As the changing times demand more and more advanced technology, your district will likely need to use several Learning Management Systems at once. Here’s how you approach this challenge without sacrificing interoperability.

Over the past 15 years, schools have woven learning resources and tools from the world wide web into their lesson plans with the help of Learning Management Systems (LMSs), a very general term for any software created to facilitate the delivery of educational content. The near-600 varieties of LMS on the market help teachers with class registration, the creation of rosters, document management, course calendars, student engagement, testing, and grading.

Perhaps more so than any other form of educational tech, the LMS has been accepted and widely adopted by educators — part of the reasoning behind this is that an LMS performs many functions at once, eliminating much of the tech complexity that often frustrates teachers. Yet more and more, school districts have to compromise on the simplicity of their LMS systems by bringing on more than one piece of software to suit their needs. And oftentimes, these different LMSs are simply not interoperable, making something that should streamline the educational process actually more burdensome.

How can school districts create a flexible LMS base that allows for interoperability between multiple LMS systems? Or, more ideally, one that creates an entirely comprehensive and singular system? The future performance of many schools rides on their ability to prepare a good foundation for coming technological innovation.

Interoperability Issues

In a perfect world, an LMS fosters an integrated educational experience, one that’s accessible in and out of the classroom. But this streamlined LMS can turn clunky pretty quickly once schools start using several LMS solutions at the same time.

Why might a school decide to combine software systems?

One common reason is to incorporate digital textbooks to the curriculum. Textbook publishers often roll out their own branded LMSs created specifically to deliver their exclusive content. This forces schools to make a choice: stop working with these publishers, or use more than one LMS, eliminating that streamlined ease of use that makes LMSs so appealing in the first place.

Another popular LMS schools are adopting in tandem with their existing LMS solution is Schoology, designed to facilitate the student side of the education experience, dedicating their current learning management system specifically to teachers. But there’s no guarantee that these student- and educator-oriented LMSs will interface well with each other, nor that the exclusive content from textbook providers will be easy to deliver through your existing LMS.

All of these interoperability issues can turn all this streamlined software into a bit of a slog. There are some available advancements in technology to mitigate the situation: the IMS Global Common Cartridge creates the free flow of data between software systems, and helps LMSs “talk” to each other. But a single piece of technology isn’t enough to fix the entirety of your IT infrastructure. That requires a whole new LMS strategy.

A Flexible Foundation

It’s easy to rest on the cornucopia of software solutions that’s working for your school district for the time being, but if you let interoperability issues persist, that kind of approach will destroy your school’s efficiency in the long run. It’s best that your district invest in a strong set of tech solutions by updating their entire IT foundation to support new additions. That way, when new tech comes along, your system can take advantage of it, rather than be slowed down by it.

In order to create an integrated solution for your school, a dialogue between administrative stakeholders, educators, students, parents, and principals must take place to identify the needs that every stakeholder in your LMS initiative wants it to meet. Along with the help of an IT professional, you can ensure interoperability in your refurbished LMS initiative by purchasing it through a single vendor, or keep multiple managed through a third-party tool like a Sharepoint portal.

Combine this holistic approach to LMS management with a top-notch training program, and you’ll put your district in a position of both technological and educational strength well into the future.