buck option?
For over 3 decades, I have watched the rise, and (spectacular, in some cases) fall of many a vendor who claimed to have the fabled “silver bullet,” the one-size-fits-all, the “this will do everything including wash the dog and feed the kids” tool. Not even the mighty Microsoft (and before them, IBM) ever came close to fulfilling that lofty claim. As it is with training development, when a technology is allowed to drive the solution, the result is a self-imposed knee-capping.
Plenty of authors in the learning space (including Cathy Moore, Michael Allen, Bob Mosher, Julie Dirksen, Judith Hale, Clark Quinn, and many others) have spoken to the need for the ID to get to what the learner actually needs to be able to DO to be successful. They encourage steering the conversation away from any technology or delivery method until the learner’s need (note, not the requestor’s or SME’s need) is clearly identified. So it is in your case. What do the users need to be able to do, which they either do not do now or cannot do now?
