So you’re brand new to eLearning and have been tasked with creating mind-blowing training for your employees and new hires. No sweat! A common question we get from clients is, “how do we get a finished course into the hands of our employees?” That’s where an LMS comes into play.

What is an LMS?

LMS stands for Learning Management System. It is a software application designed to manage, deliver, and track eLearning courses and training programs. An LMS provides an online platform where Instructional Designers and eLearning Develppers can create, organize, deliver, and manage content, including multimedia resources such as videos, documents, and quizzes. Employees or students can access this content, interact with it, and submit assignments or assessments through the same platform.

An LMS is a critical component of eLearning applications as it enables instructors to create and deliver courses efficiently, manage student progress, and track performance. It also provides learners with a central location to access course materials, communicate with instructors, and collaborate with other students. Additionally, an LMS typically includes reporting and analytics features that allow instructors to monitor student progress and identify areas for improvement in the curriculum.

Common LMS Features

Some common features of an LMS include course authoring tools, content management, assessment and grading tools, student tracking and progress reporting, communication and collaboration tools, and mobile learning support. LMSs are used in a variety of settings, including academic institutions, corporate training programs, and professional development courses.

Pro tip: don’t use the content builder on your LMS! Use an external authoring tool like Articulate Storyline or Adobe Captivate. I can’t tell you how many times a client reaches out and says they lost their entire training curriculum when they switched to a new LMS. Most built in course designers use a proprietary tool that allows you to edit and post your content as long as you continue to subscribe to their LMS platform. This is common…and we’ve rebuilt hundreds of courses for companies that lost their entire training suite. Trust us, it’s brutal!

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How to Publish an eLearning Course for an LMS

The process of publishing files for an LMS can vary depending on the specific LMS software you are using. However, there are some general steps you can follow. For this tutorial, we’ll look at Articulate Storyline, a popular authoring tool for creating eLearning content (and the preferred authoring tool here at Allegro Media Design!) If you want to publish your Articulate Storyline project to SCORM, you can follow these instructions:

1. Open your Articulate Storyline project and click on the "Publish" button in the top navigation menu.

2. In the "Publish" window, select the "LMS" tab and choose "SCORM" from the drop-down menu.

3. In the "SCORM" settings, choose the version of SCORM that you want to publish to. Articulate Storyline supports SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, and Tin Can API (Pro tip: If you’re unsure which version your LMS prefers, SCORM 1.2 or 2004 are usually a pretty safe bet.)

4. Enter the course title, description, and other metadata in the "Properties" section.

5. In the "Reporting and Tracking" section, select the tracking options that you want to use. Articulate Storyline allows you to track learner progress using variables or using the built-in tracking features of your LMS.

6. Click on the "Publish" button to generate the SCORM package.

7. Once the SCORM package is generated, you can upload it to your LMS. Most LMS platforms have a dedicated area where you can upload SCORM packages.

8. Test your SCORM package in your LMS to make sure that it is working as expected. Check that the tracking and reporting features are working correctly and that the course content is displayed properly.

9. If all is good, you can set up the content to be available to learners in a variety of ways, including making it accessible through a course or module, assigning it to specific learners, or making it available for self-directed learning.

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Conclusion

Overall, the process of publishing files for an LMS can be relatively straightforward if you follow the steps outlined above and have a good understanding of the file formats and requirements of your LMS. But if it still seems a bit overwhelming, Allegro Media Design is here for you! Reach out today to tell us about your next project and see how we can bring it to life!

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