The market for Learning Management Systems is huge. "The Learning Management System (LMS) market size is expected to grow from USD 5.22 Billion in 2016 to USD 15.72 Billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 24.7%" (LISTedTECH, 2015). While Blackboard and Moodle currently dominate the market (see graphic, below), cloud-based LMS services like Google's free Google Apps for Education package, which includes Google Classroom, are on the rise (Marketwired.com, 2016):
Following the dawn of the first commercially-available LMS in the mid-1990s, adoption of the LMS spread quickly. By 2003, more than 90% of all U.S. colleges and universities had adopted a campus-wide LMS. The report -- authored by edtech experts Phil Hill and Michael Feldstein -- reviews 15 years of market data, and points to technical interoperability standards and cloud-based computing as enablers of migration away from legacy Learning Management Systems in a market typified by consolidation among dominant players and vendor lock-in.
The analysis is powered by data from LISTedTECH, the most comprehensive education technology database, which allows, for the first time, an extensive review of LMS usage, implementation, and decommissions for more than 4,000 institutions in the U.S. and Canada and thousands more worldwide. |
Image source: Listedtech.com
My thoughts
When schools adopt Google Apps for Education, and use the new and improved Google Classroom as their chosen LMS, perhaps students will maintain loyalty to the Google 'ecosystem', which may include purchasing more Google products, or smartphones that run the Google Android platform.