With the popularization of the model of long distance educationseveral public and private institutions have discovered the advantages of investing in online courses to educate their audience, increase awareness and profits in their segment and consequently have a e-learning platform.
Well, whatever your case, you will always need a good e-learning platform – either LMS platform – so that you offer the best experience to your students.
Before starting the matter, it is important to highlight that there is no perfect platform, but one that best suits the needs of your course and your consumers.
But if you are still in doubt about the options available in the market, take a look at the characteristics of a good one! e-learning platform!
What is an e-learning platform?
A e-learning platform It is a virtual space that simulates a classroom and allows the teacher and students to connect and have an experience similar to what happens in school, university or any type of teaching environment.
The e-learning platforms are also known as educational platforms either LMS platformswhich means, Learning Management System or System of learning management. This system basically allows:
- Track learning and
- Maintain an active educational relationship
To access the virtual platform, participants must have a computer and Internet. Generally, to enter the course, the student only needs to enter a login and password and can watch the video classes, interact with classmates, take tests and much more.
Advantages of an e-learning platform
The e-learning platforms are being increasingly chosen by both students and teachers. Look at some of its advantages:
1. They come on their own initiative:
Digital courses require as much or more effort on the part of students and teachers, since there is no pressure to go to class, which makes the student seek to learn by himself and take responsibility for the achievement of his objectives. .
2. They connect people:
The e-learning platforms They allow people who are in different geographical locations to connect. If you live in Colombia, for example, you can take a course created in Spain without any problem.
3. Time flexibility:
Students have more flexibility to choose when to study. In addition, teachers can also choose their working hours.
4. They are comfortable:
It is not necessary to travel to a physical location. Everything can be done at home, in a park, in a coffee shop, or wherever!
5. Provide updated content:
New information circulates faster and faster, its expiration date is also shorter, today’s information could easily change tomorrow. For this reason, the content on the platforms can be modified and updated more quickly and easily.
6. They are usually cheaper:
The e-learning platforms In the long term, they are usually cheaper than all the tools used by traditional teaching, both for the student and for the educational institution.
7. They are for everyone:
Anyone can use the course platform in an easy way, since its use is didactic, practical and fast (as long as the virtual platform be of good quality).
What should a good e-learning platform contain?
To identify which is the best virtual platform among so many options available in the market you will need to know yourself very well.
Here are some questions you should answer when choosing the best e-learning platform.
1. Is the e-learning platform responsive?
According to the 19th edition of the survey “” that has been published for 20 years by the Association for Media Research (AIMC), the mobile surpasses the computer for the first time as the main Internet access device.
It is very likely that many people who are reading this post are doing it on their mobile screen!
Given this scenario, having a page that is easily adapted to mobile devices is not only important to offer a good experience to the students you already have, but it is also mandatory if you want to be well positioned in search engines and attract more students. .
Most of the learning platforms available today are already designed to meet this demand. But before choosing yours, test across all devices to make sure students will be able to navigate your content on different screen formats.
2. Does the e-learning platform have a good virtual learning environment?
The Learning Course (EVA) is a kind of online classroom specially designed for your online course, with all the necessary interfaces and tools for the learning process.
In this environment it is possible to monitor all the student’s progress, deliver complementary content and offer support, among other functions.
A poorly developed and structured environment harms communication between student-teacher, generates doubts at the time of learning and can cause disinterest on the part of the student. Worse still, it can become a detractor from your course.
The main criterion for choosing the EVA most compatible with your course is usability.
In the definition of , “usability” is the quality of the web page or the computer program that are easy to use because they facilitate the reading of the texts, quickly download the information and present simple functions and menus, for which the user is satisfied your queries and ease of use: usability test; usability tests.
In a few words, the virtual learning environment must be intuitive, easy to use and have various plugin options, so that you can include the type of interaction that best suits your buyer person, such as comments and buttons to share content, for instance.
3. Can the e-learning platform be customized?
With the popularization of the model of long distance educationentrepreneurs and institutions must be attentive to offer rich, interactive and, above all, attractive content.
When we say attractive, we are not only referring to the quality of the video, but to the set of functionalities that can be provided to improve the user experience.
A good one LMS platform or educational gives you the ability to customize items such as colors, content organization, comment forums, buttons to share content, among others.
In the , one of ‘s free courses, for example, the student has the option to indicate that they have finished the lessons, comment or share their progress and advance to other modules.
This type of functionality keeps the student engaged with your content from start to finish. And for those who aren’t participating much, you can send automated emails asking them why and helping them keep going.
4. Is the platform secure when purchasing the course?
One of the reasons that most leads people not to make a purchase online is mistrust or fear of fraud.
That’s why having a LMS platform reliable is not only a competitive differential, but your obligation as an entrepreneur.
Let’s see some attitudes that help increase the consumer’s perception of reliability in relation to the purchase:
- Visible Refund Policy: People feel more secure when they know that they can request a refund in the event of product problems.
- Objective checkouts: the more fields the user has to fill out on the page to place the purchase data, the greater the chances that they will not buy.
- SSL certificate: security certificates and the use of anti-fraud systems are mandatory elements for those who want to sell on the Internet.
In addition to refuting the objection of your users, they prevent refunds and improve the position in the ranking of your online course in search engines.
- Data protection: Nowadays data security is crucial in the digital context, especially in the wake of several recent data breach scandals. You educational platform has to adapt to this scenario.
At , a security effort has been made to follow the data protection regulations of the European Union, the .
Free e-learning platforms
You have already realized that you need to choose a e-learning platform to host your online course, right?
Today there are two types of e-learning platforms: the paid ones and the free ones.
Now, we will show you some of the advantages of choosing the second option. And to make you feel better, we recommend that you talk to others who already host their courses on some EaD platform and then choose which is the best option for you.
Saving
The main reason for you to choose a e-learning platform free refers to costs. If you choose this type of platformyou can be sure that you will not have to pay anything to host your course there.
All you need to do is register your content and start using the platform.
Now, I’m sure you’re thinking: “But I’m not going to pay anything?”.
Many educational platforms They work by offering their tools and members area for free, and the creators of the courses only pay a commission for each sale.
We will give you our example:
Here at you can host your course, use the tools, customize it, etc. and you will only have to pay a fee when you sell. That is, the platform only win if you win too.
To better understand the values of this rate, access our post:
Structure
Many people who produce online courses are experts in their fields, but have difficulty implementing technological resources in the material produced.
The advantage of choosing a distance education platform is that behind it there is a team specialized in this subject that has created the entire structure of the course for you.
With that, all the development part is ready, and your job will be just to put your content in the platform.
Best of all, all that support is already included when you use a free platform and you don’t have to pay anything else for that!
Online courses: increasingly popular
More affordable prices, comfort and simplicity. These are some of the advantages for those who buy online courses and, therefore, more and more people choose to study online.
That’s what the numbers show. In 2015, for example, the business of e-learning mobilized nearly 100,000 million euros.
According to the rector of the National University of Distance Education (UNED), “the numbers show that demand has increased a lot, not only because there are more online universities, but also because there are more conventional universities that offer some distance studies.”
Points to consider when choosing one educational e-learning platform:
Decalogue of a good e-learning platform:
- The platform must be intuitive. That way…
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