Thanks to the internet, thousands of entrepreneurial businesses and individuals are now finding new opportunities to profit from areas like online education.
eLearning is is the technological equivalent of distance learning, where students don’t have direct face-to-face interaction with the teacher or trainer.
The eTraining Industry Is Growing
Online training marketplaces like Udemy show that the e-Training industry is growing at a tremendous rate.
Udemy provides over 30,000 online courses covering all topics, from office productivity and career development, to stress management and improving memory & study skills, etc …
(Udemy.com currently offers 30,000+ courses online covering all topics!)
The fact that the eLearning industry is growing and that so many topics can be taught online is not only great for people looking to acquire useful skills, but also for businesses that have unique and valuable content to teach.
e-Training – Benefits & Drawbacks
The digital medium provides benefits and opportunities for creating training courses online. Learning performance-boosting tools include Learning Management Systems (LMS), online videos, video-conferencing apps, audio courses, online forums, e-Guides, etc. There are, however, some challenges involved in planning, developing and implementing online training courses.
Some of these include:
- Figuring out methods of delivery,
- Using familiar tools that do not require spending extra time learning,
- Ensuring consistency across content design, course branding, etc.
- Measuring outcomes,
- Assessing student performance,
- Generating reports, certificates of completion
Additional factors include lack of face-to-face interaction, learner boredom, distracting environments, etc.
e-Training – Unlimited Possibilities
If you are trying to expand your web presence, creating a course that teaches new skills is a great way to grow a list and monetize your website. Product creation is, after all, one of the best ways to attract new customers, establish authority and credibility and position yourself as an industry or niche leader.
There’s a ton of opportunity. Almost anything can be taught online.
(Got a passion or interest in commercial photography, landscaping or writing sales copy? Turn it into an ecourse!)
The problem with product creation, however, is that creating “how to” ebooks and training courses from scratch takes a lot of time. Chances are, however, that if you have been online for a while, you already have the building blocks of great content on your website or blog that can be leveraged into a digital product.
If your website is driven by WordPress and you want to develop and sell teaching products, there’s a cost-effective and professional plugin you need to know about.
Announcing …
WPCourseware – Learning Management System Courseware Plugin For WordPress
Description
WP Courseware is a learning management system plugin for WordPress that lets you set up professional training courses and build e-learning products quickly and easily with WordPress.
(WP Courseware – WordPress Course Management System Plugin)
The WP Courseware plugin is used in 7,000+ websites and makes creating etraining courses in WordPress very simple.
Training courses in WPCourseware consist of modules and modules comprise of units, quizzes, etc.
WPCourseware fully integrates with any WordPress site. Once installed, the plugin adds an “options” menu that lets you add new training courses, edit course modules and units, edit quizzes and surveys, edit settings, import/export course information, modify certificates of completion, access plugin documentation, etc …
(WP Courseware options menu)
WP Courseware also lets you include a sidebar widget, allowing you to further customize your course options …
(WPCourseware Sidebar Widget)
You can completely configure and customize all of your courses.
For example, you can choose if participants need to have completed a training section before they are allowed to advance through to the next section …
(Customize course settings to suit your needs)
You can view course details ”at a glance” inside the admin dashboard and perform a range of actions (e.g. reorder modules, course units and quizzes) …
(View training course information inside your WP dashboard)
If you are already familiar with the way WordPress works, you can create training courses fast using familiar WordPress interfaces and functions.
For example, you can add and edit course titles and descriptions, set user access, customize messages and user notifications, create certificates of completion for courses and fine tune other course settings simply by clicking tabs, entering information into fields, checking radio buttons, choosing options from drop-down menus, rearranging elements around screens using drag & drop, etc …
(Plugin options screen)
Adding training modules and course units is as simple as adding and editing a WordPress post. You can include text, images, embedded media, and any other form of content that you would normally add to a post.
You can rearrange the order of your content by dragging and dropping units inside modules inside the ”Order Course” section …
(Order Course Modules & Units screen)
When you have finished adding content to your unit, simply publish it like any other WordPress post or page.
All of your course units display in a table in the “Course Units” area …
(List of course units)
Placing your course and training modules into pages is simple. You can use the plugin’s built-in shortcodes to insert course and training module information into pages …
(WP Courseware shortcodes)
With shortcodes, you can add training course content to your pages and manage all of your course details from a central location …
(Creating training courses with WPCourseware)
Once your training course is published, it can be viewed by your registered members …
(Members must log in and have permission to access your training content)
Learn more here: WPCourseware
Benefits Of Using WP Courseware
Below are just some of the many benefits of using WP Courseware to create professional courses online on your website:
Installation Is Easy And Quick
WPCourseware installs like every other plugin. Simply upload a zip file containing the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your administrator login and activate.
Create Courses In Minutes
As mentioned earlier, if you have a basic understanding of the way WordPress works, you can quickly create courses using familiar interfaces and functionality.
Simply create a new course, module, or unit with course content, and optional quiz or survey. Drag and drop to organize the content and create a course outline using the plugin’s shortcodes or widget.
Unlimited Expandability
WPCourseware allows you to set up unlimited courses, modules, lessons, surveys, quizzes and add an unlimited number of users to courses.
Add Any Type Of Content
Course units use WordPress custom types, which let you add anything you would normally insert into a WordPress post or pageWordPress pages or posts besides text, like audio, video, graphic elements, hyperlinks, file downloads, etc.
(Add different content types to create your training courses)
Additional benefits and advantages include:
- Use on all themes: WPCourseware works with all WordPress themes.
- Use on all devices: WP Courseware deliver training content accross all devices.
Product Features
WP Courseware provides a number of great features to web site owners. Here are just some of these features:
Course Outline
You can create a course outline and course progress page using shortcodes. The course progress shortcode displays the courses students are enrolled in as well as displaying their current progress.
Track Student Progress
Students can also navigate through their courses using a custom sidebar widget.
As a course administrator, you can also track a student’s course progress inside the dashboard …
(Progress-tracking features)
Automatic Enrollment
Set up courses to allow automatic enrollment of new students.
Training Course Certificates
Students who successfully complete your training courses can be issued with certificates. You can add custom backgrounds, logos and signatures to certificates …
(Customized certificates of completion)
Export/Import Functionality
The import/export function allows you to move courses to other websites.
User Messaging
WPCourseware lets you set up custom user messages to congratulate trainees after completing modules or courses and communicating on other administrative matters. You can also customize quiz result emails to congratulate students who pass course quizzes. You can also send out mass emails to your students with their final grades with one click …
(Custom Email Notifications And Messages – WP Courseware)
Add Quizzes & Surveys
Add quizzes and surveys to course content …
(Surveys And Quizzes)
- Use course progress blocking or non-blocking quizzes depending on how you choose to structure your course.
- Quizzes can be timed, paginated, and include customized feedback based on question tags.
- Quiz results can be downloaded in PDF format. Surveys allow you to download a CSV file with the survey results.
- The course grade book will help you track how well your students are progressing …
(Edit Quiz/Survey Section – WPCourseware)
Integrates With WordPress Membership & eCommerce Sites
WPCourseware works with many WordPress e-commerce and membership plugins …
(Integrates With WordPress Membership & eCommerce Plugins)
User Feedback
Here are just a few of the testimonials that customers have written about WP Courseware:
“No e-learning solution for WordPress compares to the ease and speed that WP Courseware offers people when setting up online courses.” Chris Lema, Author, Speaker, and E-Learning Expert
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“Nate contacted me about checking out WP Courseware. I did… and I was impressed. Today, I have WP Courseware integrated into the delivery side of Blog Marketing Academy itself.” David Risley, Entrepreneur, Blogger, & Speaker
WPCourseware Plugin – Tips
As mentioned earlier, if you have been online for a while, you already have the building blocks of great content on your website or blog that can be leveraged into a new product.
WP Courseware allows you to convert any any WordPress page or post into a course unit, so if there are a number of instructional articles and tutorials already published on your website or blog, you probably have a product partially created …
(Convert any page or post into a course unit)
Additionally, you can use the export/import feature to build and sell training courses to other WordPress site owners.
Apart from using the plugin to create sellable courses, you can also use WPCourseware to train staff inhouse, or document instructions for outsourced tasks in your business.
WP Courseware Support
WP Courseware is very well-supported and backed by a risk-free, 30 day, 100% refund guarantee. Users get free access to all integrations and 1 year of support and upgrades with their purchase.
The plugin’s “Documentation” screen inside the plugin’s options and settings menu explains how to use the shortcodes …
(WP Courseware Documentation – Shortcodes)
And access to dozens of ”how-to” videos …
(Plugin Documentation – Video Tutorials)
Software Price
WP Courseware is available in the following options:
- 2-Site Licensing – This allows you to activate WPCourseware on a single site. Includes 1 year of free upgrades and support. Cost = $99.00.
- 10-Site License – This allows you to use WPCourseware on 10 WordPress sites. Pricing includes 1 year of free upgrades and support. Price = $125.00.
- 25-Site License Edition – This enables you to run WP Courseware on 25 WordPress web sites. It includes one year of free upgrades and support. Cost = $175.00.
Note: The cost to purchase WPCourseware can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The pricing above was current when this article was published. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the plugin developer when you visit the product site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current price here:
Additional Information
For a demo video of the plugin, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the WPCourseware website.
Our Recommendation
If you are searching for a cost-effective way to develop an online training course, WP Courseware is a powerful, yet simple and easy to use courseware plugin you may want to keep in mind.
For more information, check out the plugin here:
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