Here are five criteria to use when choosing a Malaysia hosting provider, for your learning management system.
A learning management system (LMS) is a software application that helps you manage, deliver and monitor online training programs. The platform can be hosted either locally on company servers, or remotely in the cloud. An LMS offers all the features that educational institutions and other organisations need to deliver online training opportunities anytime, anywhere. All you need to create your courses is an Internet connection.
The LMS gives elearning developers useful information on how students use and navigate a course. The ability to monitor course outcomes and produce reports ensures an organisation’s objectives are met. Ultimately, an LMS will help you easily tailor content for individual learners while lowering labour and infrastructure costs.
Whether you and your team are looking to expand or have expanded to a point where learning resources are stretched, it’s a good idea to consider an LMS for your internal learning processes.
Modern LMS platforms are often designed for simplicity, cost efficiency, and long-term productivity, using concise education components. However, there are certain criteria you need to consider when looking for the most suitable Malaysia hosting provider. From technical details to personal preferences, here are just a few factors to look for.
What are the LMS features offered by your Malaysia hosting provider?
Who are your LMS’s most significant users? It’s the students. Sure, you’ll probably spend more time worrying about the LMS than they will, and that’s fine. The LMS should not interfere with the learning process; rather, it should improve it. The LMS is merely a means to an end. What matters most is the learning experience you want your users to have. As a result, when comparing learning management systems, user experience (UX) must be a top priority.
Are functions, tabs, modules, and tutorials easy to find? Is the interface well-designed and in good order? Are the sections a hot mess filled with frustrating issues and confusing headlines? Is the aesthetic just plain ugly? These are all questions to ask yourself when thinking about the user experience of an LMS. The functionality of your system should not get in the way of the user’s learning experience.
For instance, Pukunui helped John O’Neill – Manager of Education and Training, at Deaf Society of NSW – by explaining the benefits of a more interactive platform, setting up grader reports for all their courses and providing support to make the Moodle platform more interactive and engaging. The point is to spend less time teaching users how to use the system and more time helping them learn.
On that note, your LMS’s learning curve should be so low that everyone can use it without needing assistance. The LMS should be flexible too, meaning it adjusts to the computer that the learner is using to access the content. There should be no roadblocks or delays that create irritation or confusion and a good hosting provider should be able to help you with that.
Automatic student registration and integrations with other products
A strong LMS has a good amount of automation built into its backend and frontend. In terms of student registration, automatic triggers for signing up, opting in or notifying are always a big plus.
In these types of LMS platforms, learners can automatically enrol online with the best programs, reducing personnel and paperwork requirements.
Learners can check out course details before registering and sign up all in one place thanks to the automated enrolment process. It also allows students to drop out of classes. Important updates, such as confirmation of enrolment and a reminder several days before the course begins, can be sent to the student’s e-mail account via automatic registration.
Learners who use an LMS with a one-click entry point can access their course by clicking on an email address. This useful feature allows students to go from an email to the course in just one click. Does your hosting provider offer integrations with other products, or add plugins free of charge?
Learning management system integration capabilities
Any decent LMS must be able to integrate seamlessly with numerous crucial components and applications. At the very least, a system should be capable of the basic function like handling instructional content or managing payments and registration processes. Beyond that, other functions can include automation of email send-outs and progress tracking for users who are engaging in training content.
Malaysia hosting providers should also be flexible with their users’ IT infrastructure. For instance, a learning management system should be able to integrate via APIs with a company’s on-premises hosted tools, while offering cloud hosting for the LMS.
The human resources management system (HRMS) is perhaps the most important system to integrate with any LMS used in a corporate setting. The main system integration hurdle for an LMS used in an academic setting is to integrate with learner information systems (SISs), which handle transcripts, manage credits, and so on.
Reports
Anyone in education business performance knows how important reports are, which is why LMS capabilities are often built to generate well-crafted reports with ease. Many LMS platforms come with a range of standard reports, and some even allow you to build your own. You might be able to generate ad hoc reports using any data in your LMS if it has a strong reporting engine.
Before deciding on which LMS provider to opt for, make sure you evaluate their abilities for precise report generation. At the very least, a good LMS should have standard report templates that users can utilise with speed. It’s possible that developing non-standard reports will incur an extra fee. If the vendor’s team is aware of the results, they will work on them during execution and factor them into the project schedule.
Stay on budget
Many small companies do not have the resources to test out several different LMS platforms and hosting solutions. If this is the case for your business, and you need to do all of your LMS shopping for free, you should look into software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based LMS platforms. Cloud-hosting is synonymous with SaaS sites, which are usually priced in tiers.
What’s more, it’s important to find a learning management system platform that’s flexible with its pricing plans and accommodates your personal preferences. Within each tier, there should be a plan that caters to all forms of enterprise – from SMEs to larger, more established universities or businesses. A good addition is a customisable plan that offers a range of dedicated solutions for users.
Pukunui provides LMS services, Malaysia hosting, support, training, consulting and site design for Moodle™ software along with BigBlueButton™ and Mahara™ integrations.
