1. Course Content

An LMS will allow you to create professional and structured course content that is engaging and intuitive for both trainers and students. So, ensuring your RTO can easily monitor, track and manage this course content and student progress is essential.

Ensure your learning management system can:

• See student progress for a course and within assessments at a glance
• Set up and manage training courses that meet nationally recognised standards
• Track learner attendance, assessment and completion of units
• Give assessors access to submitted assessments for marking
• Create professional, branded certificates for your students to download

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2. Assessment

Rich, engaging, and aesthetically-pleasing assessment will be at the core of driving student progress. An LMS that allows the creation of assessment modes with varied question types and formats will make this process a lot more simple, and rewarding.

Ensure your LMS has rich assessment functionality:

• Students can complete engaging online assessments, with instant results
• Create a range of assessment modes, such as observation checklists, online quizzes, short answer, marking criteria or RPL evidence
• Assessors can conduct and mark assessments, write outcomes, provide feedback, and apply their electronic signature to authenticate the assessment
• Assessors can also capture photo and video evidence to upload against specific assessment criteria

3. Mapping

When using online assessments, undertaking mapping should be simple and systematic. Mapping assessments to qualification training components and unit criteria is one of the most effective things you can do to save time on compliance.‍

Viewing the assessment question content against criteria can help in creating mapping relationships and provide direct visual feedback about elements such as the number of components mapped to each assessment criterion or question.

Your learning management system should provide helpful mapping tools:

• View the full question content against its relevant Unit criteria based on your mapping
• Filter on any Unit criteria that have not yet been mapped to easily see what coverage your assessments have and what needs addressing
• Fully export your Assessment mapping data at both the Unit and Qualification levels

4. Online Enrolments

With a large portion of prospective students researching their courses online, the opportunity to capture and enroll these students is critical. Online enrolment facilitates this by ensuring the student experience is seamless, by capturing the essential and relevant data your RTO needs for AVETMISS compliance.

An advanced learning management system will integrate with your student management system to have consistent student records and prevent duplicated information.

Ensure your LMS can support online enrolments:

• Show all qualifications and courses on your website, and manage them easily in your SMS
• Allow students to browse courses on your website, enroll, or make enquiries
• Configure the enrolment form to make the process as easy as possible for users
• Define mandatory enrolment fields, and allow document uploads such as identification, certificates, visa or passport information, and more
• Take payment for enrolments, including direct debit payment plans

5. Integrated eLearning

Intelligent eLearning integrations are a must for any RTO, you don’t want your LMS putting a roadblock on systems and content you have already developed.

Rather, you want your LMS to ensure any external systems and software can be linked with sophistication and simplicity such as SCORM/xAPI-compliant eLearning or payment gateways such as eWAY, Ezypay and SqID.

Your learning management system should provide core eLearning integrations:

• Upload and deploy SCORM/xAPI-compliant eLearning content from tools such as Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate or iSpring
• Link eLearning to qualification units
• Display course results for students
• Report on eLearning course initiation, time spent and outcomes

6. Learning Plans

Learning Plans help guide the learning journey by detailing clear, identifiable goals and outcomes. Your trainers will be able to directly measure progress, foster student success and manage self-paced progression.‍

An LMS that allows you to set up rules, dependencies and prerequisites for learning and assessment throughout each learning module is incredible value. Therefore, a combination of self-driven and schedule-based progression will ensure learners stay on track.

Ensure your LMS has rich assessment functionality:

• Schedule, order and present your online course content into Learning Modules that align with your Units
• A new view for Learners will display their full Learning Plan under their course overview
• Setup the dependencies and prerequisites for Learning and Assessment throughout each Learning Module
• Keep your Learning and Assessment in sync with your key Unit and Course dates
• Allow a combination of self-driven and schedule based progression to ensure Learners stay on track

7. Work-Based Learning

The benefits of work-based learning are extensive—it’s a powerful educational tool and learning style that has proven to be effective, but there are tough challenges that must be tackled for it to be successful. Having an LMS that supports the end-to-end management of work-based learning would make this process much easier.

Go for a system that allows you to:

• Capture work placement hours attended, log work-based activities, undertake assessments and upload evidence for a Supervisor to approve
• Trainers and Employers/Supervisors can view their work placement arrangements, validate and approve workplace activities, mark online assessments
• Provide feedback regarding the student’s progress to key stakeholders
• Digital signatures can be utilised for attendance and recognition of work-based learning activity