If you are familiar with the concepts of eLearning and adaptive learning, then the initialism LMS wouldn’t have caught you unaware in your business colloquies. Although there is nothing technical about the expansion of LMS – Learning Management System – it can mislead you into coming up with the wrong definition in case you look at it from a traditional point of view.
An LMS is basically an eLearning management software that allows you to plan, create, deliver, manage and assess a specific learning program. The scope of a powerful LMS is not confined to course management, it envelopes student management, faculty management, examination management and financial management.
Let us consider Class Splitting and Faculty Scheduling which are two features that are closely related. Class Splitting is a feature under the broader division of Student Management while Faculty Scheduling obviously falls under Faculty Management.
So how does the class splitting feature work? Class splitting is the splitting of a classroom into two or more classrooms when the number of students enrolled for a course is more than the pre-assigned strength of the classroom for that course. Class splitting is either done prior to the commencement of the classes or soon after. In the former case, the number of students who registered for a particular course is taken note of. If the enrollment exceeds the total number of students assigned to each member of the faculty for that course, then a new class is added and a new teacher is employed. In the latter case, the number of students enrolled to the course is assumed to change when the class actually commences. Therefore, although the course begins irrespective of the enrollment, the number of students who actually attend the class is recorded and the new class is added along with a new teacher depending on the attendance of the first day.
While class splitting revolves around teacher-student balance, faculty scheduling focuses on maintaining faculty workload balance. Faculty scheduling entails maintaining a comprehensive faculty workload record which contains the details of the workload of each faculty member for each term. The idea behind faculty scheduling is that if faculty members are compelled to work for more than stipulated number of courses for one term, work adjustments can be made accordingly in the coming term to balance their pre-existing workload.
An advanced LMS with the aforementioned features helps streamline the training administration process, thus saving time and reducing costs.