You need to be able to track organizational goals, ensure that your eLearning course design is truly effective, and stay on top of compliance certifications. This used to involve creating comprehensive online assessments from scratch, manually grading every response, and then providing personalized feedback to every member of the team based on their results. Fortunately, there are now Learning Management Systems equipped with all the tools you need to evaluate employees and your online training strategy. Below are the top 7 benefits of a built-in LMS assessment engine.
A built-in LMS assessment engine gives you the ability to monitor the online training goals, objectives, and outcomes that matter most to your organization, such as KPIs that tie into sales or customer service ratings. You can create assessments that concentrate on these key aspects of employee development. Then intervene when necessary to ensure that everyone is up to par and fulfills their potential. This does not only improve employee satisfaction but also your online training ROI.
It’s difficult and time-consuming to come up with a good variety of testing formats for your online training program. Fortunately, a built-in LMS assessment engine allows you to cater to different needs and personal preferences. For example, create a multiple-choice exam to test qualitative knowledge or a simulation-based assessment to qualitatively evaluate employees and appeal to more kinesthetic learners. Employees even have the option to pick-and-choose which testing format they’ll use to assess their knowledge.
Assessments help you identify employees who aren’t achieving their goals and provide them with supplemental online training resources. But they also enable you to pinpoint top talent who may be able to rise within the organization. A built-in LMS assessment engine helps you closely monitor employee performance and cultivate their strengths. For example, a short-answer assessment for your customer service online training course reveals an employee’s hidden skills. Thus, you can give them the additional support and resources they require to eventually become the department head or to venture into another department where their skills will be of more use.
Many Learning Management Systems with built-in assessments feature online training certifications that help you maintain compliance and avoid costly violations. For example, employees must successfully complete the final assessment to be awarded their health and safety certificate. The system also issues automated renewal notices when it’s time to take the test again to re-certify. You can even specify a “refresher” online exam for those who’ve already passed the test and merely need to reinforce their knowledge.
It’s not just your L&D team who benefits from a built-in LMS assessment engine, but your entire staff. Employees who now have the ability to take self-assessments to monitor their own performance and progress and then seek out additional online training resources that can help them upskill, cross-train, and improve on-the-job productivity. These systems feature pop quiz templates and other self-guided assessment methods to identify strengths and areas for improvement. Thus, every member of your team gets the chance to hone their talents autonomously.
Assessment results are only one piece of the picture. Learning Management Systems with assessment engines allow you to pair these results with personalized feedback and recommendations. Best of all, it’s all automated so that employees get immediate input. For example, the system analyzes which aspects of the assessment they struggled with. Then displays relevant resources, such as online training courses or activities that can help them bridge gaps. They don’t have to wait until the online instructor/facilitator has time to manually review the data, as the LMS tells them where they went ‘wrong’ and pinpoints their strengths.
Lastly, LMSs that are equipped with assessment engines reduce development time and help you allocate your resources more efficiently, as they feature pre-built question templates so that you don’t have to build from the ground up. This ensures that your assessments are consistent and follow a specific format. For instance, all questions have 5 multiple choice responses or the fill-in-the-blank questions are phrased similarly to avoid learner confusion. Some tools even come with already made questions and grading rubrics for popular online training topics or subject matters. Another way that a built-in LMS assessment engine saves time is by automatically grading tests. This includes more involved assessments, such as simulations or branching scenarios with multiple paths/steps.
Some LMSs may look good on paper or on the screen, but their features fall flat when you actually put them to the test. Therefore, it’s always best to sign up for an LMS free trial and try out the built-in assessment engine for yourself. You might even create several sample assessments with different use cases. For example, an MC test that allows you to fully explore the question template library. Then invite a test group to take the assessment so that you can evaluate the automated feedback system.
Most, if not all, of these 7 benefits apply to every eLearning sector, from private education to workforce development. But you have to choose the best LMS for your needs and budget in order to achieve the desired results. Do your homework, test out the assessment engine, and look up online reviews. A little research goes a long way and can help you select a solution with diverse question templates and an effective feedback system.
It takes a solid eLearning assessment strategy to track online learner progress and highlight areas for improvement. Read the article Developing eLearning Assessments: 11 Common Mistakes To Avoid to find out which are the most common mistakes to avoid when developing your next eLearning assessment.