Can I just have one screen where I get my data?
In a previous life, travelling around the US and Europe I came in contact with a large number of companies using learning management systems. I met all kinds – people who had never deployed one before to HR departments who were cyclically deploying a new LMS every 3 to 4 years – still in search of one that adequately met their needs.
A common thread emerged through all of this contact – a need for a simple to use LMS that really was simple to manage, and fulfilled the core role of an LMS properly – ie. deployment and management of training. The epiphany came when an exasperated HR professional threw up their hands and pointed at the screen. They said:
Can I just have one screen where I get my data?
This was after three days of patiently trying to learn how to navigate screens and screens of forms, lists, and general madness in an established LMS. The technical among us may be inclined to scoff at the over-simplification implied in the statement, but it’s point is clear. And it’s one of the main reasons Notion Learning is being built.
Currently, commentators are making all sorts of bad noises about the traditional LMS – as though it’s some sort of awful beast. VLEs, empowering learners and everything else is taking centre stage, and with some (but debatable) justification. But the need for an LMS that does tracking well doesn’t go away. And HR departments screaming at systems that just don’t quite do what they want, or take three weeks of technical training to get them started isn’t the only way it has to be.
The aim with Notion Learning is that one day I’ll be able to go back to that HR executive and give him a system he’ll enjoy using. A system he can learn in a couple of hours by themselves, rather than a couple of weeks. One that just shows him his data.
This entry was posted on Friday, January 22nd, 2010 at 11:37 am and is filed under Business development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
