CMS vs. LMS

For those who may not quite understand, CMS stand for "content management system" and LMS, "learning management system". Some of the individuals believe they are about the same, where the writer of this article attempts to provide better explanation on the differences.

By definition, any user can start his/her document management, and then upload to a CMS where editing, viewing, deleting task can be practiced. Then, the owner(s) of the system can invite other audience to read (most limited to content viewing privileges) in the content displayed in that application (most of them in web-based).

LMS, on the other hands, is taking the learning as an initiative. It usually consists of learning materials, in different formats (PDF, Video, Audio), and learner profile, as well as any learning activities associated with each learner. The learning activity deals with Course Registration, Training Attendance Record, Examination Grade, Multiple File Downloads, as well as others.

What are the main differences between CMS and LMS? The following statements should assist you on that:

• User Behavior: CMS tends to be more passive, awaiting for the end user to visit this application and obtain what they are interested in. On the contrary, LMS provides an environment where learners are actively involved. More interaction between course instructor and learners are appearing in LMS. Tracking the progress of each student and view their activity in LMS is more possible and attainable.
• Motivation to Learn : Learners in LMS are more self-motivated. They want to learn new technologies, new concept, and want to have a chance to approach professors from Ivy League. Coursera is an example of that. Learners in LMS even would request some of the new courses being activated in LMS, even with expensive charge. The users in CMS are more like to search for answer, when there is any misunderstanding of a concept, or How-to case scenario.
• Organized Learning Content: In CMS, most of the information tend to be sporadic displayed, with minor attention to layers of access and presentation. Product name is usually a key index being identified where all contents are sorted by creation date/time. However, in LMS, we tend to collect content, by specific topics. For example, Fundamental Concepts of Networking, Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS), Internet Protocol Security (IP Sec), How-To in a WLAN controller, something like that. However, layers of access and presentation.

Most of the enterprises start with a CMS, where there are a lot of technical guidelines, troubleshooting know how, even customer support cases. With a significant amount of "knowledge" in context, many senior managers would take another approach by converting those materials into a "LMS". That serve the purposes of (a) expanding the target audience basis, and (b) building a brand (of this company, or the "knowledge transferring" services being provided). Well, some of the professionals would interpret those information is only "Data" not "Knowledge", where re-write tasks are required. There is no right or wrong in this type of relationship, as long as intended (learning) purposes can be served and provided to target audience.