A Long Way From Traditional E-Learning - Interactive and Feature-Rich Learning Management Systems

Amidst a deepening recession and a more pressing need for companies and organizations to cut back costs, many are adopting online training programs and learning management systems to take care of training needs.
As more organizations utilize LMS online training, such software has developed in sophistication. In some ways, it is starting to look more game-like in its interactive and actually fun-to-use tools and interface.

Game-like software has begun to make its way into the professional world.
Some universities and organizations have either begun or are making plans to integrate a virtual world into their training.

And why wouldn't they? Research firm eMarketer estimates that 24 percent of the 34.
3 million internet users under 19 used virtual worlds at least monthly in 2007, a figure that will jump to 53 percent by 2011.

As young people become more involved in virtual worlds, their understanding of virtual world interactions and their roles within the virtual world are becoming more sophisticated, and therefore more easily translated into an academic or professional learning system.

And virtual worlds aren't just for young gamers and teenagers looking for escape anymore. They allow students to carry out tasks that might be difficult or impossible in the real world due to circumstances including personal, financial, schedule, locational or geographical restrictions.
Just as trainers can use a learning management system to upload presentation videos, simulations, and instructional demos, students can enter a virtual world to access learning material and interact with each other. In a virtual world, learners might create an avatar, or a virtual world presence, to interact with fellow trainees and training directors.

A new genre of virtual world software, called "Serious Game" virtual worlds, include everything from virtual frog-dissection for young students to virtual dental and other medical training.

Virtual environments are being used in areas as diverse as language teaching and urban planning.

When implemented well, online training tools like LMSs allow students to get involved in the material to a degree that a traditional online education never achieved.

Using a robust LMS training system, trainers can provide video and audio information including demos, simulations, screen recordings, podcasts, and more.

Unfortunately, most serious game virtual training is still being tested, and the ones on the market either carry an intimidating price tag or have a long way to go.
But along with serious games and other interactive learning systems, many learning management systems have expanded their interactive features and enhanced their fun factor to compete with an ever more exciting online education market.