Until now, I have only had experience with LMS's as a learner, so it would be easy to list what I feel makes an LMS effective for me, the learner, but looking at it from a administrative/instructor perspective, there are other aspects that are needed in order to make an LMS effective for everyone.
1. Organizational and personal needs – It is important that the learner feel as much a part of the experience as the instructor. The LMS should be designed taking into account the perspectives of all users.
2. Comprehensiveness – An effective LMS is one that will be able to serve the whole organization.
3. Scalability – It is important that the LMS be able to be scaled in order to adjust to an organizations changing needs. This eliminates the need to change from one system to another if needs change.
4. Longevity – It's necessary to take into account how much support and how long a company will provide upgrades for that LMS.
5. Cost Structure – Take into account the OVERALL cost structure as a package. Understand what is included, and what is supplied at an additional cost.
6. Administrative features – All users of the LMS must be able to access it with ease. Also, the system must be able to perform functions for each type of user.
7. Instructional Features – There must be various ways for the instructor to provide a well rounded educational experience as well as features that allow the students to get the most out of course.
8. Technical Features – Some important components here include server & client platform compatibility, ease of deployment, and ease of administration.
9. Course authoring tools – Looking from an instructors point of view, is the course easy to set up and to use? The instructor should be able to easily implement collaborative tools, upload/share documents and create interactive assessment tools (among other things).
10. Multiple products & platforms - Effective LMS's should offer various products and platforms that would provide users with options when it comes to selecting one.
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