As safety professionals, many of us are responsible for this one task, while some rely on external providers — training. But most of us still do a lot of it physically even though some could move online for a better, easier, quicker reach.
My last 2 newsletters have focused on digitising learning with free tools such as Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams.
Today, I will share with you, 3 tried and tested learning management systems and my favourite of the pack. Let’s get right into it.
What is a Learning Management System (LMS)?
A learning management system is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, automation, and delivery of educational courses, training programs, or learning and development programs. ~ Wikipedia
Basically, an LMS allows you plan, implement and assess learning be it in an educational or corporate setting.
1. Open source
A perfect example is Moodle.
Moodle is possibly the most popular Learning Management System (LMS) in the world. Many universities make use of them and have for many many years. Moodle is provided freely as Open Source software, under the GNU General Public License.
Open source means anyone can adapt, extend or modify Moodle for both commercial and non-commercial projects without any licensing fees, and benefit from the cost-efficiencies, flexibility and other advantages of using Moodle.
How I would use it, is to install on a sub-domain and set up. It isn’t always straightforward. Not recommended if time is not on your side but it’s FREE if you have no budget.
2. Self-Hosted LMS
The most popular way to get this done is with a plugin on your WordPress website. The only con to this is you need to build from scratch and are responsible for keeping the school updated.
There are many LMS plugins with varying amount of features — I don’t have a favourite but have worked with some really great plugins.
Some of them have some really cool and exciting features like drag & drop course builder, quizzes, automated notifications, certificates, discussion forums and communities, leaderboards to add some fun and gamification, assignments, marketing and sales allowing you to set up memberships, one-time payments and subscriptions, and so much more
So yes you create a fully functional online school on WordPress.
3. Ready-Made platforms. My favourite OBVIOUSLY!
I have tried many different ones but there are 3 I recommend. All these come with payment systems — that is, you can collect money if you chose to use the platform for business. Plus drip-feed lessons in nay way you choose.
The best part is you don’t need to do any coding or updating of the platform. It’s all on the platform owners. Yours is to create and sell. If anything needs updating, it would be your content and that is entirely up to you!
1. Graphy
I used this to host the School Safety Portal when I ran Safe Schools. It was perfect to hosting my community of school owners and leaders, paid memberships, courses, SAFEtagious event recordings and resources and even had a dedicated area to host staff training and instructional materials. In fact, its uses are limitless!
Check Graphy out HERE.
2. Membervault
One of my favourite platforms. It is fun to use and set up. It was used to previously host the School Safety Portal until I found Graphy which had more to offer in terms of features. But Membervault have stepped up and now made everything unlimited! Fabulous value for money.
Some of the interesting features are payment, integrating discussion forums, duplicating courses, and even has leaderboards which is perfect if you love and want to gamify learning and reward the most engaging learner/student/employee.
For $99 a month, you get unlimited everything!
Check Membervault out HERE.
3. New Zenler
I use New Zenler for my digitisation programs purely for its landing pages, bulk emails, email marketing and the live classes, meetings and webinars. Not many platforms offer these fabulous features and for just $67 a month, you get these and more. Plus they keep upgrading and adding new features all the time, They truly listen to users and give them what they want.
Yes you read those benefits right. You no longer have to spend money on email marketing as the pro account for this platform comes with the ability to send emails.
Additionally, you can host live classes and meetings using Zoom, at no additional cost, saving you a huge amount of money you should be paying to Zoom. Yes FREE ZOOM!
You can create surveys, quizzes, and as many communities and forums as you like, and even have up to 3 online schools with the pro package at presently $67 a month or $647 a year. It doesn’t get better than this.
As with others, it also comes with the ability to drip-feed lessons and has a payment system.
This platform has a lot of features you would typically have to break the bank to pay for and is truly an all-in-one platform.
One of my favourite parts of this is the course building area. It has more options you can play around with and build a true learning experience.
Once the link gets to you, sign up, test things with a free account, then grab a pro account before the price triples. The free package has limited features but you can still do wonders with it and upgrade once you’re ready.
Check out New Zenler HERE. Clearly my favourite!
So which should you choose?
✅ No money/budget? Go with Moodle or Google Classroom.
✅ Low budget of less than $70? Go with New Zenler (you get 3 schools/individual sites).
Events coming soon! I miss planning and hosting events. I hosted a few every year when I ran Safe Schools and I can’t wait to do some real great ones with Flocrunch.
Plus we have a new website coming soon and some updates on the software launch! Yay!
You don’t want to miss all the juicy details, sneak peeks into the workings of Flocrunch and first in line when we launch our community. Sign up for updates HERE.
