Online learning isn’t just for educational institutions. Learning remains an ongoing priority for many working professionals around the world. If your association is looking to streamline education and support career development among its members, it’s time to consider investing in association learning management software (LMS). In this guide, we’ll cover all the basics of LMS and share our top 15 recommended picks: What is learning management software? How do organizations use learning management software? Integrating Your LMS and AMS 8 Key Learning Management Software Features 15 Best Learning Management Software Options Whether you already have educational materials that need organizing, or you’re looking to monetize your learning content, the right association LMS solution can provide all the tools you need to optimize the learning process for your members. What is learning management software? People join associations to access many opportunities, from connecting with like-minded individuals in the same professional field to furthering their education within their industry. According to Marketing General, just after networking, the second most common reason members join an association is for continuing education or professional certification. Association learning management software, also called a learning management system or LMS, is a software solution that provides the framework for housing and managing all elements of an organization’s educational program. Any type of organization can use an LMS to build course content and design structured learning paths for participants to follow. For associations in particular, learning management software comes in handy for crafting a continuing education plan for members and providing them with valuable certification opportunities. Why use learning management software? As of today, there are an estimated 73.8 million LMS users around the world, benefiting from a variety of online courses. Beyond appealing to this widespread interest, investing in learning management software allows your association to: Boost engagement. From interactive quizzes to online discussion boards, you can offer new and exciting ways for members to learn. They can access your learning materials from wherever is most convenient to them, which increases the likelihood that they’ll take advantage of and have a positive experience with your courses. Reduce costs. Taking your educational offerings online allows you to reduce the costs associated with producing printed learning materials and organizing in-person training courses. Track progress. With an association LMS, you can easily keep an eye on members’ progress as they work through your educational courses. Then, based on the data you gather, you can tailor your future offerings to better appeal to their interests. By implementing learning management software best practices, you’ll be well on your way to creating high-quality educational opportunities for your members. How do organizations use learning management software? Associations, educational institutions, chambers of commerce and corporations can all leverage an LMS to present online training and certification opportunities. For instance, a chamber of commerce may use the software to offer health and safety certifications or leadership courses, while a university may use it to manage virtual classes. Some of the most popular ways your association can use this tool include: Employee training Volunteer onboarding New member welcome programs Professional certifications Committee training Board member onboarding Because you can upload anything from training programs to more formal certification programs, there are virtually unlimited ways your association can use learning management software to enhance its educational offerings. Integrating Your LMS and AMS As you begin researching learning management software options, you’ll find that you can purchase some specific systems independently, while others come in a package with association management software (AMS) tools. Suppose your organization doesn’t yet have an association management software or you’re looking to upgrade. In that case, this could be the perfect opportunity to invest in a membership management solution that includes an LMS. What is an AMS? An AMS, or membership management system, is software that enables membership organizations to manage all membership activities from a centralized, digital platform. Key association management software features include: A membership database An online member community An integrated website content management system (CMS) Email and member communications tools Data tracking and reporting Event management Online payment processing and dues collection At the end of the day, prioritize finding an AMS that fits your association’s unique goals and enhances your member experience. How can staff benefit from LMS-AMS integration? You can buy a learning management system as a stand-alone product, or as a tool that integrates with your membership management system. Some essential benefits of an integrated AMS/LMS system include: Reduced user friction. An integrated LMS gives your staff members a structured, standardized process for inputting and updating learning modules and materials. Increased efficiency. Since an integrated LMS blends seamlessly with your larger AMS platform, your staff won’t have to spend unnecessary time manually inputting or transferring data across multiple platforms. All management solutions within one system. When your LMS is a part of your overarching AMS system, you’ll benefit from having all your information in one place. This makes data tracking and reporting easy. By freeing up your staff’s time and resources, you’ll allow them to focus on other crucial tasks, such as attracting and retaining members for your association. How can members benefit from LMS-AMS integration? At the same time, integrating your learning management software with your AMS provides several important benefits to your members as well. For instance, they’ll be able to: Access tailored learning opportunities. Using the information in your AMS, such as membership status or past learning history, you can offer personalized learning opportunities to your members. Use just one required login. Your members will be able to use just one username and password to access your AMS and learning management software instead of having to keep track of multiple logins. Navigate the LMS more easily. Using the same system for your AMS and LMS means members will be more familiar with the LMS platform and have an easier time navigating the system. Many of the most successful membership programs prioritize convenience and value for their members. Adopting the right software indicates to members that you’re invested in creating a productive and memorable experience for all of them. Get a free demo of Classroom LMS! 8 Key Learning Management Software Features When shopping for association learning management software, keep an eye out for these primary features: Robust Content Library Capabilities An ideal LMS allows you to store online learning materials, from videos to MP3s to downloadable assets, in a content library. You should be able to create custom content packages, assign content to multiple lessons, and upload resources quickly. Your learning management software should facilitate the process of managing content, learner profiles, certificates and more so you can focus on creating, developing and delivering high-quality content. Excellent User Experience Look for learning management software that prioritizes the user experience, making it easy for learners to navigate to their desired content. Your association LMS should load content quickly and be responsive on any device, so that members can use it on their phones, laptops or tablets. Additionally, choose a software solution that allows you to brand your learning management site with your organization’s colors and logo. This way, your learners can feel confident that they’re in the right place when they’ve reached your content. Gated Content Creation With this learning management software feature, you should be able to separate members-only content from resources that are available to anyone. By doing so, you can offer free content access as a member benefit and enhance the value of your learning programs by making them exclusive. Furthermore, this feature allows you to generate more non-dues revenue by offering gated content to non-members for an additional fee. Learning Progress Tracking A comprehensive LMS will go beyond simply hosting your resources and actually monitor how each individual learner interacts with each piece of content. If continuing education is an important part of your mission and your industry, this feature is a must-have for your learning management software! Keep an eye out for a solution that allows you to share course outlines, test learners’ knowledge, provide certificates, control permissions on the backend and, of course, track continuing education units (CEUs). Assessments and Tests With testing tools for delivering and scoring online exams, you can give members the chance to assess their learning progress. This learning management software feature allows you to know exactly where your members stand in their education and what additional learning materials you might consider providing to help them meet their learning objectives. It can also provide insight into whether your course materials are effective or need improvement. Certifications An effective LMS allows you to award certificates or documents to celebrate members’ completion of programs. These certificates should be downloadable and printable, so learners can keep them for their records. By offering certifications, you can provide a boost to members’ resumes, profiles or LinkedIn accounts and expand their access to career opportunities. eCommerce and Payment Options Your learning management software must provide members with an easy way to pay for courses online. With the right tools, you should be able to customize payment options and packages to meet a wide variety of members’ needs. Superb Customer Service As with any technology solution, look for learning management software backed by a supportive and knowledgeable team. When shopping for an association LMS, consider asking about how the provider handles onboarding, support, and training needs (if that information isn’t available up front). Better yet, partner with a company you already know you can trust with Classroom by Personify. Get a free demo of Classroom LMS today! 15 Best Learning Management Software Options Let’s jump into our top recommended solutions for revolutionizing your association’s educational program: 1. Classroom LMS by Personify Classroom by Personify is an intuitive, easy-to-use LMS that integrates with a robust AMS system. As part of the Personify Community Experience Platform, Classroom LMS integrates with MemberClicks AMS to create a seamless user experience for both your organization’s staff and members. This means you can access all of your member data, communication details, and payment information in one centralized location. At the same time, your members only need one login to interact with all your association has to offer—including your online learning courses and materials. With this learning management software solution, your organization can: Package training materials and tests. The content library allows you to package educational materials based on type or topic. Additionally, you can make certain packaged courses available to only certain groups and earn more non-dues revenue by charging a fee for gated content. Upload multimedia learning content. With Classroom LMS, you can upload a vast array of engaging content, including videos. You can even livestream through Classroom to interact with learners in real time! Issue automatic certificates. Ensure that your members feel recognized for their learning efforts by awarding continuing education credits and certificates automatically after they complete a course or assessment. Create free-access classes. Effective learning management software allows you to not only keep current members engaged, but also to attract new members to your organization. With Classroom LMS, you can create free-access classes to give potential members a glimpse into all the value your educational program has to offer. Analyze performance data. Keep an eye on your educational program’s success with a high-level dashboard and comprehensive reports. Insightful data points, such as course adoption rate, allow you to determine where your offerings are doing well and what improvements you could make to better appeal to your learners. The Florida Society of Association Executives (FSAE), an organization dedicated to the professional development and continuing education of association professionals, benefits from several MemberClicks and Personify products, such as Classroom LMS and MC Professional. Adrian Amos-Honderick, FSAE’s Director of Marketing & Communications, shared his satisfaction with the usability of Classroom LMS, stating, “Since we’ve swapped from our previous LMS, we haven’t heard anything from our members, which is great because that means they find it easy to use and don’t have any questions.” 2. CourseStage LMS CourseStage LMS, by Web Courseworks, is an LMS that associations, healthcare industries and government organizations can leverage to train and provide accreditation to members. With this learning management software, your organization can: Produce learning games and interactive videos Build assessments Create member discussion groups Offer course recommendations to individual learners Leverage reporting to understand course performance 3. Path LMS Path LMS, by Blue Sky eLearn, is learning management software built for online education and virtual events. This software solution allows organizations to: Use drag-and-drop tools to create learning programs Create multimedia content, such as videos Issue digital badges and certificates Enable commenting and live chatting among learners Feature custom branding across their learning site 4. YourMembership Learning YourMembership Learning is an association management software provider that offers two learning management platforms as part of its suite of tools, Crowd Wisdom and Freestone. Some key features of this learning management software include: Branding customization capabilities Test and assessment administration Continuing education credit and certification tracking Webinar and webcast delivery Social learning through courses, discussions, or blogs 5. Elevate LMS Elevate LMS is an all-in-one learning platform for organizations looking to expand their virtual event capabilities. With the Elevate hub, you can: Organize hybrid events, virtual conferences, and webcasts Offer content recordings for a fee Create a community platform to foster networking Leverage over 30 reports Incorporate your branding across the entire learning experience 6. Classroom24-7 Classroom24-7 is an online education company that facilitates remote learning that builds and manages your online learning program for you. This means that you have more time to focus on other aspects of membership management. Beyond learning management software, some of their additional services include: Market opportunity study Needs assessment Work plan creation Media production Marketing for recruitment and retention 7. Tovuti LMS Tovuti LMS is a comprehensive LMS used by a wide range of organizations, including schools, businesses and clinical organizations. With this learning management software, you can: Create interactive activities and multimedia content Encourage peer-to-peer interactions with tools such as surveys Leverage pre-designed themes and templates Reach out to an in-house customer care team for questions Make learning exciting with gamification features like leaderboards 8. Maple LMS Maple LMS is learning management software for Salesforce users. If your organization uses Salesforce for its constituent relationship management (CRM) system, you’ll benefit from seamless integration with this LMS option. Some of this solution’s most notable features are: Adaptive machine learning that customizes individual learning experiences Accessibility tools and controls Offline learning capabilities Data reporting and analytics Cloud storage Quick, no-cost onboarding 9. Persona Learning Persona Learning provides online learning solutions for various organizations, including unions, educational institutions, associations and franchises. This eLearning system offers: An integrated course catalog An eCommerce platform A Drag-and-drop content authoring tool 24-7 software support Custom branding 10. Brightspace D2L is a global learning innovation company that provides solutions for educational institutions, corporations, associations and government organizations. With Brightspace, its learning management software, your organization can: Use built-in course templates Set up discussion forums for learners Enable learning on mobile devices Provide accessibility tools to learners Create outcomes-based assessments 11. TopClass LMS TopClass LMS, by WBT Systems, is learning management software for continuing education providers such as associations and training companies. This solution allows organizations to: Provide customized certificates and digital badges Deliver virtual events and interactive videos Create a variety of tests and assessments Generate and distribute real-time reports Offer discussion forums and social sharing among learners 12. Knowledge Direct Digitec Interactive’s Knowledge Direct learning management software uses training automation to optimize the learning experience. With this solution, you can: Create and curate learning materials Leverage Digitec’s services to create learning experiences for you Issue certificates and digital badges Leverage detailed reporting and analytics Deliver webinars and other engaging content 13. Moodle Moodle LMS is learning management software designed for K-12, higher education and vocational training, with useful features such as: Accessibility tools and resources Mobile learning Social online learning, including peer review Badges and certificates Data privacy and security 14. iSpring Learn LMS iSpring Learn LMS is employee training software that companies can use to onboard new hires and help employees develop new skills. With this solution, you can: Create educational videos, interactive courses and role-plays Assign content to specific employees Track learning progress Engage learners with leaderboards and certificates Access 24-7 technical support 15. CoreAchieve CoreAchieve is affordable learning management software that supports online education and instructor-led training. Some of this solution’s most notable features are: Automatic learner progress reports Certificate templates Lesson templates Discussion threads Custom branding Choosing the Best Learning Management Software for Your Organization From streamlining and automating the learning process to delivering the valuable educational credentials your members desire, your association LMS can provide what your organization needs to offer a comprehensive learning experience. In addition, when your LMS and AMS integrate, you can create a seamless online learning experience for your members and your staff, optimizing the process on both sides. Ultimately, the learning management software you choose will depend on your organization’s resources and goals. Take the time to look for the specific features you need and book a few demos to help you narrow down the right option. To learn more about association software and how your organization can leverage these online tools to boost results, explore these helpful resources: Association Management Software: 20+ Leading Providers. Review our top 20 recommended association management software providers to select the best fit for your organization. The Top 15 Free and Inexpensive Volunteer Management Software Solutions For Any Organization. Discover how these software solutions can improve your volunteer program. Best Membership Website Builders for 2023. Learn how you can leverage website builders to create a high-quality online experience for your members.