Abstract:

Online learning is not the next big thing, it is the now big thing.” - Donna J. Abernathy

Over the past one dozen years, but particularly over the past one year, both companies and academic institutions have made significant steps towards either adopting an e-learning infrastructure or upgrading the systems already being used. During the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic drove the entire world of learning towards a blended-based learning approach to training and that resulted in an incredible proliferation of Learning Management Systems (LMS’s) and the number of features they offered. This paper deals with the comparison and presentation of the most popular LMS’s currently available on the market.

In their research, the authors strove to not only summarize the most important information about the big players in the world of blended learning today, but to also direct their readers to the right questions they need to be asking when researching their options. Before a company or an academic institution can make an educated decision as to which system will work best in its case, it needs to carefully consider several important questions—it must decide on its budget, its expectations, its audience, the requirement for specific features, as well as why it needs an LMS in the first place.

The effectiveness of gamified learning systems has been extensively researched and consistently praised for its immense positive effect on learners’ motivation and engagement. The authors firmly believe that in the years to come, gamification will transform both corporate and academic training and that is why, in their research, they have also paid special attention to any existing system gamification features or ones that may be in development. Introducing game dynamics into LMS results in numerous benefits and is a sure bet for the future of blended learning.

Keywords:

Gamification, learning management systems, blended learning approach.