Difference Between an SIS and an LMS

Understanding the Key Differences

One of the key reasons to compare Student Information System (SIS) with Learning Management System (LMS) is that they appear to solve identical needs. Educational institutions often debate which of the two they should buy. Often, they end up investing in both.

However, with their distinct capabilities they serve two different purposes.

In this article we compare the purpose of  LMS vs SIS, including their pros and cons. 

What is a Student Information System (SIS)?

A Student Information System (SIS) is a software application that stores, manages, and processes student data. Your SIS carries student data including personal information, academic records, attendance, information relevant to financial aid, and even disciplinary records.  The principal purpose of an SIS is to make administrative processes more efficient and effective.

Pros of SIS

• Helps automate several admin activities
• Improves inter-departmental communication 

Cons of SIS

• May require considerable training for users
• Poses data security challenges, since SIS carries personal and medical information

What is a Learning Management System

A Learning Management System is a platform that assists in creating and delivering educational content, assessing outcomes, facilitating discussions and collecting feedback. 

As a software, the LMS is directed toward training and education, rather than administrative tasks. Your teachers will find it very helpful in even curriculum development and syllabus structuring. They can also use this system to organize and distribute resources used in the actual teaching.

Pros of LMS

• Speeds up curriculum development
• Assists in and supplements virtual course delivery

Cons of LMS

• Requires strong buy-in from teachers
• May be technically complex due to key features like videos and student assessments

Difference between Student Information System (SIS) and Learning Management System

If, after reading the brief descriptions above, you’re asking yourself ‘What’s the difference between an SIS and an LMS?’, you’re not alone.

First, let us tabulate, in brief, where each system stands in the SIS vs LMS comparison.

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Now let us analyze in detail how Here are the most important differences between an SIS and an LMS:

Goals

Streamlining administrative processes is the larger goal of your SIS. It stores a wide range of student data, from personal and contact info to health and disciplinary records. 

Against that, the LMS serves a more educational purpose, namely, the delivery of training and education goals. Your teachers will also use it to design curriculum, grade your students, and track student progress.

Scope

The Student Information System has a wide scope. Your school would use the data for more efficient student management, better school administration, or reporting. As an example, the attendance records and enrollment data may be shared with the school district authorities as part of compliance, accreditation, or applying for school grants.

Against that, the Learning Management System revolves around content design and delivery of the educational content, and assessment of students. With a clearer understanding of students' academic performance, teachers are in a much better position to make data-backed decisions for course management.

User base

Not surprisingly, the SIS user base chiefly consists of the admin staff, teachers, and other teams that may include finance and HR.

Compared to that, the LMS has a narrower user-base: the teachers and the students.

Nature of usage

The administrators, teachers, and the staff of other departments access the SIS as a single source of truth for many of their reports and documentation. The record system provides necessary data to decision-makers so that they may decide the next action. The accounts teams, for example, will rely on the SIS to learn what fees are outstanding. This will help the accounts team to decide whether to inform parents, get in touch with the relevant sponsoring entity, or escalate the issue.

The nature of usage with the LMS is different. Teachers use it to list out assignments and assess submissions of these assignments. The student-related data will also be used to finetune how courses are designed and delivered. Finally, students use it to access the course materials (e.g. videos) and interact with others as regards the learnings and assignments.

Integrations

Almost any application that supports the functioning of a school through accurate data tracking is a potential integration partner for your SIS. So, the student management software (as the SIS is sometimes called) can integrate with invoicing tools, transportation services, HR modules, and even food services.

Because it is so focused on the design and delivery of content, the LMS looks for integrations with scheduling tools and assessment solutions. Some of its most important integrations will be with video conferencing tools, content repositories, and discussion forums. Remember, the LMS is also used in corporate training, so communication and collaboration tools like discussion forums are useful there too.

Functionality

As you would've noticed by now, both systems serve distinct purposes and perform different functions. The SIS eases and helps carry out administrative tasks by using student data. Different software solutions may handle data a little differently, but at the core, they let school authorities manage registrations, record attendance, handle billings, and store transcripts.

The LMS functions to provide more effective education and training. It will direct content creation so that the desired student outcomes may be realized. It will house grading tools and allow students and teachers to communicate with each other on discussion forums.

Default modules

If your SIS, also known as student information management system, is exceptionally comprehensive, chances are it’s unreasonably expensive. In other cases, there will be some default modules and you will need to choose which modules you’d like to include from the add-ons. Generally, grading and accounts are not a part of the default SIS.

The LMS will come with a default module on grading and assessment. Also, in most cases, it will have some facility to play videos. However, the accompanying features of a video could vary considerably, depending on the platform you choose.

Multiple departments

The SIS can be really comprehensive and touches nearly all the departments. Its data can impact the HR team, the finance team, the teaching staff, and even compliance team. Its data security practices will be part of the compliance exercises while its invoicing will impact your finance and account teams.

In contrast, the LMS is concerned only with the student and the teacher. Other departments are not significant stakeholders here and most of them will not even have access to this solution.

Communication objectives

Your SIS provides communication channels for teachers, administrators, staff, students, and parents. It will not only enable data-backed administrative decisions but also help authorities understand trends for future action.

Against that, the LMS communication flow is either student-to-student or teacher-to-student. This communication will influence and shape pedagogies as well as assessment methods.

Important touchpoints

You can see the impression of the SIS in the way your school manages enrolments. On the other hand, timely and accurate submission of school data will be critical in how the school authorities of your county or stay view your school. Many, but not all, SIS can act as a platform where the school authorities or teachers may exchange information with parents.

Compared to that, your students will see how the LMS is helping them achieve their learning goals. When you add the financial background of your students to this, you can build strong cases for students who deserve financial aid for higher education. 

Additional technology

As web-based systems and solutions grow in popularity, the SIS has grown to use additional technology. Consequently, you might see your Student Information System, sometimes referred to as student management system, or student record system, using technology like biometrics to make attendance swift and accurate. 

The LMS is increasingly focused on creating a flexible learning environment for blended education (AKA hybrid model of learning) or fully online learning. For this, it will focus on those things that will improve the learning experience. As a result, the LMS could include social networking as part of its discussions and communications.

Additional features

The more accurate and updated your reporting and analytics is, the better your resource allocation will be. Your parent-teacher meetings can be more fruitful when your teachers bring data-backed insights to the meeting.

The LMS focuses on making education more result-oriented, productive, and involved. As a result, the LMS would welcome alternatives that could add, for instance, gamification.

Concluding remarks

Technology has significantly changed the way education is delivered and consumed, and the way educational institutions are run. The educational ecosystem is powered by technology tools, data, and IT resources. The SIS and the LMS constitute two of the most significant tools you can use in education today.

The difference between a Student Information System and a Learning Management System is clearly evident when you begin using the data each carries. Student admissions? You know you'll have to work with an SIS. Understanding student performance to design the next piece of educational content? Your LMS is what you turn to.

Wondering how technology can transform education for your institution? Book a demo with one of our experts and see it for yourself.

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