Unsung Heroes: Back-End Systems That Make e-Learning Work

e-Learning has made everything from knowledge acquisition to decision-making to legal compliance to safety training and beyond much more accessible, affordable, engaging, and rewarding. But e-Learning’s advantages are all possible because of its back-end systems—the systems that make everything “work.” If you don’t have a basic understanding of different systems, what makes them tick, and how you can make informed choices about upgrades or changing vendors, you’re probably missing out on new possibilities—or even the possibilities of wasting money and irritating learners.

So, let’s take a look at the major systems.

Learning Management System

Learning Management Systems (LMS) are the most common and were built originally just to deliver online courses from a fixed set of available courses. The LMS was the original system used to administer e-Learning. An LMS is a database with functions that allow learners to access content and allow both learners and administrators to track course progress and completion. Common features include:

• Learners accessing course catalogs and reviewing course descriptions
• Launching courses
• Tracking course progress and completion
• Quiz administration (“checks for understanding”) and comprehensive testing (final exam)
• Report generation
• Awarding of badges, certificates, or other indicators of successful course completion

Major LMS vendors include Adobe Learning Manager, Absorb, TalentLMS, LearnUpon, Moodle, and numerous others.

With the exception of Moodle, the systems above are all “proprietary,” meaning you pay for the system license and installation, and you pay the vendor to make modifications. I’ve worked in several companies where we made hefty investments in an LMS and they always—always—required modifications to suit our needs. As noted above, an LMS is a database and I’ve never worked for a company where a proprietary database of any kind didn’t need modifications. Which meant we paid extra for modifications.

Moodle is “open source,” meaning its license allows users to freely customize it and share it freely. If you have the time and expertise for installation and customization, it can be a real cost saver. That said, there’s nothing wrong with a proprietary system because most organizations don’t have the time, tech staff, or expertise to handle Moodle.

Lastly, most LMSs also allow for e-commerce functions for those companies that sell to outside customers (courses, merch, etc.).

Learning Content Management System

An LCMS is an administrative system course developers use to author content. Not directly accessible to learners themselves, the LCMS allows:

• Creating learning objects. Learning objects are elements that can be reused, including charts, graphs, tables, photos, audio/video files, illustrations, weblinks, reports, and more.
• Editing learning objects and/or courses
• Creating entire standalone courses
• Assembling or repurposing learning objects to create new learning experiences
• Version management

Some commercial LMSs blend both LMS and LCMS functions into a single platform. However, such integrated systems may not have the best features and functionality of a standalone LMS or LCMS.

Adobe Captivate and Articulate 360 are two of the major Learning Content Management Systems. As with most software these days, Captivate and Articulate 360 (as well as the proprietary LMSs) are annual and/or per-user subscription pricing.  They used to be “install and use,” but there’s more money to be made by the vendor if users have to pay recurring pricing. There are many other LCMSs out there, but search and select carefully to make sure you’re getting exactly what your needs are.

Learning Record Stores—Beyond SCORM

In 1999, the Department of Defense established the Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative.  In turn, the ADL established a laboratory to create technical interoperability standards for e-Learning, because DoD wanted to ensure that any courses developed by the military services or civilian contractors needed to work on any learning platform. From the laboratory came SCORM, the Sharable Content Object Reference Model.

DoD mandated that SCORM be the standard which all course authoring tools used if those courses were to be used in military learning settings. And, because the military and federal government were such a large market, SCORM became the de-facto standard for corporate e-Learning development as well.

SCORM is still used but xAPI is a newer standard that is expanding the capabilities of what back-end systems can do.

• xAPI allows tracking of multiple sources of learning content (called “learning experiences”) into what’s known as a Learning Record Store.
• xAPI tracks both online and offline learning and provides even greater detail about activities learners have accessed, beyond just courses served up from an LMS.
• Examples of what a LRS can track include:
  • Listening to a podcast
  • Participating in streaming event
  • Attending a workshop or conference
  • Reading articles or blogs
  • Watching online videos
  • Experiential learning such as job shadowing or receiving mentoring and coaching.

xAPI uses “statements” of actions that learners completed. So, rather than just tracking access and completion of packaged courses served up by an LMS, xAPI lets learners input information about all kinds of learning activities.

The basic xAPI statement function is comprised of three parts:

1. Actor (Richard)
2. Verb (completed, attended)
3. Object (event, activity)

So…Richard attended the 3-day ABC annual conference on X date.

As you can see, the xAPI rubric allows for almost unlimited tracking of a host of learning activities.

Caveats for Learning Record Stores Development

• xAPI implementation can require substantial technical expertise to set up and track
• Operating an LRS can involve additional hardware and maintenance
• Writing and tracking allowable xAPI statements can be a challenge for instructional designers and database developers
• Detailed xAPI input requires a high level of attention to filtering and analysis in order to ensure data quality and usability
• Data privacy must be thought through carefully since the LRS will be tracking large quantities of learner activity

Course Authoring Tools Powered by AI

Course authoring tools have gotten a boost with the integration of artificial intelligence. Advances in neuroscience research, coupled with AI, have increased the capabilities and automation of developing everything from learning objects to complete courses.  Multimedia production, assessment and quiz generation, automation of design, and adaptive learning have all been simplified by AI.

The Future of e-Learning Systems

Back-end systems have come a long way from just a simple LMS. The systems noted above allow for far greater capabilities for learners, administrators, and for government, corporate, and training companies.  Advances in hardware, software, and AI have made learner options greater, and the availability of expansive granular data gives administrators far greater insight into learner and business needs.

These expanded systems, while offering greater opportunities, come with greater cost and complexity, and require skills and technical expertise to fully implement them. Still, with their promise of keen insight into learner behaviors and business needs, they continue on a steep, positive trajectory.