There are several learning management systems in Africa that have played significant roles in bridging the gap between geolocation education access and improving student performances in schools and other careers. 

Due to the nature of the African economy, several schools and online course creators are unable to utilize a learning management system to boost their academic performances due to cost, management, unavailability of African based technology and more. 

Since the beginning of the century, the eLearning market has grown rapidly to over 900% and it is expected to reach a value of $1 trillion by 2027 because it is easier to connect with someone online. Organisations use learning management systems to plan, develop, provide and track employee, clients and partners training. LMS has made the accessibility of education content easier because learners from any part of the world can access all materials online.

In this article, I have explained details on the various learning management systems in Africa that schools, businesses and individuals can afford to improve their performances.

What is a learning management system? 

Learning management system is a well-organized platform for creating and managing and selling online educational content like courses, videos, and training material which will aid learning. Learning management systems help to track and measure student performance. 

The term learning management system comes from e-learning. The upper education sector had the primary Learning Management System and it had been introduced within the early 1990s, recently, the bulk of the training Management System is made for the corporate market. 

Learning Management Systems are often used for creating and hosting online courses and training materials, to improve learning efficiency. Online courses on learning management systems can be effectively managed like a typical classroom experience where teachers and students interact on several topics of interest. The incorporation of student gradebook, assignments, quizzes, and material attachments helps to measure students flow and understanding of a topic like a traditional classroom. 

In Africa, the demand for quality Learning management systems is on the increase, this is due to the increased demand for people to acquire more relevant skills and stern out low coverage of education in the continent. 

Benefits of Learning Management System

There are several benefits of learning management systems for schools, coaches, businesses and individuals who create and sell online courses. Apart from improving students’ performances in class and serving as a source of extra income for both schools and other online course creators, there are several other benefits of learning management systems as listed below:

1. The cost of coaching is reduced
2. Training time for businesses is reduced
3. Requires less manpower to manage and courses can be reused for several other purposes within an organisation
4. An individual can create their learning plan and acquire relevant skills at their own pace
5. Work performance improves due to improved skill level
6. Training is measured effectively
7. Work is maintained in unified standards among partners and affiliates
8. Information engagement is increased.
9. Social learning integration like the point systems and gamification help to improve participation
10. Online course marketplace on some learning management systems can help content creators and schools sell and distribute their courses to a large audience and make maximum profits.
11. LMS makes it easier for huge firms to teach hundreds or more employees from various affiliates, many of them use learning platforms to stay franchises, resellers, and other sales channels.
12. Small enterprises also use LMS to coach employees and expand their abilities with limited human resources and training costs, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and academic institutions.

Take a look at the best online teaching platforms for schools Here is also how you can start a profitable online course in 10 easy steps.

Types of Learning Management Systems

There are five (5) types of learning management systems that schools, individuals, and business organisations can choose from, examples are shown below:

1. Cloud-based Learning management system

Cloud-based learning management systems have no specific requirements, they can be configured to fit any type of online education business including schools, individual learning management systems, organizations, respectively. They are usually accessible from any location in the world and users do not need any specific installations to access them. 

Cloud models are usually easily implemented with low startup cost, it provides a high level of cybersecurity and automatic updates.

2. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) LMS

SaaS is a standard pricing model that gives a special level of software that is licensed on subscription and is centrally hosted by the network provider to numbers of users, this will make them scale fast because the user base increases or decreases.

3. Open-source learning management system

This type of learning management system has no license fee, the creator makes it free for developers or individuals to switch. this is often not free software, there could also be a download cost. This is often suitable for organizations that want to make a customized ASCII text file for his or her e-learning needs or for businesses that want to avoid license costs. The major disadvantage with using an open-source learning management system is that specific features and requirements may be missing and thus further integrations or developments may be required based on individual needs. 

4. Free Learning Management System

Also known as Freemium may be a Learning Management System with limited courses and features but they’re ideal for SMEs with a coffee budget.

5. Proprietary Learning Management System 

This is often the direct opposite of an open-source Learning Management System, it’s built by one company and the ASCII text file can’t be changed by users because it’s a closed source. 

The Proprietary Learning Management System is typically an entire package service with a technical support team and managed upgrades purchased by subscribers and licensing fees.

A good learning management system must be easy to use and quick to explore as well as possess the following requirements; ability to manage content, integration of payment processor, talent management, compliance platform, enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, workforce management, and human resource data system, must support mobile training, testing and assessment must be flexible, must be ready to track and reporting training performances, must be secured.

Functions of Learning Management System

There are several functions of learning management system, apart from its benefits such as improving academic performances of students and being used as a major platform for acquiring new skills, other functions of learning management system includes the following:

• Enhance and simply training process for schools and individuals
• Management of academic performances of students and company staff using gradebook and other features
• Delivering engaging lectures to a large audience from various parts of the world
• Multiple users can access quality educational content from an equivalent source.
• Evaluating student abilities and performances, growth and determination of methods that can help to improve learning
• Scaling of cost and time employed in training individuals and staff
• Reducing geolocation barriers to learning 

Best Learning Management Systems in Africa

There are several learning management systems in Africa that serve different purposes. It has been discovered that most companies that pose as learning management systems in Africa are just web design companies. This only places more burdens on course creators and schools who intend to utilize a SaaS learning management system that allows them to easily create and sell their online courses.

Below is a list of the best learning management systems in Africa and the features that make them unique. 

Learn Afrique 

Learn Afrique is a learning management system software suitable for industry experts, schools, thought leaders, and professionals who have an interest in creating, hosting and selling their courses with ease. It is the best learning management system in Africa due to its incorporation of the African economy in its pricing and a free online course marketplace where course creators can promote and market their courses. 

Why should people choose Learn Afrique? 

Learn Afrique is creative LMS software that industry experts can access, unlike other personalized LMS. Learn Afrique online course marketplace allows schools and other online course creators to promote and sell their online courses with ease. Our affiliate system ensures that your online courses are shared and promoted by other members who want to earn a commission on every sale. 

Features of Learn Afrique

There are several features and functionalities that make Learn Afrique the best learning management system in Africa. The following are features that are specific to Learn Afrique learning management system.

• Professional course builder
• Advance quiz
• Live-streaming lessons where instructors can interact with students
• Flexible pre-requisite courses
• Course attachment
• Zoom conferences 
• Messenger and chat functionalities
• Students grade book that allows them access to their performance in a particular topic or exam scores before final certification
• Trial and group courses 
• Two instructors can readily co-create a course
• Students forum that allows the students easy interaction with one another to aid learning
• Google Classroom integration that allows instructors to easily import courses from Google classroom
• Students assignments and tests to improve learning
• Point system that allows students and course creators to earn income
• Most affordable LMS in Africa
• 24/7 customer support system
• Teachers or instructors forums that allow instructors to gather relevant information

From the most recent reviews of LMSs in Africa, Learn Afrique stands out as the most feature-rich yet most affordable learning management system in Africa. Check out our pricing to learn more about our learning management software. 

The platform also helps instructors to distribute their courses and acquire many students through their monthly marketing plans. This helps to reduce all the stress and financing that comes with promoting your online course as an instructor.

Check out the feature overview of Learn Afrique here.

Sakai CLE

Sakai is an open-source LMS that focuses on the calendar, test, assignments, quizzes, and grade book for a tutorial institution, it offers features like course management, syllabus tool, and lesson builder, multimedia course embedding, chats functions, and video tutorial, it’s integrated with google doc and offer tools like wiki platform which allows users create sites without requiring advanced web-authoring skills, although it’s been worked on the interface looks old and fewer intuitive. 

Forma LMS

This is an open-source LMS that allows individuals to create personalised courses with a built-in authoring tool. This technique offers eLearning management with editing tools for course management, reporting function to gather data on learner participation in courses, video conferencing, certification, completions, assignments.

Author 

This LMS offers online course management and content authoring for blind and visually impaired people. This platform allows you to import external files.

iTunes U 

iTunes U is an eLearning platform that deploys course authoring, homework, and assignment distribution through mobile. The content library has courses for businesses and schools.

Instructors can create courses as PDFs or presentations using images, videos. iTunes U has high-quality educational content that covers a good array of topics.

Coggno 

Coggno may be a cloud-based LMS for creating online courses, visual elements are often added to the present platform, they will control and access permission to course materials. Coggno possesses rich features like providing individuals with the choices of making their courses or choosing from the system’s library, users also can send messages to trainees.

Trainers can keep track of trainee progress because Coggno enables them to watch the activities of trainees and employees. Certificates are given to learners on Coggno and that they are often used as proof of accomplishment. Coggno is user-friendly and responsive and may modify to the screen of any deviance. It is one of the best learning management systems in Africa.

Moodle

This open-source platform features a drag-to-drop feature for users to make customized courses, its features are virtual classroom management, certificate generation, and analytics which aids in measuring the success of the educational program. Moodle features a single and dynamic interface. A breakdown of Moodle pricing is shown below:

• Starter: $58 per annum for 50 users (ideal for one class).
• Mini: $182 per annum for 100 users (ideal for multiple classes).
• Small: $364 per annum for 200 users (ideal for multiple classes).
• Medium: $729 per annum for 500 users (ideal for multiple classes).

Dokeos

Dokeos is an open-source LMS compliance training for the pharmaceutical business. It offers features like course authoring, progress tracking, reporting, and certification management for pharmaceutical and healthcare businesses. 

On Dokeos instructors can create examinations or tests using 2D and 3D illustrations. Dokeos’s different feature is Oogie Rapid Learning, which automatically transcribes Microsoft Word and PowerPoint presentations into Dokeos slides.

The advanced hosting package is: 

• Training centres: $250 per month for up to 50 users and $450 per month for 51-100 users.
• Corporate organizations: $385 per month for up to 50 users and $650 per month for 51-100 users.
• Healthcare and pharmaceutical companies: On-demand

Myicourse 

Myicourse may be a cloud-based course creation and distribution solution for instructors which will be utilized in continuing education or for business training.

Myicourse has no limit to the amount, of course, this suggests that tons of various courses are often on this LMS, it’s a built-in course authoring embedded in it, corporate business and training companies can use Myicourse.

Their pricing is shown below:

• Bronze: $50 per month for 100-500 users, with access to 500 courses.
• Silver: $100 per month for 501-2,500 users, with access to 2,500 courses.
• Gold: $250 per month for two,501-10,000 users, with access to 10,000 courses.

LatitudeLearning 

LatitudeLearning may be a SaaS or cloud-based LMS tool for the administration and documentation of online courses, eLearning programs, and training content. Latitudelearning creates a student portal for each learner, testing, and assessment, students can learn asynchronously classroom management.

LatitudeLearning aids employee training, social learning, tracking skills, live video conferencing, and certificate management.

LatitudeLearning offers the following pricing:

1. 60¢ per user per month for up to 1,000 users
2. 55¢ per user per month for up to five,000 users.
3. $2.75 per user for up to five,000 users (the annual plan for a maximum number of courses).

Conclusion

There are several Learning management systems in Africa but when choosing one for your school or business, factors such as cost, functionalities, accessibility and flexibility are essential. These online course platforms have great benefits for both the student and the instructor who earns a huge income from his business. 

Learn Afrique offers several unique features like gamification and a point system that allows its users to earn free money. The mobile app is available for both Android and iOS devices and subscribers can carry their lessons with them everywhere they go. It is one of the best learning management systems in Africa. Visit our pricing page to learn more about our plans.