They sound pretty similar – indeed, you might be forgiven or thinking they’re two terms for the same thing.
But in fact Course Management Systems and Learning Management Systems are different things – and knowing how they’re different is important. After all, you don’t want to start implementing one when actually needing the other.
So below is a simple explanation of the two, but also a fresh way of looking at this issue. Because with WinjiGo, choosing between the two is no longer such a challenge…
What is a Content Management System (CMS)?
Think of a CMS as digital library: an application that enables users to access content, and administrators to manage that content.
It’s that idea of ‘content management’ that creates the main advantage of a CMS over traditional libraries and sources. With a CMS, teachers and other administrators (anyone with the right permission levels, essentially) can edit, add, and view content, enabling them to control and centralize versions of a document. This prevents issues arising such as several people making changes to a document, and those amends leading to multiple and inconsistent versions of a document in circulation.
The focus of a CMS is therefore on managing and distributing eLearning and teacher-led courses. To this, some systems – such as WinjiGo – start to add further controls and metrics, enabling teachers to see who’s completed tasks, assign scores and more. Once a full suite of these metrics has been added, a system can be more correctly defined as a Learning Management System.
What is a Learning Management System (LMS)?
A LMS is more of a dynamic training ‘control system’. As well as incorporating all the functionalities listed above, a full Learning Management System allows users to perform actions such as prepare reports, create assignments and send reminders. With a LMS, students are more able to interact with data: trying examples, completing assessments, giving feedback and so on.
How can WinjiGo help?
Although digital solutions such as CMS and LMS are both relatively new, the challenge for many institutions to date has been choosing between the two. And that creates problems.
Often, pure Content Management Systems are too limited: they can only act as a passive content repository. On the other hand, a full-feature LMS might have more functionality that they require, and – consequently – come with more complexity and cost attached.
The advantage of a solution such as WinjiGo is that it eliminates both these dilemmas. Firstly, it’s not as basic as an entry-level CMS. And secondly, it’s far easier to use and much more affordable than most of the LMS products on the market.
In addition, it’s not a one-off piece of software that might become outdated in time, or require specific hardware to access it. WinjiGo can be used on desktop machines, laptops and tablet devices; and is frequently enhanced and expanded through updates. For institutions creating a blended learning environment who have struggled with the question ‘CMS or LMS?’ the answer is now simple. It’s WinjiGo.
