Well since my previous posts (Feb. 8, Jan. 22, etc.) until now, about our new LMS, nothing astounding has happened. In fact nothing at all has happened. The only step forward I can speak of is that someone has finally realized that the organization’s method for tracking reporting stinks. We have a system that only can tell you who get’s paid by whom. No where can you find out who supervises who and that is the way staff think of themselves. Luckily I have a semi-friend in IT who is taking on this task of figuring out a way to truely capture our structure. Leave it to the young folks.
Hopefully that will at least get my “student” list for the LMS for manageable and understandable for those that are going to be using it to track their staffs’ learning.
The company that we got the LMS from is gun-ho to get a pilot training session up and running. I’m not comfortable with the admin side of the system. Nor am I comfortable with the student/teaching side of the system. I don’t think it’s true a good product yet and needs some tweaks and fixes before I would want to even think of a pilot. I’m pretty sure that my learners will think it’s fine, but that is only because they aren’t as familiar with e-learning. They’ll be happy with anything.
Here is my question though… Do I just deal with it and go with something I professionally feel is substandard to get it going at least? Or do I stick to my guns and hold out until I feel it at least is in a presentable format and easily understandable and easy to navigate as a learner.
Hi Tracy,
The downside of running with a product that you don’t have confidence in or is substandard for your learners is that you’ll have to repair a lot of reputation damage down the track (both to your department and to the product)! I’d get it as close to usable and user friendly as you can. I think in the long run it’s more costly to fix up errors (whether it’s data errors or negative perceptions etc) than to spend a bit more time up front ensuring it’s all smooth and ready to go.
Maybe have a look at the must haves – ensure you have the big things sorted (usability, tracking, compatibility etc) and leave the tweaks etc for after rollout.
Just my 2 cents worth 🙂
You only get one chance to make a first impression, and if it’s a bad it may be difficult to change that perception. So if it were me I’d start with something that is an easy win; start simple and build from there but only when it will provide value.
My 2 cents…Best of luck!
Thanks so much Debora and Mike. Debora…it’s exactly what I was thinking but was having a hard time getting the word to express what I was feeling about the whole project.
And Mike…great advice. It was my intent to start with using it for tracking, then move on to a simple to complete/pass type of course to get the learners feeling comfortable with the system. Or even just letting them use it for registering as a starting point.
Thanks for the great advice, this will help me in voicing my concerns and recommendations for moving this forward.