The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a significant economic downturn as well as affecting a lot of people’s lives. Over 43% of businesses had temporarily closed, reported by PNAS. As a matter of fact, it also creates considerable opportunities for business owners. And Learning Management Systems or LMS don’t stand aside from the game-changers.
LMS mainly served busy or overseas learners in the past. It’s now playing a key role in deciding the way teachers and students interact with each other due to social distraction situations. It doesn’t limit class sizes or subjects, from a one-teacher-one-student cooking class to a 30-student designing group.
WordPress LMS plugins, in particular, have developed rapidly too. They allow you to create online courses without any hassle.
In this post, we’ll introduce you to a short history of LMS, essential features of a WordPress LMS plugin, as well as highlighting the most important statistics in 2021. We also give a deeper look at the top popular WordPress Learning Management Systems.
Last but not least, the opportunities as well as future of WordPress LMS will wrap up this post.
- What Is WordPress LMS?
- History of Learning Management Systems
- Most Important Features of a WordPress LMS Plugin
- WordPress LMS Plugin Statistics 2021
- Most Popular WordPress LMS Plugins
- Promising Future of WordPress LMS
What Is WordPress LMS?
We’ll break the term WordPress LMS into small pieces, WordPress and LMS, to deeply understand it.
A learning management system refers to software that companies use to deliver training for students, partners, or even their employees. Instead of going to a traditional class, they just need to have an internet-ready computer and an account to log in and join the online class. Learners are able to take the lesson anywhere at any time they’d love to.
WordPress comes as the most common content management system trusted by 33% of websites worldwide. You can publish blogs, write updates, and sell products there without having to be tech-savvy.
Rather than looking for an independent LMS software or app, it’s possible for you to own the system right in your WordPress site via the assistant of LMS plugins.
This is most common for those who build authority via their WordPress website for a while. Once becoming professionals and trusted by a lot of people, they start providing online courses by turning their blog into an online course website.
History of Learning Management Systems
Before the invention of the Internet, books and libraries were the only methods to transmit knowledge from teachers to students from generation to generation. It wasn’t until the 2000s when LMS really developed along with the wave of the internet and the increase of e-learning.
However, correspondence education or distance learning appeared as primary forms of e-learning in the early 1720s. Professors gave students shorthand as teaching materials.
Then, the idea of audio-video communication systems leveled up distance learning. Various media from telephone, radio, to TV broadcast and audio, were applied to provide instruction.
A new term of “Telematic Teaching” was created in the 1980s due to the creation of computer-aided teaching. However, the first fully-featured LMS system called EKKO didn’t really appear until 1991 by Norway’s NKI Distance Education Network. Before that, we also had FirstClass by SoftArc considered the pioneer LMS to provide online learning across Europe.
Following FirstClass, there were other learning management systems including Macintosh Platforms, LMS Training Partner in 1992, and Interactive Learning Network in 1997.
Most Important Features of a WordPress LMS Plugin
LMS plugins help create classes, share materials, arrange students, and evaluate them with exams, tests, and quizzes on basic. Besides schools and universities, WordPress LMS plugins are also trusted by for-profit companies to teach their customers or employees specific topics.
When seeking an LMS plugin, you might require several particular features depending on your demand. Below are the most critical elements you should take into account when considering a plugin:
- Course builder – Allow you to create or upload course materials, including videos, PDF documents, tests, and so on.
- Quizzes and tests – Give teachers and students a deeper insight into how well learners are doing. As a result, you can improve the course content, the way you deliver knowledge, or even the test quality.
- Student management – Control the number of students joining the courses as well as their payment process.
- Assignment – Make sure your students receive homework, complete it, and send it back to you without any issues.
- Certificates – Pop up when an activity is completed such as passing the test. Your certificate should be printable so that learners can have its paper version easily.
- Course dripping – Provide training materials at once or by drip-feeding. For short courses, it’s suggested to offer them at once. For those requiring a fee before every semester, you should drip content only after they pay for the upcoming course section.
- Forum integrations – Enable students and instructors to generate profiles and interact with each other. You can have your LMS integrated with bbPress or MemberPress.
- Automatic emails – Update students on their progress frequently. Announce them about the latest courses.
- Monetization options – Provide methods for students to join the classes. They can subscribe, purchase courses one-time, pay based on memberships, and so on.
WordPress LMS Plugin Statistics 2021
- Over 250 free plugins about LMS or supporting LMS features show up when searching for the keyword “LMS” on the WordPress repository. Apart from these free plugins, we also have a lot of premium ones loved by thousands of organizations.
- The online learning market is going through fantastic growth, likely to achieve $25.4 billion from 2021 to 2024.
- 90% of students prefer e-learning to offline classes due to numerous conveniences: breaking down distance barriers, saving time, reducing cost, and more.
- About 31% of LMS customers are technology companies. They can provide their employees with a more flexible training environment.
- For every $1 spent on e-learning, IBM saw a return of $30. This is because of the effectiveness and productivity that learning management systems create over time.
Most Popular WordPress LMS Plugins
#1 LearnPress
The first one we shouldn’t miss out on is LearnPress. About 113,500 websites actively install LearnPress on their WordPress site. According to Marketpaw, the plugin has 1,838,407 downloads with a rating of 87/100, updated on Mar 8, 2021.
Besides essential features, LearnPress allows you to export and import courses to other websites, including courses created by other learning management systems. There are 8 free and 16 premium LearnPress add-ons to enhance your online courses’ functionalities.
#2 LearnDash
Endorsed by thousands of clients from pole to pole, LearnDash has confirmed its dominant position in the LMS market despite the fact that no free trial includes. Standing aside from the learning management system niche, this flexible and feature-rich plugin ranks at the 15th position as the highest-rated Corporate LMS by G2Crowd.
#3 MemberPress Courses
Primarily serving as a membership plugin, MemberPress supports you in creating, managing, and selling online courses too. The Classroom Mode saves your effort of designing classrooms by offering eye-catching courses.
You can create as many courses as you desire, apply different subscription options for them, and manage all of them from the main dashboard. You’re enabled to control access rules by granting certain users access to specific content.
Plus, MemberPress integrates seamlessly with popular plugins, from payment gateways to email marketing, including PayPal, Stripe, Drip, ConvertKit, and more than 1,000 others.
Promising Future of WordPress LMS
WordPress LMS is predicted to grow significantly and will play a key role in future instruction. The changes in learners’ mindsets plus the rise of technology create immaculate conditions for online learning to develop.
COVID-19 pandemic resulted in school economic activity shut down all across the world. Unlike the tourism (resources and scenic spots) which are completely closed down, there are still chances for instruction organizations to open by shifting to virtual schools.
The pandemic has almost doubled the percentage of virtual instructor-led training. Although we’ve seen some positive signs of improvement of COVID-19, many areas are still put in social distancing or locking down status. This opens a brighter future for LMS.
In addition, applying AI (Artificial Intelligence) to learning management systems will continue to be on-trend in the next decades. As a result, you can automate your training programs or courses and make them more effective and relevant to learners.
Mobile forward will have a big impact on learning management systems. Before, LMS systems were created for desktops. Time goes on and everything changes. If you don’t adapt to mobile and build systems for the mobile experience, you’re missing out on something huge. Users can decide when and where to complete the training. To achieve this, you need to integrate with social media, provide short modules, as well as offering mobile-friendly videos.
Last but not least, LMS reporting is highly considered for big data usage too. In other words, you can collect trainer data, track student activities, analyze their progress then store this information for future use. Better data tracking means a higher level of user experience. This helps you identify how good a curriculum is so that you can build more effective modules.
What Are Your Opportunities with WordPress LMS?
We’ve walked you through numerous interesting facts about WordPress LMS, from its interesting history to how a WordPress LMS plugin works.
Starting with an alternative learning method for busy and long-distance students, e-learning is becoming irreplaceable. Along with the development of technology and the unpredictability of COVID-19, there will be a promising future for learning management systems.
There are hundreds of LMS plugins, both free and premium available. It’s necessary to identify your demand and pick the one that best fits your organization. If you prefer a free system that is simple to use, LearnPress is your solution. In case you need a feature-rich plugin, just pay for LearnDash. Looking for an online course creator that also supports membership? MemberPress Courses is your way to go. You can also secure course materials with PDA Gold and LMS LearnDash integration.
Do you believe in the new bright future of WordPress LMS? Or do you have any informative WordPress LMS statistics or facts to share? Don’t hesitate to express your thoughts in the comments section below!
