Dear LMS.....Regards, Elliot

You may have spoken to your plant, but how intimate have you really gotten with your LMS? From an article in CLO, Elliot Masie would like you to have a heart to heart with your LMS. Here is his wish list to help you along:

1. LMS, I want you to be able to personalize and target invitations to learn for each of our employees based on current projects, performance goals and critical events in our business.
2. LMS, I want you to create a "dashboard" for each manager that highlights, in real time, how their teams are learning.
3. LMS, I want you to be our Compliance Tracking System. As rules and regulations change, inform our employees and customers and offer updated learning modules.
4. LMS, I want you to integrate into our Social Networking Systems. Sometimes, the source of knowledge is not a class but rather a conversation with a colleague down the hall with the exact right experience.
5. LMS, I want you to observe the learning styles of our workforce and offer learning options appropriate for each employee, content domain and situation.
6. LMS, I want you to get ready for more Extreme Learning. Let us use you to leverage the power of PodCasting, Wikis, Blogs and other emerging content models.
7. LMS, I want you to become part of our browser. As associates do their work, they should be able to click on a button and interact with the LMS for content, context, future learning needs and collaboration.
8. LMS, I want you to be more integrated with our business objectives. As we roll out new products, change our strategy, realign our workforce or add new customers, you need to be hooked into the process in real time.
9. LMS, I want you to work with a wider range of devices. Our workforce is moving towards less time in front of a desktop or laptop and more interaction with PDAs and mobile devices.
10. LMS, I want you to handle the growing use of content at the object level. Business is moving fast and often, the learning needs are small: just a chunk of the right content, now! Stop calling that a non-completion. It is a learning moment and a success.
11. LMS, I want to have access to more reusable content. Part of the promise of the LMS and SCORM was reusable and sharable content. I want our organization to be able to access more content internally and in external affiliations. Where does Open Source content fit into your future?
12. LMS, I want you to be able to create portable learning digital transcripts for our employees. When someone leaves our company, they should be able to take a digital record of their learning history and certifications.
13. LMS, I want you to work closer with your cousins, Document Management and Knowledge Management. The three of you are deeply connected in terms of our business strategy but I rarely see you hanging out together or even talking to each other.
14. LMS, I want you to keep track of how valuable other employees found each learning offering. Just like Amazon, some of your best value will be in sharing peer reviews of content.
15. LMS, I want you to facilitate multi-language learning. Some of our employees speak English quite well, but learn best in their native tongue.
16. LMS, I want you to be able to facilitate informal learning. When I send someone to a conference, hire a coach, buy a set of books or make a development assignment, you don’t seem that interested. Remember, most corporate learning is informal.
17. LMS, I want you to become part of our Emergency Management Plan. When a crisis hits, I’d like to be able to turn to you find competencies and to deliver extremely rapid content.
18. LMS, I want you to provide a macro-assessment of how the organization is approaching learning investments, bench marked with other similar organizations around the world.