Speaker 1: eLearning alphabet soup. That's what we call all of these letter combinations that you find in the eLearning industry related to eLearning technology. And today we are going to tell you what the difference is between an eLearning platform and an LMS. It's a lot simpler than you think. I'm Johnny Havy, one of the co-founders of eLearning Partners, and this is the eLearning Simplified YouTube channel. The purpose of this channel is to simplify eLearning for you so you can do what you do best, which is provide remarkable value to your learners every time. On this channel, we teach you how to create, develop, launch, and distribute your eLearning online course or virtual training successfully to the most important part of eLearning, your learners. So let's dive in. What is an eLearning platform versus an LMS? First of all, what is an LMS? An LMS is a learning management system. That's what these lovely letters stand for. So what is that versus an eLearning platform? Well, here is the simplest answer you're going to find on YouTube because we are eLearning Simplified. An LMS is a type of eLearning platform. That's as simple as it is. eLearning platform is the group of technologies that are available for you to use in eLearning. That's as simple as it is. This is a very wide definition, a catch-all definition. When you're talking about eLearning and technology, you're talking about some sort of eLearning platform. You're not necessarily talking about an LMS. That's how it works. Remember, squares are a rectangle, but not all rectangles are squares. Remember that? I do. I'm a math guy. I'm also an accountant, but my favorite subject in school growing up was definitely geometry, and that was something that always stuck with me. I'm like, what do you mean? So a square is a type of rectangle, but not all rectangles are squares? Well, yeah, because the definition of a rectangle is you have two sets of sides that are equal. So these two sides are equal, and then these two sides are equal. Well, same thing. A square, technically, you have two pairs, but all sides are equal. So this is a type of rectangle but not every rectangle is a square. Same thing. Every LMS is a eLearning platform, but not every eLearning platform is an LMS. This will make more sense when I list a couple other types of eLearning platforms. Another type of eLearning platform other than an LMS is called an authoring tool, like we already have written down here, an LMS. You also have BMSes. BMS is a business management system. There are technologies out there, eLearning technologies out there that allow you to manage your entire business along with providing eLearning to your learners. This list goes on and on and on. Just remember, an eLearning platform is an eLearning technology. This could be a platform like LinkedIn Learning. This is an eLearning platform. Technically, a lot of people might disagree with us with this, but YouTube is an eLearning platform. YouTube is actually also technically an LMS, but we don't need to get super technical there. What is a learning management system? Well, first of all, learning management systems are misdefined and marketed online because these are the are misdefined and marketed online because the basic definition of a learning management system is a type of eLearning technology that collects data on your learners. It's a system that allows you to manage how your learners interact with your course. How do you manage it? By reading the data. Another way to look at this is if you drew a circle, this would be eLearning platforms. Then a sub-circle would be LMS. Another sub-circle would be authoring tools. Another sub-circle would be BMS, and it would go on and on and on, but they are all eLearning platforms. We know this is complicated, which is why we created our free eLearning Simplified Masterclass, which helps you create and launch your eLearning program, online course, or virtual training simplistically and successfully every time. We have a link in the description below this video, and all you have to do is plug in your email and you get instant access to this masterclass. So questions like this aren't going to stop you from launching your eLearning program and providing value to your learners as quickly as possible. Now, if this video was helpful for you, give it a thumbs up, and if you want to learn more about how you can simplify your eLearning, and most importantly, focus on your learners on a weekly basis, subscribe to our channel and you will get weekly updates when we launch our weekly YouTube video focused on simplifying your eLearning. There are thousands upon thousands of eLearning platforms out there, so you're probably really confused what the best platform is for you. Good thing is we have been doing this, eLearning Partners has been doing this for almost a decade, and we have worked with dozens upon dozens of eLearning platforms, and we have been to even more eLearning conferences and interacted with so many pieces of eLearning technology over the years that we know the three best eLearning platforms for you and your learners specific needs.