08 Oct Choosing an LMS for your RTO

The past few years technology has taken huge leaps, with companies doing their absolute best to follow its trends, while at the same time focusing on becoming thought leaders in their space. The online education and training world has been through tremendous change, so here we explain why an online Learning Management System – LMS – is key for RTOs.  You might be thinking “but how can I find the right platform for me that will satisfy all of my stakeholders needs?” Choosing an LMS for your RTO can indeed be hard, if you are not looking at the right place. So, in this post we will be answering all the questions you may have, and what you should consider while searching for an LMS for your RTO. 

Are you looking for the best LMS for your RTO? We, the DIARO team, can assure you that with our extensive experience in the education world, have seen many opportunities rising along the way, especially in the e-learning industry. Technology is constantly running ahead of us, and because there are so many crises that we inevitably have to go through, nowadays businesses can only survive and thrive by investing in an intuitive online solution such as an LMS.

But, choosing an LMS for your RTO shouldn’t feel like looking for a needle in a haystack. It’s an integration that should be able to offer you a seamless user experience that delivers efficient learning content and takes care of security, just like DIARO.

Let’s meet! 

We are the Dee-team, and we are busy changing things up in the world of online learning. We know your struggles, and we are able, with our extensive experience in the education space, to bring a fresh perspective in the online education world. Our goal is to inspire ripples of change in global education, by offering an intuitive, innovative LMS system solution for your RTO.

What to consider before getting an LMS for your RTO

DIARO will provide you with the right information, ensuring that your stakeholders will be happy with the LMS system you choose for your organisation and that it meets their needs. Let’s have a look at who your stakeholders are.

Operations: includes trainers, students, funding compliance and all users which should be offered a seamless and friendly user experience.  

L&D: Learning and development has to do with the management of employee and student training and the development that needs to fulfil their roles to the best of their ability. It is important to consider that the LMS you choose for your RTO should be ASQA, SCORM and LTI compliant and focus on student learning.

Marketing: Your marketing team should be able to work on the look and feel of the LMS for your RTO. Branding is of utmost importance and will make you stand out from the crowd!

At the end of the day, there are things that you don’t know, but what is important here is that you know your business so you can start from there. Not all LMS systems were designed with an RTO in mind. A lot of them just cater to universities, hence it’s crucial to know what you need from an LMS for your RTO, as you may have to  jump through some hurdles to ensure that your students are gaining the education they signed up for. An online learning management system should empower your business whether you offer short e-learning courses, or entire courses. 

What should my LMS integrate with?

Firstly you need to be able to integrate the LMS into your student management system. Everyone has different needs, but integration will make your system run smoothly, so find out if it can integrate with everything else you have already put into place. 

Who will build my online courses? 

If you choose to build them yourself then you need to choose an LMS that is easy to use. If you ask the provider to build them for you, ask whether this service is provided. If you want to have the ability to build killer content then you have to check that the LMS you choose is SCORM & LTI compliant. This way you can build content outside the LMS but demonstrate it inside your system. 

What is the reason why I want to go online?

Ensure that the reasons for going online are clear within your organisation. Do you want to have access to more global students, or do you want to put an LMS system into place due to the pandemic? Perhaps you want to invest online because it is more effective and cheaper, but your decision should not be just to save money, consider that you will be able to provide your students with options, and expand your business. Remember you may require more support, so you need to have clear intentions. 

How can I meet all of my stakeholders’ needs?

Maybe you are a bit unsure whether your instructors will adopt and embrace your new online system, or how the students’ completion rates and grading will work. What do you need from the LMS to assist in addressing these concerns? Make a list before you go on searching for an LMS for your RTO, and chat to all stakeholders to make sure what their expectations are.

Will I be able to include offline activities?

Do you perhaps want to be able to conduct offline activities like observations that you want to include in your LMS system? If so, consider getting an LMS that allows you to have features like grading assessments without a submission, a rubric feature is key for any RTO that conducts observations!

Will my LMS adjust to change? 

Your business is growing, but will your LMS allow you to thrive? An LMS for your RTO, should allow you to grow as fast as technology and be able to follow the trends. Make sure that you have access to features for free or that the LMS can build them for you. 

Who will help me with training and supporting my team and students?

The LMS should provide training, so all stakeholders can get in line with the system. During training, they will be able to get to know how troubleshooting works. Other questions to consider are whether your students will require support from the LMS provider, if you can contact them on weekends, or if you need additional support and at what cost does it come. Ask yourself: “Do I have all the support I need for my courses to run smoothly?” 

Will my LMS be compliance ready?

Are you meeting all your compliance requirements? Reporting is provided, but can you export it, or are you able to choose what access each user will have? It is critical to be able to put different permissions in place and make sure what you are allowed to do within the dashboard, reporting and being able to set KPIs. It is of paramount importance that your LMS for your RTO, is compliance ready for your learning and development activities.

Can my LMS adapt to my brand?

Last but not least, you are an organisation that follows certain brand guidelines, and you want to brand yourself in an unforgettable way that grows your business. An LMS that allows your marketing team to brand your online academy is an extremely important feature to have, and at DIARO we offer all of the above.

A trendy LMS makes a trendy online business

Why shouldn’t you be the one setting the trends? At DIARO we believe that it is time for you to think outside the box and find ways to lead. If you want to be able to provide top notch online learning, you should find an LMS for your RTO that will create your feature requests. Beta products are ideal, the LMS providers need you as much as you need them. It’s a symbiotic relationship and a win-win situation! 

And now with regards to budget, let your needs be heard and check your options, do not compromise for anything less than that. It’s very important to test all your requirements, so get a demo, and a free trial to test all your must-haves 😉 

With DIARO, online learning is literally on your fingertips!

Our goal is to provide individuals with an affordable way of learning online from the comfort of their home by taking the whole online education experience to new heights. This is why we would like businesses like yours to have access to top notch quality LMS for RTOs.

We are here to help you solve the balance between compliance and student outcomes. Our experience has shown that implementing online learning into an organisation is no longer something that can be avoided, but it doesn’t have to be daunting. DIARO offers everything you need to succeed in entering the world of online learning successfully through our LMS platform! 

We’d love to chat, simply drop us a line here and we’ll get back to you.

The Dee-team