What's the Difference Between an SIS and an LMS?
At the forefront of a school's digital ecosystem are its Student Information System (SIS) and its Learning Management System (LMS).
SISs
An SIS serves as the main record-keeping platform for key actions like:
- student information
- maintaining the data store of a student's official grades,
- attendance records,
- disciplinary actions, and
- other administrative information.
An SIS tends to be geared toward users, such as school admins, who need to collect, visualize, and report large amounts of student data. For example, a superintendent may use the SIS to report district-wide data about student attendance to a state agency in order to receive program funding.
LMSs
An LMS serves as a platform for delivering:
- digital teaching materials,
- assignments, and
- assessments to students.
An LMS provides an online teaching portal to deliver digital materials between teachers and students. Teachers may use an LMS in a blended learning environment to post videos, presentations, or other digital media to enhance their lessons. An LMS also has assessment features built-in that allow teachers to develop or import quizzes or assignments that students may complete online. The LMS can track the outcomes of the student assessments, including assigned grades and fulfilled state standards.
Learn More about LMS Integrations
If you’re interested to learn more about LMS Integrations here’re other articles we’ve written:
- Building or Buying Your LMS Integrations
- The Benefits of Integrating Your App with an App
- What Should You Look for in a K12 LMS?
- Updated | State of the LMS Market
- Single Sign-On in Edtech: 6 Reasons Why You Need To Give Schools Multiple Options for SSO
Want to Learn More about Edlink?
If you're looking for a partner who can help guide you through developing LMS integrations (like these), then let’s introduce ourselves. We’re Edlink!