In this article, you will learn-
How To Use WordPress As A Learning Management System
Students, professionals, and even researchers look for online courses to learn anywhere, anytime However, if your WordPress website was already live and you want to create an online course using it, would you want to pay more to a developer to have that done? you want to create a secure and efficient platform with less (or no) cost. Do not worry, with WordPress you can easily create an online course system, using a learning management system plugin!
The term “Learning Management System” (LMS) is often used when discussing online courses. An LMS is a system used to create courses and training programs and typically also provides the functionality to manage them. There are many LMS available online, such as Moodle, Canvas, etc. But if you have a WordPress website, then why not integrate your LMS into the same website? You can easily create secure and efficient online courses and then sell access to them to begin building your E-Learning business.
Why WordPress for Creating an Online Course?
Since WordPress is free, reliable, and easy to extend with plugins, you can create an online course with WordPress at a lesser cost. WordPress plugins for LMS have amazing features, so it is easy to use them to create a course from scratch.
After the development of courses, you will need to maintain them. This can lead to maintenance costs, but the required time and costs can be less when using a WordPress LMS plugin. You may find yourself needing less maintenance for your course and lessons since these plugins have extensions to do some maintenance work automatically.
Once you’ve planned the basics of your course – the title, the content, the membership or access plan – then you should begin considering which LMS plugin you’d like to use.
Learning Management System Plugins
LifterLMS
Lifter LMS is a powerful LMS plugin that will help you easily create, and publish an engaging online course. It comes with a student dashboard, wherein learners can check their profile, course progress, profile, certificates, etc. It also has a personalized certificate system. Both online and offline payment is available for learners who want to enroll in your course.
WP-Courseware
Courseware is a learning management plugin that comes with a system providing a dynamic progress page, question tagging, etc. Your course attendees can also download the quiz results using this plugin.
Within the Courseware, a plugin is a tool called “report cards” that have been integrated to create surveys and export-grade books.
StudyPress
StudyPress will help you in creating multimedia learning content easily. They provide distraction-free, the full-screen mode features, so that it is easy for learners to access lessons. It also has an awesome drag and drop interface to create a course and lessons.
teachPress
The tech press plugin supports localization. Your course can be created in more than two languages resulting in a wider reach. You can import the publications in BibTeX format. RSS feeds for publications are also provided.
The plugin also has shortcodes, so you can provide a course overview on any WordPress post or page.
Sensei
Sensei is an LMS plugin that offers different designs for different courses. Provided by WooThemes, this plugin can be easily integrated with WooCommerce to sell courses online with ease.
Note: WooCommerce is considered one of the best platforms for creating E-Commerce websites. Its integration with LMS works like a charm for course creators as well as learners.
Educator
The Educator plugin provides shortcodes, making it easier for you to integrate on your WordPress page or posts. Multiple payment methods are supported by educators, such as PayPal, bank transfer, check, etc.
Select the perfect plugin for course development. You want to look at this one. Many LMS plugins have similar features to each other, but the unique features of each are what you have to make a decision based on. I have used more than a few, and consider WP-Courseware and LifterLMS the most useful for my projects.
Education WP
Education WP is an excellent WordPress theme that can facilitate the construction of informative websites. It has incorporated LearnPress, which is one of the best learning management systems on WordPress. LearnPress is very easy to update or modify. Basically, users will be able to shape every aspect of their education site. Education WP is also cost-effective. By simply purchasing this theme, you will benefit from 8 innovative LearnPress add-ons whose total cost reaches $250.
The design is highly-responsive, and it can showcase your content on any device. In addition, the website will be cross-browser compatible. Users may charge for their items or services via WooCommerce, PayPal, or Stripe. Page owners are able to post various quizzes and courses using the Curriculum Manager tool. Students can easily find these courses using the precise Ajax search function. Site blocks can be moved around with ease, thanks to Drag and Drop technology. Feel free to experiment with different customization options. However, many clients are too busy to start from scratch. The one-click installer can free your schedule by giving you the ability to import demo content such as pre-made posts, sliders, and pages. For those who prefer a tighter format, a one-page site format was made available.
How to Create a Learning Management System with MemberPress (In 3 Steps)
If you’re looking to set up your own LMS, we highly recommend WordPress. It’s a free, flexible, and powerful platform that’s very accessible for beginners. While you can adapt an existing site, it’s best to start with a new, clean installation.
Then, you’ll need a few additional tools. For example, most LMSs need a way to restrict access only to pre-approved students. To do this with WordPress, you’ll need a membership plugin.
Step 1: Install MemberPress on Your Website
MemberPress is our membership plugin for WordPress users:
MemberPress offers a lot of features. Most importantly for our purposes here, it enables you to let people register on your LMS site, and restrict access to relevant learning materials and courses. You can even add a payment option for some or all of your LMS’s content.
Therefore, the first step for creating your LMS is setting up and configuring MemberPress, which is a simple process. From there, you can begin to add payment methods, create membership levels, and add members-only content. To complete your LMS, however, you’ll need one additional tool.
Step 2: Choose an LMS Plugin
While MemberPress helps you restrict access to your site, you’ll also need an LMS-specific plugin to set up the courses and other learning materials. Fortunately, there are several options available.
LearnDash, for example, is a feature-rich plugin that enables you to build dynamic and engaging courses:
With LearnDash, you can easily drip-feed content, set lesson timers, and more. A basic license costs $159, and the plugin can be fully integrated with MemberPress
Wp Courseware is another solid option:
This was one of the first LMS plugins for WordPress, and it enables you to create and sell courses with ease. It offers many features, including customizable quizzes, course certificates, and more. You can get a two-site license for $129.
If you’re looking for a free option, on the other hand, LearnPress has your back:
With this tool, you can set up courses that include both lessons and quizzes, and combine them into full course curriculums. The base plugin won’t cost you a cent, although there’s a premium option with extra features.
When selecting an LMS plugin, it’s important to consider the individual goals you have for your site. Each of these three options is strong choices, but we’ll be using LearnPress in the last step of our tutorial.
Step 3: Set Up Your First Course
Now that you have both of the plugins you’ll need, you can start building your LMS. How you do this will naturally depend on your goals, as well as the specific LMS plugin you’ve chosen.
As an example, however, let’s look at how to set-up a basic course using the LearnPress plugin. After installing and activating it, you’ll be prompted to run through a simple setup wizard:
This will help you configure the basic elements of your LMS, such as its pages and pricing system. All of these settings can be changed later, though, and each one is optional.
After that, you can navigate to the LearnPress tab to start setting up your learning materials. There are options for courses, lessons, quizzes, and so on.
Each type of material is created using an editing interface that should feel very familiar to WordPress users. For instance, navigating to LearnPress > Courses and selecting Add New will bring you to an editor where you can include whatever content you like:
What’s more, there are lots of new fields where you can enter course-specific information and settings:
Most of the options are self-explanatory, but the plugin’s developers do offer comprehensive documentation in case you need help setting up your courses and other resources (as do most other LMS plugins). With a little time and effort, you’ll be well on your way to creating a streamlined and accessible learning platform.
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