How To Launch Your Own Certification Program: Finding The Right Learning Management System For Your Certification Course
Once you create a comprehensive curriculum for your certification course, you’re faced with a new set of questions such as:
- How will you package it and deliver it to your students?
- How will you conduct tests that are necessary to validate comprehension?
- How will you issue certificates for course completion?
The good news is that we’ll answer all of these questions and more in this article. Let’s start by discussing how to find the right Learning Management System for your certification course.
LMS is short for Learning Management System – software that enables you to administer your course via the Internet. You can use an LMS to manage, organize, and distribute your curriculum, as well as test and certify your students.
If you search for LMS on Google, you’ll notice there are hundreds of options to choose from. How do you choose the right LMS when there are so many choices to begin with?
Many LMSs have the same basic suite of features and functionality, however there are a few important things to consider when choosing an LMS.
1. Mobile Friendly
Your LMS app must be mobile friendly. Your course should be viewable from any screen size, whether the screen is as large as your desktop monitor or as small as your smartphone.
To be truly mobile friendly, your LMS shouldn’t just be accessible via a mobile device, it should look good on a mobile device. That means that your LMS shouldn’t require students to pinch to zoom the text on smaller screens. The course presentation will and should look different than it does on a larger screen, but in a way that’s intuitive and easy to read.
2. Switch Between Devices
You shouldn’t force your students to only use a desktop computer to access your course. Here’s why: The average person owns between three to four devices. This includes computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Most people readily switch between devices. Your LMS needs to be available on a wide range of devices to accommodate students who prefer accessing your course on their desktops at home and their smartphones on the commute to and from work.
3. Testing
How will you administer tests? Will you provide comprehension quizzes along the way? Choose an LMS that supports quiz and tests (and that automatically grade such tests). Does your LMS provide the ability to do timed exams? What about the ability to pause an exam and restart at a later time? Think about the specifics of your own program and make sure the LMS can accommodate your course now and as you might scale in the future.
4. Budget
How much does it cost? Because the marketplace is saturated with LMS apps, there’s little doubt that you will find an option that works with your budget. However, don’t just go for the cheapest option (or the most expensive, for that matter). Don’t allow price to dictate the best option, especially if the other features on this list aren’t met.
Ideally, choose an LMS that offers a free trial so that you can test it for your purposes. You need an app that’s user friendly, not just for you but also for your students who will use the app to access your course materials.
5. Easy Enrollment
Choose an LMS that allows students to enroll without much intervention from you. Ideally, enrollment should occur automatically. The student should be able to pay any necessary costs and then gain immediate access to the course materials without a “live human” acting as a go-between.
6. Integrated Email
To keep students engaged and informed, you’ll send quite a few emails. While it’s doable to send emails through a third party email marketing service provider, it’s a lot easier when you can send emails through your LMS. These emails can be behavior-triggered also. For example, if a student doesn’t sign in for a certain amount of days, your LMS can automatically send an email that reminds the student to return.
7. Integrations
Many LMSs have a wide array of available integrations to third party applications or services. For example, some LMSs have social media and blog posting integrations. Same for email marketing services and certificate issuing. Even if an LMS doesn’t have an exact feature you need, if you choose an LMS with flexible integrations, chances are you can still get everything done you need to get done.
8. Support
Go with an LMS that has a proven track record of supporting its customers. You may need to pay more for an LMS that provides 24/7 customer support, but it will be worth it if you ever have a problem. There’s nothing worse than realizing your course is down at 4:59pm on a Friday in the middle of December. Also, it may be worth it to have a support team when you’re setting up your course initially.
I hope this article will help you choose the right LMS for your certification course. If you want to know more about creating a successful certification program, download the free eBook How To Launch Your Own Certification Program.