In summary: WordPress (WP) is the most powerful website building platform in the world. And it’s the most popular at 40% market share. Via plugins, users can create any kind of site they want, including membership sites, online communities and course-based sites for education and training.
Can you use WordPress for your courses? Yes, absolutely! I have had many experience using WordPress to host my courses, either fully or in part, for the past ten years. In this post I’ll explain some of the pros and cons and give you a few tips! You can get this set up very quickly, and start inviting your students to your courses within a few hours of creating your site.
Some considerations and tools you will need:
- Website hosting
- WordPress CMS
- User registration
- Private content areas (content restriction for posts, pages, lessons)
- An LMS plugin like LearnDash or LifterLMS (optional but recommended)
Ready to get started? Let’s go.
Website Hosting
The most important part at the initial stages is establishing your hosting. You can go with typical hosts like GoDaddy or NameCheap or p[perhaps splurge for deluxe hosting with a hast like Cloud ways. If you do please use our link. We get a little discount for your sign up and so do you.
With that out of the way, let’s assume you have found a hosting plan that works for you. You will connect your domain to your hosting and way you go. At this point setting up WordPress is often a one or two click operation. You choose WP from a list of software, create an admin user and your website is ready to go with a few clicks.
WordPress as CMS (Content Management System) and E-Learning / LMS Platform
The beauty if WordPress is it’s extensibility. you can use it for any kind of website from e-commerce to education, from artist portfolio to serious business site. It is really the best choice in most circumstances. If you have any doubt note that of content management systems in use WordPress represents 65% and of websites in general WP is a staggering lead at over 40%.
Amazingly you can operate your site as a 3-in-one. First of all it functions as a standard site with pages on various topics (home, about contact, products, services), secondly it can be home to your blog which is a great companion to your social media. Lastly you can manage some very particular functionality like turning the site into a repository for your online courses and e-learning content (videos, documents, presentations, interactive lessons).
User Registration and Management (Students, Members, Communities)
WordPress has a minimal user registration system which can be enhanced with various plugins. the number of tools you can choose from is staggering. At base level, a teacher or trainer or admin, could simply add users from a list. After being added each user would receive an email notification. Then various parts of the site could be accessible only to registered users. Simple way to start.
A more typical and advanced way to undertake this process is to use a plugin which would allow you to manage user registration forms and the whole process, including allowing or denying certain users to join the site. You can have free levels and paid levels. The tools for forms vary, you can accept payments or not, and the whole thing is likely to be easily managed with one core plugin, usually one marketed as for memberships or communities or courses.
At this moment in time my recommendation is to use a plugin like Paid Memberships Pro, which despite the name, has a very well -equipped free version of their membership plugin. A key distinction of this plugin vs a competitor like WordPress User Manager, which I also like and have used) is the aspect of approval of registrations. Sometimes this feature is behind a pay wall. you would have to pay to be able to screen your registrations. Not so with PMP which is one of the reasons I’d recommend it. You can build a private site for any purposes with a plugin like Paid Memberships Pro.
Having said this, if you use a plugin like LifterLMS or LearnDash this registration administration will be taken care of. you will not need an additional tool. Read on to learn more about my LMS plugin recommendations.
Private Content Area / Content Restriction
To be clear, WordPress is a tool that allows you to have posts or pages in various states from drafts to public or private status and to employ simple mechanisms like passwords to lock content from unwanted visitors. Taking a published page and adding a password to it is a two click process. Easy peasy. But how about something more sophisticated?
All good membership plugins as described in the previous section, will allow you to restrict content. Some or all of your pages and posts can be viewed by members or approved users only. For this end we turn to the use of membership or LMS plugins. These take the idea of private and public pages a series of steps further.
For example, want to show visitors one or two paragraphs of a text and then have a call to action encouraging registration to view the rest? Or maybe your course should have a free first lesson that anyone can audit? This is no issue with education and membership plugins.
One tool I like to simplify this is WPUM or WordPress User Manager. In the ;post Management area you can restrict viewing of content to logged in users, a simple way to make sure only your specifically designated audience can view your content. Again you will not need a tool like this with most membership or courses creation plugins as they have their own built-in forms of content restriction.
Choosing from LMS plugins like LifterLMS and LearnDash
There are perhaps a half dozen well-kmnown players in the WordPress LMS game. I’ve tried a few and had varying degrees of success. I enjoyed LearnFash which is a robust software at a premium price. I enjoyed the freemium LifterLMS, whose abilities as a free software are quite incredible. You just pay if you need premium features. I struggled with Sensei which is developed by WordPress kitself, and may have improved since I had a chance to test it. I keep returning to LearnDash because it is so feature rich and the free version can cover many use cases particularly in combination with other tools like Paid Memberships P:ro (which also is a freeemium model with optional paid upgrades).
Let’s briefly look at the merits of LearnDash and LifterLMS.
LearnDash vs LifterLMS
LearnDash
Pros:
- Comprehensive Feature Set: LearnDash offers robust tools for course creation, including drip content, quizzes, assignments, certificates, and advanced reporting.
- Focus Mode: Its distraction-free learning environment helps students focus on the course material.
- Integrations: LearnDash integrates well with many third-party tools like WooCommerce, Stripe, PayPal, Mailchimp, and Zapier.
- Ease of Use for Instructors: The drag-and-drop course builder is intuitive and efficient.
- Scalability: It’s great for larger platforms, enterprises, and institutions.
- Gamification Options: Includes features like badges, points, and leaderboards to enhance user engagement.
- Community & Support: Has an active community, extensive documentation, and responsive customer support.
Cons:
- Pricing: It can be more expensive, especially if you need add-ons for extended functionality.
- Learning Curve: While user-friendly, setting up advanced features (e.g., custom workflows or integrations) may require technical knowledge.
- Dependency on Add-ons: Some features require additional paid plugins, which can increase costs.
- Limited Design Options: The default styling might require custom CSS or third-party themes for a polished look.
LifterLMS
Pros:
- All-in-One Solution: Offers built-in membership functionality, payment gateways, and course building tools without requiring many additional plugins.
- Free Core Plugin: The base plugin is free, making it accessible to beginners (though premium features and integrations are paid).
- Flexibility with Memberships: Combines courses and memberships seamlessly, making it ideal for creating subscription-based learning platforms.
- Engagement Tools: Includes gamification options like badges, certificates, and social learning features.
- Customizability: Works well with most WordPress themes and page builders.
- Lifetime Pricing Option: Offers a lifetime deal for long-term cost savings.
Cons:
- Cost of Add-ons: While the core plugin is free, essential features (e.g., advanced quizzes, integrations) require purchasing add-ons or bundles.
- Less Enterprise-Focused: While great for small businesses and individual creators, it might lack some features that larger institutions might need.
- Limited Analytics: Reporting and analytics are less robust compared to LearnDash.
- Setup Complexity: Initial setup and configuration can be daunting for new users due to the numerous options.
Which Should You Choose?
- Choose LearnDash if:
- You’re looking for a highly professional, feature-rich system.
- You plan to scale your platform with enterprise-grade functionality.
- You need advanced reporting and integrations with multiple tools.
- Choose LifterLMS if:
- You’re a small business, solopreneur, or new to creating courses.
- You want a budget-friendly, all-in-one solution.
- You prioritize building a membership-based platform with community engagement tools.
In Summary
While LearnDash may be ideal for a college or university, I feel LifterLMS may be appropriate for smaller organizations and agencies offering training to smaller groups. As indicated in the comparison, both plugins may need upgrades or the use of additional plugins to add some advanced functionality.
Overall, regardless of whether you use a specific course creation and Management tool or simply a membership community plugin WordPress will provide a lot of high-level functionality for you and your users. Create private content or public content or some kind of mix. WordPress offers you a lot of power and flexibility.
We can assist you with these decisions and help you with implementation of e-learning and online courses on your site. Is it time to create a subdomain like learn.yourname.ca? Or perhaps you will use a new domain entirely? That is the easy part. The challenge is in determining your needs and whether you are ready to break away from industry-standard tools like Mooldle, Blackboard or Brightspace by D2L. In many but n or all cases the answer may be a resounding yes. You just need to consider the needs of your staff and students, and get your head around the idea that you will be not only managing your site but your digital learning spaces too.
For cost, convenience and flexibility, among other reasons, you may find WordPress is your platform of choice for creation of online courses and e-learning. Let us know how it goes. We’d love to hear about your project so drop us a line.