Learning Management System (LMS) and Course Management

System (CMS)
At one glance, we might think that learning management system (LMS)
and course management system (CMS) share the same criteria; however
there are some differences that we might not know of them. In this
discussion, we will go through the definition of LMS and CMS, how they work,
how important they are in terms of education, the advantages and
disadvantages, some examples and the similarities and differences between
them.
Learning Management System (LMS) is a software platform used to
help you create, manage, track and deliver eLearning courses. Watson &
Watson (2012) stated that LMS lets you create eLearning content (lessons)
organize it into courses, deliver the content, enroll students to the courses,
and finally monitor and assess their performance (attendance, grades, etc.).
In other word, we can say that LMS are software platforms that store and
deliver training content and then track participation in training. In term of
education, by using LMS, students will have the ability to view, listen and
interact with the data. They are given the options to try examples, complete
assessments, and give evaluation or feedback on courses. There are lots of
advantages of LMS; for example it can increase students motivation,
promote learning and encourage interaction during the learning process
(Sharma & Vatta, 2013). One major disadvantage of LMS is that it tends to be
course centred and not student centred; it does not provide a complete
range of teaching styles. Litmos, Topyx and Bluevolt are some examples of
learning management system.
Moving on to course management system (CMS), it is software used to
organize content comprising a website. This is how course management
system works. According to Dubowy (2013), she claimed that on a website,

CMS creates framework in which content is stored and displayed. This

system manages lots of content forms like images, electronic documents,
audio files, to name a few. Course management system functions allow
distributors to decide which content is displayed privately or publicly. In term
of education, course management system is used as a repository of learning
documents and files, discussion forums, assessment tasks, assignments, etc.
Students log on to the teachers CMS in order to access their class files and
submit homework and assessments. Leen (2012) stated that one of the
advantages of course management system is that they can accomodate
different learning styles. Both auditory and visual learners can gain benefits
from this system. Wordpress and Drupal are some of popular content
management system used to create all kinds of websites.
In the first place, Learning Management System may seem to be more
personalized

for

students.

According

to

Carliner

(2005)

Learning

Management System offer a registrar of courses in which students can selfregister. In addition, LMS has the ability to track learning participation,
completion, follow-up discussions, produce course fees reports, mastery
completion, and skills management. However, if we think very carefully we
will realize that both systems play significant roles in the education world. By
practicing both systems into education strategy, the learning process will
become more effective and powerful.

REFERENCE:
Dubowy, M. 2013. Lms vs lcms vs cms...changing one letter makes a big
difference.
https://www.opensesame.com/blog/lms-vs-lcms-vs-cmschanging-oneletter-makesbig-difference
Leen. 2012. Advantages vs. disadvantages of course management system
tools and their
effects on education.
http://leendoumet.blogspot.my/2012/12/advantages-vsdisadvantages-of-course.html
Sharma, A. & Vatta, S. 2013. Role of learning management systems in
education. International
Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software
Engineering 3(6):
997-1002.
http://www.ijarcsse.com/docs/papers/Volume_3/6_June2013/V3I60456.pdf
Watson, W. R. & Watson, S. L. 2012. An argument for clarity: what are
learning management
systems, what are they not, and what should they become?
TechTrends, Springer
Verlag 51(2): 28-34. https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal00692067/document