LMS stands for learning management system. It’s a web-based platform that allows you to bring your learning resources in one place. Employees, students, or customers can use it to have an interactive learning process.
The users can find all learning materials in one place, just one click away. It also lets you create different groups of learners according to their functions or job positions.
With an LMS, users can have a single course, a test, or a whole series of materials called a learning path. Then, you have the option of tracking their progress which will help them develop quicker.
From schools to corporations, LMS finds its application in various fields. Business owners, administrators, or teachers use it to reduce costs, such as:
- Classroom rentals
- Transport and accommodation
- Instructors’ salaries
- Printouts of learning materials
Today, I’ll talk about 5 unique ways you can create an LMS website for yourself. It will let you save time, define learning goals, and assess your employees’ growth.
Ways To Create An LMS Website
No matter if you are a small business or an educational institution, LMS can help you create, track, and manage eLearning programs. That said, some of these LMS tools come with an expensive pricing model. But you shouldn’t spend too much money on these tools.
Before selecting an LMS, consider factors such as cost of installation, license, fees per user/course, and ongoing maintenance. If you are a small business or only have a few students, consider free options. They still give you the benefits of core software features.
Much to my surprise, there are many LMS out there among which only a handful are free. So I have selected just 5 free ways to create an LMS website for this article. Even if they don’t offer all features for free, you can get the most out of the free version.
GoSkills
The free plan allows you to create your courses and keep track of learners’ progress. The platform gives reports that will help you with tracking. You can also add your branding.
This tool is free and cloud-based. Use it for a team of any size. You won’t have any restrictions on the number of users. Plus, you get access to its enterprise-level features no matter the size of your company or team.
Free features also include custom course authoring and catalog management. You can also use reports and analytics to measure course effectiveness. The tool gives you the option of gamification and social learning to create engaging courses.
It will cost you $29 per learn, per month to upgrade. The main benefit is the access to the corporate course library that gives you 50+ premade corporate learning courses.
Moodle
With the free plan, you get to enjoy features like course authoring, learning analytics, and custom certifications. No matter if you are a school or a business, you can add up to 50 users.
With this tool, you can manage virtual classrooms, get certificates, and measure your learners’ success.
With the social learning feature, instructors and learners can have direct communications on course forums. It’s also very user-friendly. It lets you add third-party plugins (such as Office 365), OneNote integration. It also lets you sell courses via PayPal.
TalentLMS
This tool can be used by businesses of all sizes. With this cloud-based LMS, you can create courses as well as host live sessions. Like previous tools, it gives you the option to track learners’ progress, add your own branding to the platform, and download custom reports.
TalentLibrary is a good feature of this tool. It’s a library of 50+ premade courses on business topics like project management, marketing, HR, and customer service.
The thing that makes TalentLMS unique is that it offers different versions of the tool depending upon the industry. For example, the automotive and food industries are quite different: Still, you get different versions that are geared towards these specific industries.
With the free plan, you get five users and 10 courses. The good thing is that you can use the free version for as long as you want.
Starting at $59, paid plans give you the option of up to 40 users (and more) and include unlimited courses and email support.
Thinkific
This is one of the popular ways to create an LMS website. Using this all-in-one online course platform, you can create courses for businesses of any size. The process of creating a course is simple because it has drag and drop functions. You can create an engaging experience for learners using several multimedia types, including discussion boards, surveys, and videos.
You can use its templates to create mini-courses, webinars, and resource libraries. The templates also feature a lesson that teaches you how to use the template and make the best out of it.
With the free plan, you can create courses for up to 100 students. It also lets you import already created courses. You can build new courses using any content type and host student discussions.
If the free version is doing the job for you, but you have 100+ students, keep the free version while paying $0.10 for each additional student.
Paid versions start at $49 per month that feature an unlimited amount of courses.
Schoology
This is the last tool on our list for creating an LMS. This tool is also a great option for teachers out there. Like other tools, it has instructional tools, assessments, collaboration features, and advanced analytics. In addition, teachers can develop and distribute course materials, assign tests and quizzes, and even give parents visibility into their child’s progress.
Final Words
This was my list of unique ways of creating an LMS website. All options I discussed have free versions, so you won’t have to spend money on creating courses for your employees or students.
Test these tools and let me know which one you like the best.