13 LMS Features for Transforming Professional Learning

Learning management systems (LMS) offer powerful tools to enhance employee training, development, and performance. 

In an era where continuous learning is crucial for staying competitive, companies can use learning management platforms to meet diverse training needs. These systems enable organizations to centralize and streamline learning resources, making it easier to administer courses, track progress, and provide employees with relevant training content. 

However, the benefits of using an LMS to facilitate professional learning extend beyond delivering content. Learning management systems support a personalized approach to training, allowing employees to access content that aligns with their specific roles, goals, and learning preferences. 

Keep reading to learn about 13 LMS features that are built to transform professional learning.

1. User-friendly Interface

“Canvas is much more user-friendly than many other learning management systems. And then, of course, Canvas has a reputation that once people move to Canvas, they never switch to a different LMS, and that reputation was a key component for us.” - Erin Schalk, Braille Institute

LMS technology is intuitive, so HR leaders, learning and development managers, and decision-makers across sectors can seamlessly create and deliver professional learning content. User-friendly interfaces enable employees to easily navigate the system, which facilitates a smooth learning experience.

A user-friendly LMS is learner-focused, accessible, and customizable. Customization allows training administrators to create more engaging learning experiences and permits learners to modify course features to their specific needs. 

2. Reporting and Analytics

Data analytics provides valuable insight into page views, assessment results, discussion board activity, and overall performance. Training leaders can use this information to identify potential improvements, understand how learners interact with the content, and measure training effectiveness. 

To provide even more useful, data-driven metrics, Instructure has introduced Intelligent Insights, which uses AI and analytics to help training leaders achieve better learning outcomes. Intelligent Insights provides Canvas administrators—those who manage the company’s Canvas account— with a detailed analysis of what’s working and what needs to be improved. Admins can then use this information to enhance employee skills and productivity, which helps to improve ROI.   

Discover more about Intelligent Insights and hear from customers who have used the technology. 

3. Learner Engagement

“With Canvas, we’ve increased collaboration. Since students can complete their assignments in their truck on their lunch break, they can easily bounce questions and ideas off their coworkers and peers on the go.” - Keith Blakeslee, Northwest Line Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee

An effective LMS will make it easy for employees to participate in professional learning. More specifically, the LMS should include multiple features that enhance learner engagement. Canvas, for example, has several features that training administrators can use to drive engagement:

• Groups facilitate collaboration and allow learners to interact with each other while learning. 
• Discussion boards allow learners and instructors to exchange ideas, share opinions, and reflect on the course content.   
• Assignments let learners engage by applying what they’ve learned and gain valuable feedback about what they need to improve. 
• Quizzes are useful assessment tools that can help HR leaders and training administrators identify knowledge gaps.   

Using an LMS with features that support engagement drives learning, retention, and long-term success. 

4. Mobile Learning

Employees need training content they can access anywhere, making mobile learning a necessity. Mobile learning is beneficial for both training instructors and learners. Instructors can provide assignment feedback, post announcements, and submit grades, even if they’re on-the-go. Likewise, learners can submit assignments, contribute to discussions, and review course materials from a smartphone or tablet. 

Mobile learning provides the flexibility and convenience employees need, especially if they are “deskless”. Instead of working in a traditional office, deskless employees may work at a construction site, warehouse, retail store, or healthcare facility. Deskless workers do not sit at a computer throughout the workday, making it difficult for them to access professional learning opportunities. 

For example, the L.A. County Department of Public Health (Public Health) began using Canvas in 2021 to provide frontline workers with comprehensive training. As one of the largest public health departments in the U.S., Public Health needed a system that was accessible to all employees, regardless of where or how they work. By implementing Canvas, Public Health has given employees access to streamlined, self-paced learning that supports the work they do to address community health issues. 

5. Social Learning Opportunities

Social learning is a way to gain knowledge by interacting with others and building community within the learning environment. Employees can use social learning opportunities to foster a sense of belonging, collaborate more effectively, and share diverse perspectives, leading to a deeper understanding of the training material. 

Canvas offers multiple opportunities to foster social learning, including groups and discussion boards. Ultimately, these social learning features help employees work together in the training environment as well as on workplace projects, initiatives, and partnerships outside the training. 

6. Diverse Assessment Tools

Employees have varying needs, backgrounds, and experiences that impact how they learn. Using multiple assessment types helps training leaders evaluate employees’ skills and knowledge, regardless of how they learn best. This promotes inclusion and ensures all learners within the program have a fair opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.  

In Canvas, training administrators can use assignments, discussions, and quizzes to evaluate employee learning. With more than 500 technology partners, Canvas has the capability to integrate third-party tools and apps, which provides more ways to assess knowledge and supports a more robust professional learning experience. 

7. Instant Feedback

Instant feedback allows learners to quickly identify and correct errors while the training material is fresh in their minds. As a result, employees gain a better understanding of the content and how to apply it in real-world situations. Employees also tend to feel more connected to training when they get timely feedback about their work and performance.

8. Content Integration

“We really appreciate the ability to integrate Canvas with our proctoring partners for testing. It has saved our students and associates so much time and money and enabled us to lower our testing fees.” - Martha Paben, PGA of America 

Maximizing employee learning can be as simple as using multiple forms of content. The right LMS allows administrators to integrate videos, articles, infographics, presentations, PDFs, and more.

Podcasts, which have become more popular in recent years, can also serve as an engaging content type in an online learning environment. Canvas allows training administrators to embed podcast episodes into a page, offering an engaging way to introduce stories, interviews, and real-world scenarios into the training course.  

Diversifying the types of content in a training program helps to keep it interesting for learners and present complex information in a more understandable, engaging way. 

9. Credentialing 

“Canvas Credentials was an easy win.” - Marnie Gerkhardt, Ent Credit Union 

Many employees want to learn new skills to elevate their careers, so they may be most receptive to professional learning programs that offer credentials. Credentialing is an important LMS feature that learning and development leaders can use to verify training completion and track employee progress. 

Credentialing also helps employees feel more invested in the training program because they know they will receive a tangible reward that adds credibility to their careers. Four key principles, which include aligning the credentialing program with industry needs and practical skills, can make your training program more successful. 

Learn more about how Canvas Credentials can enhance your company’s training and development program and empower your employees to advance. 

10. Scalability

Scalability is a key to success for corporate, government, and nonprofit companies that want to enhance professional education with minimal barriers. Implementing a scalable learning solution means you can expand professional learning without sacrificing the system’s performance or functionality. You can also adapt the system to accommodate more complex training programs, shifting business needs, an increase in employees, or other changes you must manage as your organization evolves.   

A scalable LMS also supports cost efficiency and ROI. As the organization grows and the team’s needs change, a scalable LMS allows you to meet those needs without switching to a new platform, saving time, money, and resources. 

11. User Role Customization

In most organizations, multiple team members work together to make training and development successful. This may require assigning varying levels of access to different team members. A training director, for example, may gain access as a teaching assistant to passively observe the course while a training facilitator might gain access as a teacher for more hands-on course oversight.   

Canvas allows team members to customize user roles, providing all members of the training team an experience that aligns with their unique roles and responsibilities. 

12. Gamification

Adding gaming elements to a course can make training more effective. For example, learners can earn points or badges each time they contribute to a discussion board, complete a quiz, or submit an assignment. Gamification makes it fun for employees to progress through a training course and can even drive engagement by encouraging friendly competition.  

Another example of gamification is rewarding employees to continue learning by awarding badges. Digital badges are a great way to acknowledge employee progress. Canvas Badges can even be shared on social media, giving employees a way to showcase what they learned in training and demonstrate expertise in a specific area. 

Two of the main rewards offered in an online learning environment are microcredentials and open badges. Explore the difference between the two and consider which option your company would find most beneficial.  

13. Personalization

When it comes to professional learning, there isn’t a single approach or solution that makes sense for everyone. As a result, many organizations are relying on learning management systems to support diverse and tailored instructional practices. According to Instructure’s Lifelong Learning Report, 77% of organizations are customizing learning paths to match employee needs, so personalization is more important now than ever before. 

Still, determining the best ways to personalize your training can be challenging. Canvas offers two handy resource guides to help learning and development teams understand unique LMS features that support personalization.

Using LMS Features to Optimize Learning

An LMS provides a strong foundation for improved skills development, training, and ROI. By embracing LMS technology, companies can foster a culture of continuous learning and organizational growth, and employees can benefit from a learning ecosystem that empowers them to grow in their current roles and prepare for future career advancement. 

Explore the ProLearn LMS Buyer’s Guide for more information about how Canvas features help deliver impactful learning experiences for all employees.