First, check out this quick 40-second video on what the new LMS, and its features, will look like:
When new students first log in to the updated LMS, they will watch a WalkMe™ video orientation led by our Senior Director of Student Success guiding them through all elements of MedCerts, the LMS and their program. This will eliminate an overflow of emails to students at the beginning of their program and build familiarity around the Learning Management System. With automated orientation from WalkMe™ students can get started on their program right away. To make sure students get comfortable with the system, students are required to finish the orientation before they can start working on any course materials. This will include all current students that log in for the first time after the LMS is launched. Our Student Support Team monitors new student logins and proactively reach out to those who log in, but don’t complete the orientation tour.
One of the most exciting elements we are adding is a new Chatbot feature, which allows students to get instant responses to questions about the LMS or navigating their program 24 hours a day. The Chatbot can help with finding materials, answering common questions and will connect students to support if they need additional help. This new 24/7 chat function has the ability to help an unlimited number of students at once.
The other major change to the Learning Management System is its look and progress tracking. We’ve added three new features to make it easier for students to understand where they are in their program and help them better plan learning around their schedule.
We know that MedCerts isn’t the only thing going on for our students and that planning their coursework around their busy lives is essential. This is why we’ve added the Activities Calendar to help plan out days and track what is coming up. Students can look ahead and see what target completion dates are in the next week, month or for the rest of their program. This will help immensely with balancing studies and give students a sense of when they might need to work ahead to prevent falling behind.
Additionally, the Program Schedule easily lays out all the upcoming activities in a student’s course and target due dates. Students can now see what course or activity is up next and click it directly from their main dashboard. If tasks become overdue, they are highlighted red and locked at the top of their schedule.
The Program Progress Bar shows students what percentage of their program is completed. This is calculated using the number of days the program should take on average and compares that to the number of days the student has been enrolled and the amount of course work they’ve completed.
Workforce Case Managers: It’s important to note that some of your current clients’ student progress may change, as we’ve moved to an upgraded mathematical model to calculate progress. Previously, progress was measured by the activities completed compared to the total number of activities in the program. The new model, take into consideration the time commitment of each activity in calculating the progress. This change in formula may cause existing students’ progress to fluctuate, but is much more accurate and allows for better tracking of where students stand.
We know that change can be scary, but we promise that these updates will only improve the learning process for our students and help them move through their programs quicker and easier. MedCerts is always working to create the best healthcare and IT programs for our students and increase the number of qualified candidates in the workforce. These changes will only better our students and increase completion rates for our clients.
All students will be moving to the new LMS and we have put great effort into making the transition as seamless as possible. There will be a maintenance period where students won’t have access to the system starting on Friday, January 17th, 2020 at 5 AM ET. All users will regain access on Saturday, January 18th at 5 AM ET.
This is the best way for us to ensure all programs and student progress have been properly transitioned and prevent any further disruptions. Plus, the new features will make the minor inconvenience worth it.
We made sure everything needed to access the LMS stays the same. Students will use their same URL, username and password from before the transition and, of course, all progress from programs will carry over too.
If you have any questions about this transition to the new Learning Management System or if you are a student experiencing technical issues, please reach out to [email protected]
