LMS Learner Profiles: How They Can Assist In Personal And Team Goals
Most learners view their Learning Management System (LMS) as a storage space for required training and rarely access it without being prompted. However, what if they came to know their LMS as an integral and proactive professional development tool that recognized their skills, interests, and career goals?
If learners were to complete profiles that helped them capture this information, the LMS could automatically produce personalized tools for their professional development. Imagine an individual logging into the LMS to create a learner profile and completing a short sequence of digital forms, surveys, quizzes and/or self-assessments designed to identify his or her:
- Skill, knowledge, and attitude strengths and gaps
- Career interests and goals
LMS Learner Profiles Can Auto-Generate Three Professional Development Tools For Individuals And Teams
Using this information, the LMS could then generate a personalized learning path for individuals, as well as a path for managers to oversee the professional development of their teams. An individual’s learning path would include three offerings outlined in this article, including:
- A professional development action plan
- An invitation to join interest and networking groups within the organization
- Performance feedback collection tools
Armed with these valuable tools, learners would be much more likely to access their LMSs regularly and, by extension, engage with more learning assets that your organization worked hard to produce.
1. LMS Profiles Can Generate Professional Development Action Plans
By building LMS learner profiles, learners can be automatically assigned or recommended to a series of learning assets and events that will help them build on their strengths, fill their gaps, and pursue their goals and interests. The action plan might include:
- eLearning assets hosted on the LMS
- Live training events
- Relevant volunteer opportunities in the community
The manager and individual should be able to modify the professional development action plan to accommodate resource and availability needs.
Example: A new-hire loan officer completed his learner profile and the LMS auto-generated all his new hire training, including deadlines. The loan officer notices some of the dates conflict with some upcoming vacation dates (that were agreed upon before hire), so he modifies those training deadlines. The manager receives an automatic notification about the change in dates and approves them.
2. LMS Profiles Can Produce Invitations For Learners To Join Interest And Networking Groups Within The Organization
Based on the learner profile, the LMS could also populate invitations to join relevant networking or interest groups within the organization that are led by experienced mentors. It may also suggest external groups and associations that may help the learner explore identified interests and achieve career goals.
Example: When filling out her learner profile, a human resource specialist identified “management” as a career goal. In addition to being automatically assigned to leadership training, the LMS also generated an automatic invite to learn more about an internal leadership development group.
Example: When filling out his learner profile, a sales representative marks his interest in achieving greater work/life balance. The LMS sent an auto-generated email to the employee to contact or join the organization’s work-life balance committee.
3. LMS Profiles Can Activate Individual And Team Performance Feedback Collection Tools And Use Collected Data To Inform Learning Paths
In addition to an action plan and invitation to join groups, the LMS can also use learner profile data to generate personal feedback collection tools for each learner. After completing milestones in their action plans, learners (or their managers) can initiate these feedback tools to request anonymous feedback from colleagues and supervisors regarding performance in a certain knowledge, skill or attitudinal area. The data could then be used to further inform the individual or teams’ learning path.
Example: A manager initiates performance feedback for his team of accountants. The LMS collects data from colleagues and peers. Half of the accountants received underperforming customer service skills, so the LMS automatically added refresher training to those employees’ learning paths.
Learner Profile Characteristics
As a baseline, learner profiles should include the following information:
- Name
- Employee ID
- Job title
- Location
- Competencies (rated)
- Career goals (measurable)
- Interests
Depending on the needs and interests of your organization, the learner profiles might be made partially public within the organization and may also include:
- Profile photos
- Job titles
- Site locations
- Short biographies
- Contact information (email addresses, phone numbers)
- Messaging/communication features (e.g. discussion boards, private messaging)
Case Study: Arizona Humane Society
The Arizona Humane Society enables its volunteers to create learner profiles that generate a unique learning path. To begin their learner profile, the volunteer selects whether they want to foster a pet or volunteer at the Humane Society. If they select, “I Want to Become a Volunteer,” a learning path is generated. This learning path includes all learning assets the volunteer must complete prior to their first day of volunteering, including an orientation class, code of conduct training, and instruction on handling the animals.
Personalized Learning Path for Arizona Humane Society Volunteers
