Guides & Research

The Moodle™ Setup and Installation Guide

marketing@lambdasolutions.net (Lambda Solutions) — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 17:59:05 GMT

How to set up Moodle? Here's the guide to get you started.

Moodle™ Setup & Installation Guide- UPDATED AUGUST 2025

Here's an updated and fully rewritten version of Lambda Solutions' Moodle™ Installation & Setup Guide (originally published March 10, 2023) — now refreshed for mid‑2025 with modern best practices and enriched with internal cross‑links to Lambda’s relevant guides.

Moodle™ Setup & Installation Guide (Lambda Solutions — 2025 Edition)

Part 1: Planning & System Requirements

Planning System Capacity
Ensure adequate hardware depending on expected users, data volume, and content. For large installations, consult our Managed Moodle Cloud Hosting services.
(See Lambda’s guide: “Managed Moodle Cloud Hosting”) (Lambda Solutions)

Software Requirements

- PHP 8.1+ (extensions: intl, mbstring, XML, cURL, zip, soap, gd, ldap)
- MySQL/MariaDB (utf8mb4), PostgreSQL 14+, or MS SQL Server supported
- Apache 2.4+ or Nginx recommended for production
  (Moodle docs 2025 requirements) (Moodle Docs)

Part 2: Server & Environment Setup

Set up on a supported OS (e.g., Ubuntu 24.04 LTS or AlmaLinux 9). Include firewall, SSL (Let’s Encrypt), and basic OS hardening.
Install and configure database, web server, and PHP with tuned parameters.

Part 3: Download Moodle & Prepare Files

Download the Moodle 5.x LTS version (e.g., 5.0 or newer) from [moodle.org] or via Git:
```
git clone -b MOODLE_500_STABLE git://git.moodle.org/moodle.git
```
(Recommended for easier upgrades) (Moodle Docs)

Place Moodle code outside webroot and set permissions:

chown -R root /path/to/moodle
chmod -R 0755 /path/to/moodle

Part 4: Moodle Data Directory

Create a moodledata directory outside webroot and writable by the web server user only.
Restrict access (e.g., via .htaccess if necessary).
(Critical security requirement) (Moodle Docs)

Part 5: Database Setup

Create dedicated database and user (no privileged account usage). Take note of hostname, DB name, credentials, and collation settings.
Supported: MySQL/MariaDB (utf8mb4), PostgreSQL 14+, or MS SQL. (Moodle Docs)

Part 6: Run the Installer

Command-line installer is preferred for production setups:
```
cd /path/to/moodle/admin/cli
sudo -u www-data php install.php
```
Then lock code directory again.
Web installer is an option; ensure installation pages are not publicly accessible during setup. (Moodle Docs)

Part 7: Cron & Post‑Install Configuration

Schedule Moodle cron to run every minute (*/1 * * * * php /path/to/moodle/admin/cli/cron.php) to ensure background tasks complete reliably.
Finalize admin account creation, site name, timezone, and default preferences.

Part 8: Configure Email via SMTP

Set up SMTP using trusted relay services (e.g. SendGrid, SendLayer) to ensure deliverability for activation and notification emails.
Walk through SMTP configuration in Moodle Admin → Server → Email settings.
(See Lambda’s post: “How To Install and Configure Moodle™”) (Moodle Docs, Scribd, sendlayer.com, Lambda Solutions)

Part 9: Security & Performance Optimization

Enforce HTTPS, enable SSL, and disable unnecessary PHP features.
Implement caching with Redis or Memcached for sessions and performance, plus PHP OPcache.
Regularly apply system and Moodle updates.
(See MoodleDocs performance recommendations) (Moodle Docs)

Part 10: Backups & Disaster Recovery

Automate backups of:
- moodledata
- Moodle code directory
- Database
- config.php
Store backups off‑site and across geographies for redundancy.

Part 11: Post‑Installation — Users, Courses & Plugins

Upload users via CSV or connect with authentication methods (LDAP, SSO, email invites).
Install and manage plugins/themes via Moodle Plugins Directory.
Create and enroll users into courses manually, via self-registration, or bulk import.
(Detailed in Lambda’s Part 2 & 3 guides) (Lambda Solutions, 452853.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net, Scribd)

Part 12: Upgrading Moodle (Version Path & Plugins)

Use Git branch switching (e.g. MOODLE_500_STABLE) or Moodle’s built‑in upgrader.
Review plugin compatibility and apply security patches.
(Moodle upgrading best practices) (Moodle Docs)

Part 13: Advanced: Developer Setup with Docker or Cloud

For development/test environments, enable Moodle Developer Mode and use Docker or Moodle Development Kit (MDK).
Consider deployment via containers in AWS using ECS/Fargate with shared EFS storage and Redis caching for production scalability.
(See AWS + Moodle serverless tutorial) (Amazon Web Services, Inc.)

Internal Lambda Links

Managed Moodle Cloud Hosting – auto-handled hosting, backups, scaling (referenced in System Capacity & Backups).
How to Install Moodle™ (blog post, Sept 2023) – detailed email & SMTP setup → linked in Email config. (Lambda Solutions)
Part 2 & Part 3 Guides in Lambda’s Moodle Setup series (uploading users & creating courses/quizzes) → linked in Post‑installation section. (Lambda Solutions)

2025‑Compliant Summary Table

Phase	Key Actions (Updated for 2025)
Planning & Requirements	Moodle 5.x LTS, PHP 8.1+, PostgreSQL 14+, Nginx preferred
Server Setup	Harden OS, install LEMP/LAMP stack, enforce SSL
Download & File Setup	Git-based download, secure permissions
Data Directory	`moodledata` outside webroot, restricted access
DB Setup	Dedicated user, proper collation
Installation	CLI installer preferred; Web UI option
Cron & Config	Cron job every minute; final UI setup
Email Configuration	SMTP via trusted providers; ensure deliverability
Security & Performance	HTTPS, Redis/Memcached, OPcache
Backups	Full automated backups of DB, code, data directory
Post‑Install Management	Bulk CSV user import, plugin & theme management, course setup
Upgrades & Plugin Audit	Git branches or upgrade wizard; plugin compatibility checks
Advanced Deployment	Docker/MDK for dev; AWS container orchestration for large-scale setups

Part 14: How to Add and Upload User Accounts to Moodle

Add a Single User

Go to Site Administration > Users > Accounts > Add a new user.
Fill out required fields (username, password, email, etc.).
Click Create user.

Upload Multiple Users via CSV

Go to Site Administration > Users > Accounts > Upload users.

Upload a CSV file formatted like:

username,password,firstname,lastname,email
jsmith,Passw0rd1,John,Smith,jsmith@example.com

Configure upload settings (password policy, update existing users, etc.).
Click Upload users and confirm.

Part 15: How to Set Up a Moodle Course

Go to Site Administration > Courses > Add a new course.
Enter course full name, short name, and category.
Set course format (e.g., topics or weekly).
Configure start date, course summary, and appearance.
Click Save and display.

Part 16: How to Enroll Students into a Moodle Course

Manual Enrollment

Go to the course > Participants > Enroll users.
Select users from the list.
Assign role (typically Student).
Click Enroll users.

Bulk Enrollment via CSV

Prepare a CSV with the following format:

username,course1,role1
jsmith,course101,student

Go to Site Administration > Users > Upload users.
Upload CSV and set default role.
Process upload and review confirmation.

Part 17: How to Create a Moodle Quiz

Go to the course > Turn editing on.
Click Add an activity or resource and select Quiz.
Enter the quiz name and description.
Set timing, attempt limits, grading, and layout.
Click Save and display.
Click Edit quiz > Add > + a new question.
Choose question type (e.g., multiple choice, true/false).
Enter question content, answers, and feedback.
Click Save changes. Repeat to add more questions.

For ongoing support, visit Lambda Learning or explore our Moodle Training & Hosting Services.

Other resources:

If you want to review what is Moodle and its extensive features, you can check out the following Moodle user guides:

What is an eLearning Business? Examining the $200-billion eLearning Industry

marketing@lambdasolutions.net (Lambda Solutions) — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 16:00:00 GMT

Last Updated: February 26, 2021.

In this post, we will cover the following topics:

Introduction: The eLearning Industry - Projected Growth
eLearning Technology (MOOC, LMS, VR & AR)
eLearning Solutions Providers (hosting, applications, support, content)

1. Introduction: The eLearning Industry - Projected Growth

The eLearning industry was evaluated to be worth $107 billion USD in 2015¹, with projected growth up to $243-billion USD by 2022 (and $325 billion by 2025)².

Impressive numbers aside, the industry is expected to continue to grow and prosper as the technology moves from the education sector into the rest of the market. Due to the rapid growth of this relatively young industry, many still have to ask:

“What exactly is an eLearning business?”

We will start by examining the state of the eLearning industry entering 2020, breaking it down by business activity and opportunity so that you can get a clear picture of the kind of businesses that make up this expanding and evolving industry.

So if you’ve ever wondered “What exactly is an eLearning Business, and how can I tap into this $200-billion industry?”, the answers you’re looking for are below!

You can also check out this article, What is eLearning? eLearning Defined to Benefit Your Business.

What Does the eLearning Industry Look Like?

While there are many ways to segment the eLearning industry, we will be sorting eLearning businesses into the following two categories: Technology and Provider.

Many industries utilize eLearning technology to varying degrees, but the four industries where eLearning is utilized the most are: Healthcare, Education, Computer And Information Technology, and Retail/eCommerce. It is also worth noting that the Corporate Business sector is rapidly adopting eLearning across all industries.⁵

While there are technology providers who deliver solutions for eLearning itself, many eLearning businesses could be considered to exist within other industries.

For example, if you are a course creator (Provider) employed by a healthcare organization to create certification programs for their learning management system (Technology), you’re in the eLearning industry within the healthcare sector.

Even if you are in a business that is running eLearning “at a loss”, or not-for-profit, you are still part of the eLearning industry.

Anything produced for online consumption for onboarding, internal training, or product training for customers can be considered part of the eLearning industry, whether your business is making chocolate or selling Toyotas.

This also applies to the Education sector, whether it’s K-12 or, more commonly, post-secondary institutions. Things get a bit more convoluted when examining the differences between for-profit “external” eLearning and “internal” Learning and Development programs, but it’s still all part of the eLearning industry.

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2. Technology

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Providers

MOOCs are generally the most recognizable players in the eLearning industry’s technology segment. MOOCs surpassed 101 million learners in 2018, with market leaders in this market including Coursera, edX, XuentangX, Udacity, and FutureLearn. ^6,7

These businesses provide the online infrastructure required for hosting, distributing, and administrating courses that are provided by users. The content providers and the MOOC website split the revenue, most commonly on a per-enrollment basis.

Everything from sewing classes to professional certifications - and now even full online degrees - are offered by MOOC platforms. Some only offer officially recognized academic courses, while others allow any user to upload courses on any and all subjects imaginable.

eLearning Business Opportunities:

MOOC Provider:

If you’d rather be the website that hosts the courses instead of creating them, you’re looking at a sector that saw at least 20-million new users in 2016⁸, 2017⁹, and 2018¹⁰. Coursera, the largest MOOC provider in 2018, achieved an estimated revenue of $140 million and 37 million users¹¹.

But it’s a crowded marketplace with over 12,000 MOOC providers active in 2019¹². To compete, even with modest goals, you will require a substantial investment in technology, support, and marketing to get off the ground. Many MOOC providers work in partnership with more traditional educational and certification institutions as a means of acquiring a more captive audience.

You need to make a substantial initial investment to get everything up and running if you are looking at entering the MOOC provider market. Once the platform is launched, however, the majority of the revenue will come from the sales generated by content providers and course creators who use your site.

Course Creator:

Uploading a course to a MOOC platform offers the lowest barrier to entry into the business of eLearning. Many MOOC platforms, such as Udemy and Skillshare, allow anyone to upload and sell courses on essentially any subject imaginable. Other MOOCs can have more stringent requirements to become a course creator.

Course types generally fall into the following 3 categories:

Direct to consumer
Corporate training
Online degrees & certifications

If you’re looking to monetize a single course without having to worry about overhead and technological issues, working with a MOOC platform might be the right option for you. While you’ll save on operating costs, the trade-off that you will be splitting your revenue with your platform of choice.

Want to read it later? Download the PDF and read it anytime.

Learning Management System (LMS) Providers

Learning Management Systems (LMS) is software used to deliver, administer, and document online courses, professional training, and learning and development programs. Although academic institutions pioneered LMS adoption, today most LMS technology is focused on the corporate and business markets.

Estimates place the global LMS market at $9.2 billion USD in 2018, projected to reach $22.4 billion USD in 2023, an Annual Growth Rate of 19.6%¹³.

With over 800 LMS vendors that range from 100-million dollar software enterprises to modest cloud hosting vendors, there is no shortage of choice when it comes to learning management systems.¹⁵

There are two broad categories of Learning Management Systems: Proprietary and Open-Source.

Proprietary	Open-Source
Proprietary LMS platforms have ‘closed code’ which only the vendor has access to, while subscription and license fees are required to use the platform.	Open-source software’s source code is released under a license that grants users the rights to study, change, and distribute the software themselves.

The majority of LMS providers fall into the proprietary category, with the industry leader in terms of size being Blackboard.

On the open-source side, Canvas (200mm) and Moodle (178mm) are the largest entities.^16,17

eLearning Business Opportunities:

Creating and distributing your own learning management system is essentially the only way to enter this segment of the market, and competition is fierce and numerous (but not as crowded as the MOOC market). There is also a split in the market between systems targeted towards the Education and Corporate sectors, as the features and requirements for each can be very different.

Decide where you want your LMS to fit and look into what separates the top of the heap from the rest of the competition. Ideally, have a specific underserved industry or segment to target with technology crafted to meet their specific needs.

*Jump to the Provider’s section for insights into the businesses and opportunities associated with learning management systems and their service offerings.

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Virtual & Augmented Reality

You may at first associate Virtual and Augmented Reality with gimmicky luxury consumer products and science fiction tropes, however, both technologies have found very practical applications in the business of eLearning.

The market for both virtual and augmented reality technologies continues to grow: The VR market is estimated to be close to $60 million USD in 2018, with a compound annual growth rate projected at 42.9% for the next eight years¹⁸.

While figures for the eLearning-specific augmented reality market are hard to come by, the market for the technology overall was $10.7 billion USD in 2019 with an estimated 46.6% annual growth rate until 2024¹⁹.

Rapid adoption of both technologies has been seen in the healthcare sector, where it has been exceedingly successful. These successes, particularly for training initiatives, haven’t gone unnoticed: Automotive, Retail, Military and Education industries are all projected to see major growth in the Virtual and Augmented Reality have found very practical applications in the business of eLearning adoption of both technologies in the near future²⁰.

eLearning Business Opportunities:

You can split both VR and AR technology into either software or hardware. While the hardware segment is dominated by major players such as Google/Alphabet, Facebook/Oculus, Sony, and Samsung, it is projected to see the most substantial growth across both technologies.^20,21

On the software side, Mobile applications for both AR and VR are predicted to see substantial growth as modern Smartphone technology and internet infrastructure make the technologies far more accessible.²¹ The corporate sector for training is projected to see the most growth as more industries embrace the technology for training purposes.¹⁸

If you don’t have the capital to compete with some of the world’s largest tech giants on the hardware, the software side (particularly for mobile devices) is primed to explosive growth, especially if you can get in on the ground floor as more and more industries adopt the technology.

Virtual and Augmented Reality have found very practical applications in the business of eLearning.

3. Providers

The nature of eLearning’s digital landscape means that there are a plethora of opportunities for technical and subject-matter experts. While hosting, applications and support are usually handled in-house by proprietary Learning Management Systems, the open-source segment of the market can be the alternative for modest organizations.

Hosting

Cloud hosting is leading the way as the option of choice for keeping your content online and accessible. With more and more organizations moving away from expensive in-house hosting, freeing budget from acquiring and maintaining servers and eliminating significant burden to the IT department.²²

eLearning Business Opportunities:

Providing cloud hosting services and support can be a lucrative revenue stream, so long as you have access to the infrastructure and technical expertise to provide the required security, performance, uptime, and recovery methods required by anyone hosting eLearning content.¹³

Many providers offer cloud hosting, but if you’re looking for the best results without having to heavily invest in your own hosting infrastructure a partnership with a giant such as Amazon Web Service (AWS) may be the most cost-effective solution for finding adaptable and reliable servers for hosting.

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Applications

Particularly relevant for the open-source LMS market, a large segment of eLearning businesses create, distribute, and support applications, add-ons, and plugins that provide everything from quality-of-life fixes, to interactive video creation, and full-blown virtual reality support. On the other hand, the proprietary LMSs in the market offer fully integrated solutions and therefore do not require additional add-ons and plugins to run the system. Of course, the level of functionality would differ depending on the type of package a company is opted in to.

eLearning Business Opportunities:

Both open-source and proprietary learning management systems can be your ultimate solution. With a careful assessment of your business needs, you can compare the different platforms to see which one has the potential to optimize the eLearning business opportunity. In general, access to the code of open-source technology such as Moodle and Totara Learn make them convenient platforms to develop for, albeit with a healthy amount of competition.

With some coding knowledge and the right idea, creating and monetizing applications, themes, and plugins for the most popular Learning Management Systems is a surefire eLearning business opportunity.

For proprietary LMSs, the benefit of it is that it often yields a simpler platform to use, and your L&D team can potentially save time and cost from maintaining and installing these additional apps. Another thing to note is that proprietary vendors provide more regular updates and bug fixes as they have full control of the scope of features and the roadmap.

Support

Getting things up and running, and keeping them running smoothly, is always a bigger job than first anticipated.

Technical support is a huge segment of any technology-based industry, and eLearning is no different. Whether it’s the implementation of a brand new LMS, upgrading from an old system to new technology, or simply making sure the digital classroom doors stay open, there’s always a large market for support.

Offering support and implementation services are generally limited to the open-source LMS market, but that support can be focused on the LMS itself and/or for third-party plugins and applications.

Content

There are essentially two ways to approach the business side of eLearning content: You can create the content for clients to utilize on their own LMS, or you can provide courses to end-users using your own LMS.

Course Providers:

Utilizing your own LMS you can provide courses, classes, and certifications directly to end-users yourself, whether these are individuals, groups, or larger organizations.

Whether you have an in-demand course and would rather cut out the MOOC middle-man by handling your own platform, or are a larger organization looking to expand the reach of your certification programs, utilizing your own LMS to deliver your content is an excellent idea. While the costs are higher than with a MOOC, the control and potential for profitability are also far higher.

In fact, many organizations that already have eLearning programs in place for internal Learning & Development initiatives are beginning to catch on to the idea of utilizing those courses to create a new line of revenue.

We reached out to organizations that currently have training programs hosted on an LMS, and here’s what we discovered:

eLearning Business Opportunities:

With a growing majority of organizations using an LMS targeting external learners, the preference for transforming an L&D cost-centre into a revenue-generator by monetizing eLearning courses is only expected to grow in the coming years.

To create the ideal environment for selling courses with an LMS you need three key pieces of technology: The LMS itself, a robust eCommerce solution, and analytical reporting technology, all of which should be integrated directly with the LMS for the best user experience.

Then you just need to create your catalogue, get it in front of the largest audience possible, and measure, analyze, optimize, and repeat! Of course, that sounds much easier than it really is, as each one of those tasks is a job in and of itself. Which brings us nicely to the next section...

Check out our article and explore what are the 4 steps to integrate eCommerce, marketing and sales in an eLearning business.

Course Creators:

What’s the use of having a shiny new Learning Management System if you have no courses? And even if you have existing assets and materials, they probably need to be digitized, updated, and made compatible with your technology. Enter content providers! There are eLearning business opportunities on both the pedagogical and technical sides of digital content production.

When it comes to creating the course content itself, content specialists, instructional designers, and even instructors themselves are vital elements that many organizations need to get their eLearning and L&D initiatives off the ground. While many businesses will bring someone on in-house to do this, there is still a sizeable market for freelance design and instruction.

eLearning Business Opportunities:

Being an eLearning consultant, course creator, instructor, or digital learning coordinator is a viable option for both short and long term eLearning business models. You can target one-off customers that need courses built once, or sign on for a longer-term commitment to a client looking to roll out multiple courses or projects while supporting and updating old ones.

The nature of the tasks is highly variable based on the needs (and budget) of the customer, but there is a large market for non-traditional educators to take advantage of. Job duties will likely include some mix of media and material production, basic programming and graphic design, working with subject matter experts, and possibly even teaching the courses themselves (or being the talking head in the video content at least).

Administration:

On the technical side, taking those courses and making sure they actually work once implemented into an eLearning environment can be a full-time job itself. Even if you’re not designing the content, there is still plenty of heavy lifting involved in making sure things run smoothly across platforms, devices, and browsers.

eLearning/LMS administrators are tasked with keeping the Learning Management System up and running, while also acting as the point of contact between technical support and management.

eLearning Business Opportunities:

Getting into the role of LMS administration and management requires a diverse set of skills and knowledge.

You’ll be dealing with technical issues such as defining user roles, building and verifying custom certifications, and even implementing the courses themselves. You’ll also have a role on the support side as well, troubleshooting user issues and dealing with learner and instructor feedback.

Administrators are often also responsible for the onboarding and training required to use the LMS for new staff and learners, so you’ll need a balance of problem-solving acumen and customer service talent.

If that sounds like a difficult job to fill, well, you’re right! And that’s a good thing. Many organizations struggle to find an LMS admin within their ranks, which makes freelance and consulting work both lucrative and in-demand across the eLearning industry.

The nature of eLearning’s digital landscape means that there are a plethora of opportunities for technical and subject-matter experts.

Conclusion

There is no one-size-fits-all eLearning business model. An eLearning business can be as small as a single entrepreneur creating their own courses to be sold online, or a large corporation that specializes in providing digital training programs. This means there is a tremendous amount of opportunity to grab a piece of this soon-to-be 300-billion dollar industry. You just have to find the right fit for what you bring to the eLearning table.

We’ve identified only a handful of eLearning business opportunities here based on recent market trends and historical growth. There are many other ways to create an eLearning business, especially within industry-specific niches.

Whether you are a teacher, programmer, IT company, or are looking to create a new revenue stream out of your existing eLearning, the right time to create your eLearning business is now!

Below you will find additional resources related to creating your own eLearning business, no matter which opportunities are right for you.

Ready to start your first eLearning business? Read this blog post for a checklist of things to consider: eLearning: Starting a Business for Dummies

Download the white paper in PDF version and read it anytime!

Additional Resources

eBook: To Build or Buy an LMS
Webinar: Everything You Need To Build Your eLearning Business
Webinar: Enhancing Your eCommerce For Your eLearning Business with Lambda Suite
Webinar: Lambda Suite - Online Course Creation and Management Simplified
Webinar: Interconnecting your LMS Integrations
White Paper: DIY vs Managed Hosting LMS
White Paper: Managing LMS Costs - How to make cost-saving eLearning decisions
White Paper: Multitenancy with Totara and Moodle
Article: What is eLearning? eLearning Defined to Benefit Your Business

References

McCue, T. J. (2019, May 14). E Learning Climbing To $325 Billion By 2025 UF Canvas Absorb Schoology Moodle. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2018/07/31/e-learning-climbing-to-325-billion-by-2025-uf-canvas-absorb-schoologymoodle/#7ddd9f1d3b39.
Jaaskelainen, L. (2019, July 5). Topic: E-learning and digital education. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/topics/3115/e-learning-and-digitaleducation/.
Statista Research Department. (2019, July 23). E-learning worldwide market size 2014. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/501104/worldwide-elearning-market-size/.
Bhutani, A., & Bhardwaj, P. B. (2019, February). E-Learning Market Trends 2019-2025 Industry Size Research Report. Retrieved from https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/elearning-marketsize.
Hallberg, A. (2017, December 21). Top 5 Growing Industries Using eLearning. Retrieved from https://elearningindustry.com/growing-industries-using-elearning-top-5.
Craft (2019). Skillshare Competitors. Retrieved from https://craft.co/skillshare/competitors.
Shah, D. (2019, March 21). By The Numbers: MOOCs in 2018 - Class Central. Retrieved from https://www.classcentral.com/report/mooc-stats-2018/.
Shah, D. (2020, January 6). By The Numbers: MOOCS in 2016 - Class Central. Retrieved from https://www.classcentral.com/report/mooc-stats-2016/.
Shah, D. (2018, November 21). By The Numbers: MOOCS in 2017 - Class Central. Retrieved from https://www.classcentral.com/report/moocstats-2017/.
Shah, D. (2019, March 21). By The Numbers: MOOCs in 2018 - Class Central. Retrieved from https://www.classcentral.com/report/mooc-stats-2018/.
Shah, D. (2018, October 31). Coursera’s 2018 Revenue Estimated to be $140 million - Class Central. Retrieved from https://www.classcentral.com/report/coursera-2018-revenue-140-million/.
Shah, D., & Pickard, L. (2019, July 30). Massive List of MOOC Providers Around The World - Class Central. Retrieved from https://www.classcentral.com/report/mooc-providers-list/.
LMS Market Worth $22.4 Billion by 2023 | CAGR of 19.6% - Exclusive Report by MarketsandMarkets™. (2019, September 17). Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2019-09-27/lms-market-worth-22-4-billion-by-2023-cagr-of-19-6-exclusive-report-bymarketsandmarkets.
Learning Management System Market Size - LMS Industry Report 2026. (2019, September). Retrieved from https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/learning-management-system-market-101376.
Leh, J. (2019, August 15). Why So Many LMS Vendors? Retrieved from https://talentedlearning.com/why-somany-lms-vendors/.
Ching, Y.-H., & Baldwin, S. (2019, July). View of Online Course Design: The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning. Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/4283/5089.
Mergent Intellect. (2019, November). Instructure - Company Overview. Retrieved from https://www-mergentintellect-com/index.php/search/companyDetails/61308551.
Zion Market Research (2019, June 26). Global E-Learning Virtual Reality Market Will Reach Around USD 1,478 Million By 2027: Zion Market Research. Retrieved from https://www.globenewswire.com/newsrelease/2019/06/26/1874373/0/en/Global-E-Learning-Virtual-Reality-Market-Will-Reach-Around-USD-1-478-Million-By-2027-Zion-Market-Research.html.
Markets and Markets. (2019). Augmented Reality Market. Retrieved from https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/augmented-reality-market-82758548.html.
Mordor Intelligence. (2019). Augmented Reality Market Size: Growth, Trends, and Forecasts (2020 - 2025). Retrieved from https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/augmented-reality-market.
Mordor Intelligence. (2019). Virtual Reality Market Size: Growth, Trends, and Forecasts (2020 - 2025). Retrieved from https://www-mergentintellect-com/index.php/search/companyDetails/61308551.
Lambda Solutions. (2018, December 5). Why Businesses are Choosing Cloud-based LMS Over Self-hosted Solutions. Retrieved from https://www.lambdasolutions.net/blog/why-businesses-are-choosing-cloud-based-lms-over-self-hosted-solutions.

LMS Cost Management: How to make cost-saving eLearning decisions

marketing@lambdasolutions.net (Lambda Solutions) — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 04:17:21 GMT

LMS cost management: how to make cost-saving eLearning decisions

In this post, we will cover these questions:

Introduction: LMS Cost Management

Lambda Solutions surveyed over 475 eLearning professionals to find out which factors are most important when choosing an LMS, and which LMS elements contribute most to costs.

Respondents reported that the variety of eLearning features on offer was the primary factor organizations looked for when choosing an LMS.
The survey found that implementation costs comprised the largest proportion of all LMS-associated costs.

Using these findings, this white paper explores how organizations utilize Learning Management Systems from a cost savings perspective. Among the recommendations considered are:

How to decide what level of support services provides true value for money.
How to understand the differences between LMS hosting models, and know which provides the greatest ROI.
What cost-related decisions affect the security and privacy of LMS data, and how to combat risks.
The best way to approach LMS implementation, on other initial LMS questions.

What does it mean by cost-effective eLearning?

How do you get the most value from a Learning Management System (LMS)?

Top of the wish list for most organizations when installing or upgrading an LMS is increased efficiency. When it comes to saving on costs and time, knowing how to work with vendors, how to select a hosting model, and how to apply eLearning tools can result in major gains across departments. Without an understanding of these aspects, organizations risk various issues, from increased employee frustration and turnover, to overall disappointment at the reality of eLearning.¹

To understand how organizations achieve a successful working relationship with their LMS, Lambda Solutions surveyed respondents on key factors they look for in choosing an LMS, as well as the major running costs they encounter. From the results of the survey, it’s apparent that finding the right portfolio of user features, for the right implementation price, is crucial in setting organizations up for the future. But a whole variety of other elements contribute to cost-effective eLearning, from the training and hosting options available, to the ability to secure user and employee data.²

For each cost-saving area highlighted by the survey, this white paper details the most popular and effective solutions for maintaining cost-efficiency. After reading this document, you and your organization should be better equipped to make informed choices about what kind of LMS will help you extract the most value from your eLearning program, both for your users and your bottom line.

Finding the right portfolio of user features, for the right implementation price, is crucial in setting organizations up for the future.

What is the most important factor for your organization when choosing an LMS?

Before organizations can take advantage of a Learning Management System, L&D teams must decide which LMS meets organizational goals. A clear idea of the most important factors for your organization makes the task of selecting a vendor much simpler. When Lambda asked eLearning professionals what they look for in a Learning Management System, they answered as follows:

1. LMS features/capabilities

Top of the laundry list when choosing an LMS are eLearning features themselves. 55% of respondents reported that the quality or variety of tools available to educators was the most important criteria for their business.

Given Learning Management Systems are the home of the next generation of teaching and learning, this is not surprising.³ With the majority of today’s classrooms using either a virtual or blended learning environment, the benefits of using an LMS are beyond doubt.⁴ Popular LMS features include remote learning and eCommerce integration, allowing organizations to streamline their sales through one full-service site.

But flexible and interactive learning features aren’t just a win for the learning experience. Utilizing an LMS’s full array of capabilities leads to cost-savings on an organization-wide basis.⁵ For example, while both traditional classroom and eLearning require payout for instructional design, remote learning tools mean eLearning content can be used by learners across locations, significantly reducing per-student learning fees.

In terms of logistics, LMS features also offer significant cost-savings over physical classrooms. When dealing with large enrollment numbers or multiple locations, support costs quickly mount. An LMS, on the other hand, delivers constraint-free training on a potentially unlimited scale.

2. Training and onboarding

Next on the list of most desirable factors when choosing an LMS is the quality of onboarding options for the technology itself. The benefits of having training systems that are easy for staff to learn to use are visible across sectors and increase the effectiveness of education and training programs by making them easier to use and create.

Microlearning is a popular feature of LMS onboarding that involves delivering training in ‘chunks’ or ‘nuggets’, each portion designed for a specific learning outcome.⁶ Using this format allows learners to build a body of information that matches their exact needs, cutting down on wasted time, and giving learners the freedom to manage their own pathway.

In the same vein, these same LMS training resources can provide valuable support for onboarding and new-hire orientation. Using an LMS to host mobile learning means employees can access regularly updated content from any online device. When nearly 70% of employees are more likely to stay with a company for over three years after a full onboarding experience, it pays to make training a continuing practice.⁷ At the same time, educators can use their LMS to collect data, feeding that information into Learner Analytics.

3. LMS costs

16% of respondents highlighted general LMS costs as relevant when selecting their LMS vendor. These can be sizeable, and many organizations end-up paying out for more services or coverage than they need.

At the most cost-effective end of the spectrum, open-source platforms offer an efficient combination of features versus running costs. Open-source systems are free at the point of use and create added value for organizations by allowing the development and scaling of eLearning over time, as a business grows. Read more about the differences between open-source and proprietary vendors in our section on Implementation Costs below.

4. Technical support

Respondents placed the availability of technical support in fourth place on the survey. 8% valued a vendor that’s able to provide technical expertise and assistance, as well as advice on the evolution of their program.

Reducing LMS costs is all about creating a high-quality, efficient working environment. This means issues with functionality are not only frustrating, but a threat to business success.⁸ It’s therefore important for organizations to find a technical support model that keeps up with issues as and when they arise.

Vendors who offer unlimited support as opposed to per ticket or hour models are proven winners in terms of client satisfaction. A 2019 survey of 420 Lambda Solutions customers found that unlimited and continuing support empowered eLearning success, with satisfaction rates of 99.3%.⁹

5. Security

Last on the survey, but still highlighted by respondents, is LMS security. At 3%, a number of eLearning professionals felt the security of their data was a major concern. When eLearning enrollments span into the hundreds of thousands, ensuring a safe working environment is a priority and challenge.¹⁰ Luckily, LMS security doesn’t necessarily come at a premium. Cloud-based vendors offer numerous service levels, allowing users to select an appropriate level of security depending on the sensitivity of their data.¹¹

As global reaching organizations, eLearning companies need to meet data security regulations across territories. An easy way of doing this is to invest in an LMS that’s GDPR compliant. EU General Data Protection Regulations require organizations to secure explicit permission to collect and use an individual’s data (name, email, account information, etc.)¹² Abiding by these strict standards makes sure an LMS can compete in most markets. 2018 Moodle plugins and Totara Learn 11 updates ensures both of these platforms are GDPR ready.¹³

What is the largest cost associated with your LMS?

Knowing what LMS features meet business needs is important. But knowing how to allocate resources to those features is an equally challenging aspect of running and managing a cost-effective eLearning program within your LMS.

Here, efficiency is all about knowing where money is being spent, and whether that outlay is providing value for money. Intelligent use of LMS capabilities can mean the difference between an accurate investment of resources, and spending an L&D budget in the dark. When Lambda asked eLearning professionals where their largest LMS-associated costs where located, this is how they responded:

LMS Cost #1: Implementation

The most common cost by some margin, a budget-friendly LMS implementation was highlighted as a priority for eLearning professionals. When it comes to the costs involved in installing and setting up a Learning Management System, the biggest variable is often whether organizations opt for an open-source or proprietary vendor.

The choice between hosting content on an open-source or proprietary LMS has significant implications for future scaling. The defining feature of all proprietary LMS platforms is the hosting cost. A subscription is required for access, normally due alongside other maintenance fees. Open-source systems are freely distributed, run in-house, and maintained either by users themselves, or an external eLearning management team.¹⁴

The latest developments in LMS Integration also play into implementation and running costs, allowing users to combine tasks under a single platform.¹⁵

LMS Cost #2: Training

In terms of training costs, knowing how to leverage your LMS can make a substantial impact (see Training and Onboarding). The more quickly new hires are provided with the information they need to succeed, the more cost-efficient training becomes. Using an LMS to deliver training allows educators to use the latest technology and educational strategy, offering learners the freedom to manage their own learning pathway, accessible at the point of need.¹⁶

LMS Cost #3: Hosting and Support

22% of respondents cited LMS hosting as the largest cost regularly outlayed by their organization. With an overwhelming variety of hosting configurations on offer, it’s no surprise that many feel the strain of maintaining LMS hardware. However, it is possible to make cost-savings in hosting, by making an informed choice between cloud hosting or self-hosting.

Self-hosting an LMS means taking care of the technical aspects of a system internally or through a third-party host. Depending on the extent of technical expertise required, this can make for a substantial initial investment, as installation, set up, customization, and staff training costs mount. Costs for launching through a cloud-hosted provider are likely to be significantly less, since your LMS will be ready to go and maintained by an external team.¹⁷ Of course, decisions made about the hosting and maintenance of your LMS will have a direct impact on support costs, which respondents ranked last in the survey, at 20%.

LMS Cost Management: Conclusion and Key Takeaways

How do I decide what level of support services provides true value for money?	What cost-related decisions affect the security of my LMS data?
Unless your organization includes an extensive IT team, LMS vendors that offer unlimited and ongoing support are proven less costly than per ticket or per hour formats. Managed hosting solutions support the development of eLearning beyond technical fixes, providing man-hour savings, and giving IT and admin teams the freedom to work on other important projects.	Self-hosted LMS allow organizations to maintain absolute control over their data. However, this requires a significant investment in hardware and expertise. Using a cloud-hosted platform lets organizations take advantage of external security, such as AWS encryption. While just as (if not more) secure than internal measures, costs are likely to be significantly less.
Which LMS hosting best provides greatest ROI for my organization?	How can my organization achieve a cost-effective LMS implementation?
Cloud-hosting platforms often allow users to choose from various packages, all featuring industry-leading technology. Lambda uses AWS to power its eLearning solutions, the world’s most popular cloud platform. Open-source LMS offer the greatest combination of cost-efficiency and control, whereas proprietary vendors combine hosting and maintenance.	Opting for an LMS Integration can help to avoid paying multiple vendors, uniting business under one powerful yet simple to use platform.

Achieving cost-efficiency with a Learning Management System is certainly possible, but requires focused effort in two key areas. First, knowing what configuration of platform and features is most appropriate to your organization. Second, knowing how to get the most out of that configuration once your LMS is up and running. Reach out to us and we can help your organization find that all-important balance between value for users and value for money.

References:
1. Pappas, 7 Reasons Why Your Organization Needs A Strong Corporate eLearning Culture.
2. Hjeltnes & Hansson, Cost-effectiveness and cost-efficiency in e-learning.
3. Lynch, What Will the LMS of the Future Look Like?
4. Kipp, Exploring the Future of the Learning Management System.
5. Morrison, Can You Afford Not To Have An LMS? How A Learning Management System Boosts ROI.
6. Lambda Solutions: Should You be Using Microlearning to Onboard New Staff?
7. Lambda Solutions: The Five W’s of Employee Onboarding.
8. Lambda Solutions, What to Look for in Support Services for LMS and eLearning.
9. Lambda Solutions, Extreme Support Services.
10. Bandara et al., Cyber Security Concerns in eLearning Education.
11. Lambda Solutions, Security and Cloud Hosting.
12. Lambda Solutions, Mastering GDPR Compliance For Your eLearning Solution.
13. Lambda Solutions, Make Sure Your LMS Is GDPR Compliant By May 25, 2018.
14. Lambda Solutions, How do I Choose? open-source vs. Proprietary Learning Management Systems.
15. Lambda Solutions, LMS Integration to Cut Costs.
16. Lambda Solutions, The Real Costs of LMS Setup for Educators.
17. Lambda Solutions, eLearning Development Costs.

Solving 4 Common eLearning Challenges To Increase Your eLearning ROI

marketing@lambdasolutions.net (Lambda Solutions) — Mon, 07 Oct 2019 16:33:47 GMT

Technology is changing the way we learn, teach, and train new skills.

This report will show you how to identify and overcome the most common challenges eLearning providers face regardless of industry, organizational size, or learning goals. Bringing all those solutions together will allow you to determine exactly what is required to address these challenges and achieve eLearning success.

Traditional methods of instruction are increasingly being supplemented by - or replaced with - eLearning. While eLearning offers some incredible benefits, this new wave of digital instruction comes with its own unique set of challenges, many of which go unaddressed and undercut the potential that eLearning offers learning and development initiatives.

By reaching out to 979 professionals across multiple industries we’ve found the most substantial and common challenges associated with eLearning, regardless of industry. Analyzing this data has provided insight into how to overcome those obstacles and achieve sustainable, scalable, and successful eLearning. We’ll explore solutions for each problem, and identify how to bring those solutions together in a practical way that harnesses all the benefits eLearning has to offer.

Without knowing how we got the generation of online learning, we can’t understand how to move forward and fully adapt to the needs of the users. Many of the challenges eLearning faces today spring from the disruption of The Fourth Industrial Revolution. To provide that vital context we will begin by examining our age of Digital Transformation so that we can recognize how we got to this stage of technological advancement.

Top eLearning Challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution
eLearning’s Biggest Challenges & Solutions

1. High cost of Scaling

2. Lack of Knowledge & Skills

3. System Integration

4. Measuring ROI of eLearning

Solving eLearning’s ROI & Budget Challenges

Top eLearning Challenges of The Fourth Industrial Revolution

Training and development is key for adapting to the changes The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) brings. There are many technologies that drive the 4IR, not all of them are suitable to adopt and utilize for many companies to optimize their workplace learning initiatives.

The age of Digital Transformation, also known as The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) or Industry 4.0, is demanding fundamental changes in how organizations operate and work. The new technologies that are being created and sparked by the digital age pervades every aspect of modern life. From consumers to manufacturers to cities, 4IR advancements are more accessible and less costly than just a few years ago and have the potential to connect everything into one, giant, communicating network. The concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution was coined in 2016 by Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum, in a book of the same name. Schwab defines 4IR as “a world in which virtual and physical systems of manufacturing cooperate with each other in a flexible way at the global level."¹ However, it is more than just smart technology and connected machines and systems, it is a massive overhaul of production and industry standards using breakthrough technology. 4IR represents the convergence between scientific breakthroughs, such as nanotechnology, quantum computing, data mining, renewable energies etc, with the physical, digital, organizational and other such domains and is poised to gradually shape how we live, work, play, and even revolutionize how we experience.

All revolutions bring with it dramatic changes that are beneficial, creates opportunities, and foreseeable certainties. In the case of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the advantages are clear: increased productivity, efficiency and quality in processes, greater safety for workers through risk reduction, enhanced decision making with data-based tools, improved competitiveness. Surprisingly, while 4IR is ubiquitous, not everyone is onboard. According to a collaborative survey between the World Economic Forum and McKinsey & Company, “Lack of resources/knowledge to scale”, “high cost of scaling” and “hard to justify business case without short-term impact” and “Lack of leadership support and attention” are in the top ten reasons preventing the full adoption of 4IR technologies across enterprises.

There is no doubt that the roadblocks to implementing new solutions are the perceived investment required and the difficulty of aligning the organization around the potential value and return on investment. In this article we will explore these 4IR adoption challenges as they pertain to workplace learning and find out how you can get the most from your budget while increasing eLearning ROI.

The Rise of The Fourth Industrial Revolution

To understand how we arrived at the Fourth Industrial Revolution, let us look back at the previous three industrial revolutions, how they impacted our lives and the world when they occurred.

First Industrial Revolution. It occurred at the end of the 18th century, in 1784, when steam was harnessed for mechanical production. The invention of the first mechanised loom was a watershed.
Second Industrial Revolution. In 1870, mass production powered by electricity was first introduced. The assembly line was invented and the industrial sector speeded up exponentially.
Third Industrial Revolution. In 1969, advances in computing led to machine programming, which opened the door to progressive automation.

Around 2014, the industry experienced a disruption in how we do things with the appearance of smart factories and online production management. Schwab foresaw what was to come in his book, The Fourth Industrial Revolution: "We are at the beginning of a revolution that is fundamentally changing the way we live, work, and relate to one another". The speed, scope, the unprecedented scale and complexity are the reasons upon which experts agree and consider this period to beThe Fourth Industrial Revolution.

4IR Drivers for eLearning

Training and development is key for adapting to the changes 4IR technologies bring. And while there are many technologies fueling 4IR, here are some essential technologies many organizations can employ and combine to optimize their workplace training and development and deliver organizational impact.

1. Big Data. Information is power. Big data allows massive data management and interpretation for business purposes, which is particularly relevant when devising business strategies or making decisions.

2. Internet of Things (IoT). Technology designed to establish connectivity or the blending of the digital and physical worlds. This has revolutionized many sectors, and has interconnected billions of devices and more and more devices are becoming smart. IoT allows smart devices to collect data and connect to other devices to make everyday tasks easier and more efficient.

3. Cloud Technology. Also referred to as Cloud Computing, this technology, enables companies to scale and adapt at speed, accelerate innovation, drive business agility, streamline operations, and reduce costs. Cloud is a model of computing where servers, networks, storage, development tools, and even applications (apps) are enabled through the internet. Instead of organizations having to make major investments to buy equipment, train staff, and provide ongoing maintenance, some or all of these needs are handled by a cloud service provider.

4. System Integrations. 4IR is all about connectedness and how we can embed the technology into all aspects of our lives and industries. System Integration is a process commonly implemented in the fields of engineering and information technology. It involves the combination of various computing systems and software packages in order to create a larger system, and this is what drives 4IR to work at its optimum. System Integration increases value to a system by creating new functionalities through the combination of sub-systems and software applications.

5. Artificial Intelligence (AI). Also known as machine intelligence, it is the ability for machines to learn and adapt to different problems and situations. AI is one of the key technologies in the sweeping transformation of economy, society and labour market. AI is useful for many companies managing numbers and logistics as AI-enabled devices can process numbers at a faster rate than humans. As the technology develops further, AI’s ability to learn and predict will allow it to be a solution to even more business problems.

6. Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR and AR). These technologies that combine the real world and the digital world using computer science, enrich the visual experience of both users and consumers by generating immersive experiences.

7. Cyber Security. The interconnected nature of 4IR driven operations and the pace of digital transformation mean that cyberattacks can have far more extensive effects than ever before, and manufacturers and their supply networks may not be prepared for the risks. In response, many companies are beginning to require all sorts of new authentication, from simple two-factor all the way up to bio-identification.

eLearning’s Biggest Challenges & Solutions

1. High Cost of Scaling

Technology is regarded synonymously with cost. The more advanced and innovative the technology the higher the price.

However this is not necessarily the case. In fact, having access to big data prior to investing in more advanced technology can save a heck of a lot of time and money. With support for the 4IRs driver, the internet of things (IOT) and having the ability to connect online, data can be obtained faster, more effectively and with better efficiency.

While this does require a significant amount of upfront work to implement, it typically translates into optimized processes. The typical misconceptions on high-cost of scaling are with regard to technology, specifically the Learning Management System (LMS), and the infrastructure required to support them.

The implementation time does require a longer period of time, but you reap the benefits of increased optimization, reduced time and energy and shortened downtime and maintenance.

Constraints of LMS Solutions

10% of respondents said their LMS is holding them back.

eLearning evolves at the speed of our modern technology, and if your Learning Management System (LMS) can’t keep pace, the quality of your training will be just as stunted. Both open-source and proprietary learning management systems can be your ultimate solution. With a careful assessment of your business needs, you can compare the different platforms to see which one has the abilities and functionalities to scale and grow your eLearning business.

Case study: Sandler Training

Sandler Training is one of the world's largest training and development companies with over 250 locations with 30,000 students world wide. While the organization was experiencing growth and increased demand for their training products, Sandler was faced with challenges employing advancements and innovations in training design and delivery as a result of an outdated LMS. Moreover, the platform was far too complex and expensive to upgrade. This ultimately was reflected in their sales as clients were not able to adopt the system.

Sandler needed a solution that was able to support their 8,000 users as well as have a rich feature set that not only will meet their training and delivery requirements, but also give them the ability to implement innovations in online learning. Most of all, the solution needed to save them time and money in administrative work.

Sandler accomplished all three of those goals, click here to see how they did it and how you can achieve the same results.

THE SOLUTION: Scalable LMS platforms

When your organization is ready to grow, for example, selling external training courses to other businesses, you might be thinking, how do I scale my eLearning business with my current LMS?

So, let’s say you want to expand your business to different geographical regions. Here are some of the functionalities you should include as part of your checklist when evaluating a truly scalable solution:

Sophisticated taxation rules for different products and regions
Bulk purchasing and seat assignment for B2B selling
Multi-currency support
Child stores and alternate views with included language packs allow you to franchise or run region-specific versions of your store
Gamification and learning paths for building your eLearning or training courses
Custom certificates for individual learners upon course completions

When choosing between open-source and proprietary LMSs, the benefit of having a proprietary solution is that it often yields a simpler platform to use, and your L&D team can potentially save time and cost from maintaining and installing these additional apps. Another thing to note is that proprietary vendors provide more regular updates and bug fixes as they have full control of the scope of features and the roadmap.

Another important factor to consider is the vendor’s ongoing support. In order to scale your business, you need a vendor that has the expertise to grow with you. Lambda Solutions is experienced in supporting industry leaders as they scale their training, and can offer guidance on both basic and advanced features of an eLearning platform.

For more insights into the challenges and solutions faced by a growing learning enterprise, bookmark this article that answers the question “How Can I Scale My eLearning Business?”

Capital Expenditures (CapEx) Related to Self-Hosting

In addition to the LMS software solution, there is also the infrastructural needs to support this technology: hosting, system administration, hardware and software, security, support. Though having a self-hosted capex solution can provide guaranteed annual spending, it may pose future issues especially if any technological changes happen to the software or within the industry or environment. Any vendor contracts may be a factor and will depend on the duration which can cause excess spending and waste or hinder time on the administration's side, for any software improvements or updates. The more time taken for setup, the more resources and budget needed to support.

Businesses are Choosing Cloud-based LMS Over Self-hosted Solutions. A recent report from Gartner predicted a 17.5% growth in cloud spending in 2019, reflecting the quick adaptation of cloud technology has begun in earnest. With this comes new challenges as there is an increased need for cybersecurity and online proficiency.

An initial McKinsey Report predicted 800 million to disappear by 2030² however this change may allow an entirely new sector of jobs to emerge.

Many organizations are switching to Cloud hosting for a myriad of reasons. Cloud service involves having your organization LMS hosting managed by a 3rd party service online. The reasons for the increased migrations towards the cloud is the ability for limitless possibilities for expansion, with data that can be managed anywhere remotely across the world. The flexibility can allow for increased storage space and faster loading times that can contribute to overall user experience. which is one of the keys to a successful eLearning solution.

Cloud based software is treading upwards with companies using current platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS). A service, such as AWS, can support your needs with access to a multitude of services involving data protection, identity management, infrastructure protection and threat detection via continuous network monitoring.

If you still have privacy concerns regarding cloud services, ease your mind with a head-to-head comparison in this article examining eLearning Security: Does Cloud Hosting Measure Up?

2. Lack of Knowledge & Skills

27% of respondents said they don’t know enough about how to get the most from their eLearning technology.

Unfortunately, it is more common for many companies to simply "slide" their operational administration staff in the role of LMS administration and course creator role in order to take advantage and transition to offering eLearning in their workplace. This results in staff that have little to no knowledge of where to begin and the best practices in delivering online training. It is clear that there is a disconnect between the course creator and the technology of the LMS itself.

According to our in-house experts, the bigger issue is that most of our clients feel that they lack proficiency in their LMS, as well as a lack of understanding in what learners really need. In the absence of product knowledge, an admin may invest in various tools for their LMS as can amount to little more than fancy features of “just in case” functionality that could potentially be used in the future. However, throwing money at structuring and designing an amazing course without full institutional support for learners who are slow to adapt, or simply not technology savvy is counter productive. This results in a waste of time, resources and budget.

Lack of confidence in the impact of a T&D program is usually the culprit of this issue. Because of no actual proof of the correlation between a company's expenditures and the goals of the company itself, leadership will not prioritize the value of the data needed for a productive solution. Without anyone truly monitoring the results it becomes difficult for the trainee to be accountable for their training which can eventually if not put into practice, be forgotten. Only to have the trainee result back to what they habitually know because there are no expectations put in place.

You want to get the most out of your LMS, so how do you bridge this gap? This Guide To Triaging Your L&D Budget Bleed should be a ton of help.

THE SOLUTION: Understanding the goals of your business so you can create better pathways for onboarding

Once you hire someone, you need to train that person. The cost of staff turnover adds up. Figures vary, but it can cost as much as $2,500³, depending on the position, to replace a frontline employee.

The solution to learner engagement is not connecting with the needs of the company first. In understanding what the company and business units need to perform (KPIs) you will get a better understanding of what the learner will need in order to perform their job better and more efficiently. Once this alignment is what the business needs and how the employee contributes to it, then the idea is that this motivates your learners because it helps them improve their performance, advance their career, and their sense of achievement.

The LMS component is just a means to the end. We need to make learning effective because technology on its own is useless unless properly employed. The driving force of your T&D curriculum should come from understanding how to apply the concepts of adult learning as a means to reach your business goals.

To help you do that, below we will identify the factors that affect adult learning and the questions to consider once both have been actualized.

Adult Learning theory: What’s in it for me?

The drive to learn for adults is complex, usually involving their past experience or habits that affect how they retrieve new information. Adults are intrinsically motivated which poses a stark contrast from the motivation of a child which involves traditional modes of learning that deem less engaging and practical. Below is a representation of Malcolm Knowles’ 5 assumptions that factor into adult learning that correlate to today's adult learning principles.

While adult learning principles are incredibly important, we don’t have the space to get into details here. Good thing you’re only 1 click away from unveiling The Andragogy Secret: How To Use Adult Learning Theory To Drive L&D Engagement Success.

Assess the LMS admin!

When considering your eLearning material, you should do an assessment of the individual(s) who will be managing their solution. Some important factors to keep in mind within the assessment are:

What are your organization’s business goals?

Part of this should be course completion. What are the roles and responsibilities of the client? Would gamification appeal to your audience? Do your learners need certificates of completion?

Do you require analytics?

Will you need advanced grading, completion tracking, engagement tracking, and technical analytics for regulatory compliance or certification requirements?

What kind of courses do you want to provide?

This is most important, and will govern your curriculum.

Who is your audience?

What are their goals in regards to career? How will the learning you provide prepare your learners for the big picture career?

What format will be most appealing to your audience?

Does your audience prefer a social or non-social learning environment? Are your courses timed by month, day, hour?

Start with the “lean methodology” when developing your training initiatives, and if staying lean sounds like a diet concern instead of a business strategy, discover exactly Why You Should Be Running Your L&D Team Like A Startup in this free on-demand webinar!

What is practical for your industry?

Does your audience require a social or non-social learning environment to best meet any industry-specific requirements or practical limitations?

What is the online literacy of your learners?

This could be affected by their education or inclination to use digital mediums. Here you can gauge the most effective mode of delivery such as micro-learning, gamification, video?

Make sure to dig deep so you know how to structure and run your LMS and make better usage of its features and functionality. Understanding will allow you to know how to create the best environment for your learner.

Creating engaging content is hard and time consuming, but the payoff is always worth it:

“For a pro, it really takes a whole day (8 hours) to put together a quality one-hour lesson with out-of-class activities (homework, projects, etc). So it's really about time management.” - Dr. Scott – Founder Easy Hard Science

Most importantly: ALWAYS get feedback. Be prepared for the neverending environmental changes because that’s how you deliver the best training! Having a post training discussion between the manager and trainee can provide better insight into and a more in depth look into an individual's training experience. This ties back to the impact of your T&D program becoming accessible data for future software implementation.

“You get the employee engagement you deserve. If you don’t engage with them, they won’t engage with you… if you want them to commit to the cause, you must make an emotional connection with them… so take onboarding personally and make it personal” (George Bradt, Forbes⁴).

Prioritize finding a provider that specializes in both the development of eLearning technology and has expertise in determining the best ways to utilize that technology. Ideally, this education begins with the onboarding process and continues throughout the lifetime of your eLearning initiatives as technology improves and your organization grows.

Many LMS providers do offer initial onboarding for their systems, but depending on your provider additional support can be costly. Simply learning how to use your eLearning technology is not the same as understanding the best way to actually utilize it to benefit all your users. Finding a solution that offers a good ongoing support program can benefit you in the long run when it comes to adapting to any changes that happen within the environment.

It’s never easy getting started, especially if it’s your first shot at developing eLearning or remote training programs for training new learners. But you can get off to a running start this practicable eBooks guide to the best onboarding practices for achieving maximum ROI.

3. System Integration

27% of respondents said bringing all their eLearning systems together is a major challenge.

After your LMS administrator has been successfully onboarded one of the responsibilities they can have is managing LMS integrations. Poor training can affect one's knowledge on the full capabilities and integrations their solution can provide. The power of your LMS is only as good as the admin managing it.

Today, we are able to use data collected over time to foster a better understanding of the user so we can better implement the right technology for their success. In addition integrations are becoming an integral part of building an advanced overall robust solution providing more value and efficiency.

However, since technology doesn’t always play nice with others, choosing the right integrations can pose a challenge, even for simple eLearning initiatives. Something as basic as making sure your courses are in a format that is compatible with your LMS can lead to some serious headaches.

Integrated systems can be anything from plugins for adding engagement elements to your courses, such as gamification apps, security and accessibility features, like single-sign-on functionality, or even analytical reporting for improving course effectiveness. (More on these below!)

When integrations don’t work together, minor headaches can evolve into full-blown migraines if your eLearning has more complex elements such as eCommerce and Analytics systems, as Lambda’s own technical partner support representatives can attest:

“When a client comes to customer support people come in with a widely optimistic vision. Most know what they want in general however they usually do not know where they need the integrations, how they need to implement it and when they need it to be implemented…”

It’s easy, and common, for many organizations to overlook their integration needs and how those needs can have a major impact in regards to achieving their overall goals. Usually this ends up resulting in technical issues down the road.

Usually, integration problems manifest as additional manual labour for representatives such as project managers, IT managers admins and instructors. Converting content to compatible formats, scratching functionality that doesn’t mesh with other systems, and creating additional hassles for users (such multiple logins) can cost you hours of labour and negatively impacts the user experience you are providing.

Common LMS Integration Challenges

There is no One-Size-Fits-All solution for integrations. Integrations have potential nuances depending on the LMS solution they are utilizing so the client has to be flexible. Integrating your eLearning “technology stack” always needs to be done on a case by case basis because every client's needs and challenges are unique based on their specific business goals. From the structure of a particular integration or missing codes or syntaxes, it's never really a “one way street.”

Poorly implemented LMS integration will bring about its own set of challenges.

For example, data migration from one platform to another can result in unexpected compatibility issues with coding and language. This comes into play if you need to migrate plugins and updates play a factor: an update to your LMS may break the ability for certain plugins to integrate successfully and perform as they should.

Incompatible integrations can also be a major concern when migrating learning management systems. For example, even though Moodle and Totara Learn are both open source platforms, that doesn’t mean that integrations that work for one will automatically work with the other.

Other challenges can arise from bandwidth and connectivity issues, especially when dealing with a self-hosted LMS that doesn’t have the server distribution and technical support that many providers can deliver with true cloud hosting.

However once the integrations are all set up correctly they become fairly simple for customer support to manage, if any issues arise.

THE SOLUTION: A dedicated and experienced technical support and integration team

Understand the scope of features and technology that you require to meet all your eLearning needs and goals. Make sure that the systems you choose can be integrated to create an easy to use, all-in-one learning environment for your users.

This can be difficult to determine on your own, so here is a quick breakdown of the basic categories, uses, and examples of the most commonly requested LMS integrations:

Learner and Content Analytics Integrations

Learner and content integrations refer to anything to do with learner interaction, engagement, and encompasses everything you can provide to learners that will be used to enhance their learning experience and help with making your courses more effective. The data collected and resulting analytics, organizations need their own reporting system that will push data to their LMS.

Common Learner and Content Analytics Integrations Examples:

Zoom (video conferencing and online seminars)
Dropbox (file sharing)
Socialwall (learner interaction and engagement)
H5P (creating interactive video content)
LTI
LRS
SCORM
xAPI

eCommerce & Digital Marketing Integrations

eCommerce and Digital Marketing integrations can allow learners to manage their purchases, process their purchases, login to your site, receive enrollment notifications, etc. Digital Marketing integrations serve to build your audience and ease the transition from prospect to purchaser.

When eCommerce and digital marketing are integrated seamlessly with a Learning Management System, it helps create a seamless and satisfying user experience all the way from catalogue to classroom.

Common User Integrations:

Paypal
Moneris
Salesforce
Mailchimp

Want to learn more about the eCommerce side of the business of learning? Get a your crash course with this free eBook on Integrated Marketing Communications: What It Means & How To Do It Right.

Authentication Integrations

What matters to a lot to our clients and partners is the need for a secure sign on agent. Authentication in this context refers to the process of ensure that only users with the correct credentials can access content and data meant for them, usually as defined by the LMS administrator.

Common Authentication Integrations:

Okta Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)
Google/GSuite,
Microsoft
Enrollment hierarchies

Make sure to consider your budget and the goals your eLearning needs to achieve so that you understand the full scope required when it comes to integrations for your LMS.

Don’t underestimate the impact integrating eLearning into your business can have when it comes to overcoming the challenges your organization is currently facing. Take a few minutes to further understand Why eLearning will Benefit Your Business in this article from our L&D experts.

4. Measuring the ROI of eLearning

36% of respondents said measuring the return on investment of their eLearning is their biggest challenge.

Regardless of the industry, determining the impact and return on investment from their eLearning initiatives is a major challenge. While generating profit from eLearning is one of the top priorities, knowing how effective training and education programs are is equally essential.

Many organizations need to understand that their eLearning investment is meeting their learning and development goals, whether it’s safety training certification, product knowledge on-boarding, or long-term skill retention.

Misconceptions & barriers to training evaluation

How do you really measure the effectiveness of your training and development? Many managers lack the knowledge to effectively gauge and evaluate their T&D and only perceive that any form of training is valuable. Therefore they invest with the assumption that people will be sufficiently trained through the program anyways, so tracking the exact numbers that go into their T&D can go by the wayside.

But with a lump sum of the money budgeted they should be willing to accept some losses right?

The problem is spending too much without knowing if it's really effective. Unfortunately through this, there's no definitive way to measure the impact the training has had on the learner resulting in satisfaction surveys at the end. High grades or satisfaction surveys cannot prove the validity of your training as every learning individual is different in regards to knowledge retention and learning ability.

What gives?

Finding a way to measure these outcomes becomes even more of a challenge when fiscal ROI is also taken into account. Determining how much revenue your eLearning generates, and how to increase that revenue, is a constant issue for organizations that need to justify their eLearning budget financially.

One of the industry standards for training evaluation is the Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model (refer to above diagram). The methodology represents the 4 levels of learning evaluation and is probably the most common representation you will see in regards to return on investment. Each level becomes more in depth as a L&D progresses going from a behaviour to performance related transition. However according to a repost done in 2016 by ATDm trends have shown that trainees do not make it past level 3 resulting in the remaining of the training happening on the job itself.

It is a common misconception that the Kirkpatrick model’s primary function is to help enterprises in the improvement of their ROI (Return on Investment). Another confusion that is also frequently made is to mistake ROE (Return on Expectations) with a common meaning of ROE, ‘Return on Equity’, the profitability of a business in relation to the equity, or the measure of how well a company uses investments to generate earnings growth.

Contrary to what many people believe, the model isn’t designed to measure the Return on Equity or the ROI. The fact is, the Kirkpatrick Model is designed to measure the ROE of any training and is the ultimate indicator of value in the Kirkpatrick Model.

ROE and ROI are different ways of calculating returns on business decisions. As a metric for L&D programs, ROE measures the benefits of training as it meets its objectives, typically based on changes in employee attitude and performance after completing a course. ROE valuation is based on determining the needs of the stakeholders and then deciding how those expectations are converted into actual outcomes.

The Kirkpatrick Evaluation model requires a strong partnership between managers, supervisors and L&D professionals. When this collaborative element is missing, misalignment of expectations is the result. According to the ATD report, Evaluating Learning: Getting to Measurements That Matter, states that while 80% of training professionals believe that evaluating training results is important to their organization, only 35% are confident that their training evaluation efforts meet organizational business goals.⁵

Establishing the ROE of training creates a tangible relationship between training and the resulting performance output of both the learners and the business unit or team striving towards strategic goals evidenced by the trends in their KPIs.

ROE vs ROI (Monetary vs Non-monetary)

ROE: “Return On Expectations” is the missing piece...

"Return on Expectations" is not to be mistaken with “Return on Equity”, is represented in the level 3: Behavioural assessment and level 4: Evaluation. This step is crucial to achieving your monetary ROI represented within your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). When measuring your ROE involves the initial assessment of your trainees or learners. Having your L&D manager understand their job roles through research conducted by identifying and addressing the needs and throughout each department within the organization.

This includes managers, sales, support, shareholders as each area has their own metrics of success. In addition to the company's needs comes the needs for the trainees or learners. It's imperative that the L&D manager structures their training based on a behavioural competency structure. The purpose of this competency structure combined with job position requirements can allow for a full robust L&D that can provide you the results you truly want. There is always a risk of “score transfer” , the ability to lose if skills learned is not applied, so you also want to be able to get your training relevant!

ROI: “Return On Investment” the business monetary results...

Don’t misunderstand that ROI is still just as important as the ROE. ROI is usually governed by the organizations KPI’s that are very tightly correlated with the business goals. As an L&D manager looks after the behavioural aspects of the training the CEOs and department heads look after the results! KPIs can hold a different measurement. For example for an ROE metric can be whether a construction worker can view a dangerous environment and act accordingly, while for ROI the metric can be the reduction safety injuries due to mismanagement.

“Measuring ROI on eLearning can be a challenge, but it can be shown by gathering feedback from students, providing tests to assess knowledge retention, and observing how behaviour such as productivity has changed as a result of the training. Of course, to get ROI a value must be placed on the behavioural gains to decide how much the training was worth. The biggest challenge is to accurately show the value of education since some gains may take more time to show and others are more subjective.” - James Boatwright - CEO of CodeGalaxy

THE SOLUTION: Bridge the gap between the training needs and the business goals of the organization

Measuring both the quantitative and qualitative impact of training is always a challenge, however, it’s one that modern technology is surprisingly well equipped to address.

The metrics of L&D and business connection to get your ROI is stated in the formula below:

This represents the total program benefits as the ROE of the training, minus training costs associated with employee training and divided by the training costs associated with employee training. This should give you the total dollar amount returned per dollar invested.

The ROI must therefore be calculated with the impact of the training on the organization. Vanity metrics, Level 1 and Level 2, are not valid measures of training impact. Alignment, meeting business expectations, knowledge retention, observable and measurable behavioural changes due to training, changes in employee and business performance should be the end goal of all ROI considerations.

Once you’ve set the stage to make sure your L&D initiatives align with the company goals, and that key stakeholders understand the importance of their role and commitment, demonstrating the effectiveness of your training programs stands a better chance of becoming meaningful and worthy of the attention of your company’s senior executives. And, when metrics and KPIs are used to identify problems and make improvements to the learning experience, you’ll be able to increase the value of training for both learners and the business.

Get leadership involved as their feedback is just as important as your trainees feedback so make sure you follow up!

As measuring the impact of your ROI is developing there can be many benefits to running your L&D program such as:

Increased funding

Satisfaction & accountability from the executives

Continuously improves the L&D programs

Managerial support by meeting their KPIs so they comprehend the value out of their L&D

Increased business partnerships and contributions

Building client relationships which is a no brainer! Clients need to see that the L&D has value for their own trainees

After structuring your learning and bridging the gap you can begin to automate with analytical reporting technology can draw from the mountains of data collected by your eLearning technology, including LMS, eCommerce system, and any other integrated systems that learners interact with as part of the learning and training process.

Automatically collating this data and presenting it in intuitive reports is the best way to gain insights from how learners are using your eLearning, how effective lessons and course materials are, understanding the demand for specific courses or programs, and determining the costs and revenue generated from your eLearning overall.

NEED BETTER ROI? Grab your copy of our guide to Assessing The Return On Investment Of A Learning Management System.

Solving eLearning’s ROI & Budget Challenges

Upon the identification of ROI assessment as the most common eLearning challenge, we reached out again to determine how this challenge affects budgetary decisions, and to identify the other major budgetary concerns organizations face with their eLearning.

From the responses, unsurprisingly, the most important budget challenge is determining the return on an organization’s eLearning investment. In many cases, the eLearning ROI is the most important factor in budgeting for eLearning.

“However, a lot of my clients have budget or staff constraints with respect to this final element. If you don't have the budget for a full-time LMS admin, you will have to hand the work to an eLearning developer or Instructional designer...neither of which are crazy passionate about the important but tedious work of LMS administration…” - Erick Prospero - CEO at Ninja Tropic

While the value of eLearning can be evaluated in both monetary and non-monetary terms, one of the major benefits eLearning provides is the ability to be more cost-effective than traditional education and training methods. Despite this, eLearning is far more often a cost-centre than a revenue-generator for most organizations.

Need a new LMS and have no idea where to start calculating the costs? Our blog covering the Top 9 Factors to Consider When Calculating Your LMS Budget is a great place to start!

While generating profits is an essential goal for eLearning businesses, keeping costs as low as possible while delivering learning and business impact is always a key part of determining eLearning ROI. Fortunately, there are ways to address all these budgetary concerns.

THE SOLUTION: Knowing what your business goals to create an accurate LMS budget

There is an ideal solution that can solve all the most common eLearning challenges while also addressing the eLearning budgetary challenges listed above. In a market overcrowded with eLearning technology options, the following checklist will help significantly narrow down the field to only include options that have the resources needed to overcome these concerns and deliver your ideal eLearning environment.

Scalable LMS platform
Ability to measure and report on learning and business data
Full eCommerce, Analytics, and eLearning integration
All systems are xAPI conformant
Provides ongoing education & support services
Clear and risk-limiting pricing structure
Low costs for additional support

A scalable LMS will allow you to easily manage costs, include any desired features and functionality, and scale as your eLearning needs grow. Analytical reporting will enable you to determine both the quantitative and qualitative value of your eLearning for a clear measurement of the ROI from your budget. Adding eCommerce systems that integrate flawlessly with both the LMS and analytics technology provides the opportunity to understand exactly how to grow your eLearning revenues.

When these systems are fully integrated with each other it creates an easy and seamless user experience. Getting all three systems (LMS, eCommerce, and Analytics) from a single technology provider should guarantee that every aspect of your eLearning works well together. It is also an excellent way to keep down the costs of using multiple platforms, so long as the pricing structure is clear and doesn’t have hidden supplementary fees for patching and upgrades.

If you are in the training business or association industry, you might wonder how to sell courses online effectively and increase your ROI? Here are the 5 factors to consider when selling courses online to get you started.

Check this article: Learning, eCommerce & Revenue: 5 Reasons To Monetize Your eLearning Today

Utilize a single eLearning technology provider that can offer a scalable LMS that is fully integrated with eCommerce and analytics systems.

Measuring the return on your eLearning investment is the most common challenge for eLearning in general, and for determining eLearning budgets. Having in-depth analytical reporting from all your learning data can solve this issue by determining course effectiveness, identifying skill gaps, and determining the revenue generated by eLearning initiatives.

However, the reason eLearning ROI is such an important challenge is because of what we use that information to determine: budget. eLearning is generally an expense for most organizations, which makes reducing costs by eliminating them, increasing incoming revenue, or both, the ideal course of action.

The best way to accomplish those goals and transform eLearning from a cost-centre into a revenue-generator is as follows: Utilize an single eLearning technology providers that can offer a scalable LMS that is fully integrated with eCommerce and analytics systems.

This way, all your systems will work well together. Even if problems do occur you’ll only be dealing with a single support team that understands all the technology top to bottom, instead of several isolated teams that can only address issues with a specific part of your eLearning solution.

Ensuring your eLearning has all these aspects will allow you to provide the best eLearning experience with the features and functionality that creates an effective and cost-efficient, learning environment that solves all the most common eLearning challenges at once. Then you can continue to evaluate and grow the ROI of your eLearning investment, regardless of your industry or the goals you need your eLearning to achieve.

References

Training Industry. “Cloud Superiority: Start Growing It From Within.” June 2019, https://trainingindustry.com/articles/it-and-technical-training/cloud-superiority-start-growing-it-from-within-spon-exitcertified/.
Industry 4.0: which technologies will mark the Fourth Industrial Revolution?, 2020-05-04, https://www.iberdrola.com/innovation/fourth-industrial-revolution
go2HR. “EMPLOYEE TRAINING IS WORTH THE INVESTMENT.” unknown 2020, https://www.go2hr.ca/training-development/employee-training-is-worth-the-investment.
Forbes. “Want Your New Employees' Personal Commitment? Take Their Onboarding Personally.” March 2014, https://www.forbes.com/sites/georgebradt/2014/03/19/want-your-new-employees-personal-commitment-take-their-onboarding-personally/.
Atd. “Evaluating Learning: Getting to Measurements That Matter.” April 2016, https://www.td.org/research-reports/evaluating-learning.

Panopto. “Video-Based Learning Facts You Can Use to Make the Case for A Video Platform.” August 2019, https://www.panopto.com/blog/5-facts-you-can-use-to-make-the-case-for-video-in-your-learning-development-organization/.
Security, Identity, and Compliance on AWS. https://aws.amazon.com/products/security/?nc=sn&loc=2
Training Industry. “5 Key Components of Successful and Practical Onboarding.” April 2017, https://trainingindustry.com/articles/onboarding/5-key-components-of-successful-and-practical-onboarding/.
Training Industry. “What You Want Versus What You Need in an LMS.” November 2019, https://trainingindustry.com/articles/learning-technologies/what-you-want-versus-what-you-need-in-an-lms/.
Training Mag. “Global Trends in L&D Analytics.” February 2014, https://trainingmag.com/trgmag-article/global-trends-ld-analytics.
Training Industry. “Leveraging the Evolving Role of the LMS in the Modern Learning Ecosystem.” March 2020, https://trainingindustry.com/articles/learning-technologies/leveraging-the-evolving-role-of-the-lms-in-the-modern-learning-ecosystem/.
ATD. “Cloud LMS or Hosted LMS: How Are They Different?” June 2017, https://www.td.org/insights/cloud-lms-or-hosted-lms-how-are-they-different.
Senat.me. “4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) Characteristics.” January 2018, https://senat.me/en/4th-industrial-revolution-4ir-characteristics/.
Computer Weekly. “What will training look like in the workplace of the future?” April 2012, https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/What-will-training-look-like-in-the-workplace-of-the-future
Are we ready for the Fourth Industrial Revolution? PwC Consumer Intelligence Series 4IR survey, 2019. https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/consulting/library/consumer-intelligence-series/fourth-industrial-revolution.html
Brookings. “The Fourth Industrial Revolution and digitization will transform Africa into a global powerhouse.” January 2020, https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-and-digitization-will-transform-africa-into-a-global-powerhouse/.
World Economic Forum. “4 myths about manufacturing in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” February 2019, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/02/4-myths-about-the-fourth-industrial-revolution-and-how-they-are-holding-you-back/.
World Economic Forum. “The Next Economic Growth Engine Scaling Fourth Industrial Revolution Technologies in Production.” January 2018, http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Technology_and_Innovation_The_Next_Economic_Growth_Engine.pdf.
The HR Observer. “What’s the Difference Between Return on Expectations and Return on Investment?” October 2016, https://www.thehrobserver.com/whats-the-difference-between-return-on-expectations-and-return-on-investment/.
Motor Carrier Passenger Council of Canada. “The Kirkpatrick/Phillips Model for Evaluating Human Resource Development and Training.” December 2009, https://www.thehrobserver.com/whats-the-difference-between-return-on-expectations-and-return-on-investment/.
eLearning Industry. “5 Ways To Measure The ROI Of Your Sales Training Program.” March 2020, https://elearningindustry.com/ways-measure-sales-training-program-roi.
Clarity. “Your ROE is More Important Than ROI.” April 2019, https://clarityconsultants.com/blog/roe-return-on-expectations-return-on-investment/.
10th Magnitude. “OpEx vs. CapEx: The Real Cloud Computing Cost Advantage.” April 2019, https://www.10thmagnitude.com/opex-vs-capex-the-real-cloud-computing-cost-advantage/.

Additional Resources:

eBook: Onboarding Best Practices for Maximum ROI
WhitePaper: Assessing the ROI of a LMS:
Template: LMS RFP Sheet
Webinar: Everything You Need to Build Your eLearning Business
eBook: Big Data for HR: How Predictive Analytics Can Deliver Business Value

Originally published on October 7, 2019. Updated on April 30, 2021.

Totara User Guide Part 3: Advanced Features

marketing@lambdasolutions.net (Lambda Solutions) — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 22:14:19 GMT

A Learning Management System Designed for Businesses: Create Learning Plans with Totara Learn

This guide walks you through the advanced features that Totara Learn offers for businesses to stay on the cutting edge of their learning programs and maximize return on investment.

Once you have implemented everything we covered in The Complete Totara Learn User Guide Part 1: Getting Started and Part 2: Basic Features, it’s time to implement the powerful features that define Totara Learn as the LMS of choice for the corporate and business world.

This final part will show you how you can match the organization of Totara Learn to mirror your enterprise’s organizational structure using Hierarchies, as well as the tools to make Audience Management easy, and how to leverage the power of HR Integration features.

Hierarchies

One of Totara Learn’s key differentiators is the ability to define different hierarchical structures including positions, organizations and goals. Hierarchies in Totara Learn is a powerful feature that stores your company’s entire organization and job structure. Here you can manage learning, drill down within reports and control access to reporting data. This feature allows you to better organize learners, categorize job roles and positions, build frameworks, set strategic goals, customize fields, define competencies, and automate paths of learning.

Position and Organization Structure

The position and organization structure features of Totara Learn allow for mirroring the hierarchical structure and the positions a learner would hold in an organization. This is then used to automate the learner’s path of courses, programs and certifications assigned to align with the skills required for them to do their job properly.

1. Positions

Set up one or multiple position structures.
Defines the job roles that make up your organization.
Enables more flexible reporting.
Users’ learning plans can automatically pull in all competencies and courses assigned to their position/job role.

2. Managing Position Types

Types allow you to set up custom fields and apply those fields to position items set up within your framework. They allow you to apply different custom fields to different items within your position framework, or the same custom fields to all position items.

Types are optional and can be applied in two different ways:

When the hierarchy item is set up.
By editing a hierarchy item.

The Type names and custom fields can be displayed in user reports built through Report builder.

3. Organizations

Set up one or multiple organizational structures.
Defines the regions, departments, groups, areas or teams that make up your organization.
Enables more flexible reporting.
Users’ learning plans can automatically pull in all competencies and courses assigned to their part of the organization.

4. Goals

Set Goals within your Totara Learn site.
These can be either team or individual goals.
Allows you to connect high-level goals at the organizational level with detailed objectives at the individual level using a flexible tiered approach.

5. Goal Frameworks

Goal frameworks are set up to hold the skills, knowledge and behavioural goals you expect staff to achieve. The power of this feature is that goals can be grouped under different kinds of frameworks. For example, one framework could hold all industry national goal standards (taken from an industry body), while another framework could hold specific goals that you define for your company.

6. Goal Reports

Goal frameworks you have set up in the system can be viewed by going to Site Administration > Hierarchies > Goals > Reports. The page shows a table with three columns:

Goal Framework: The name of the goal framework. Clicking on this will take you into the framework.
Number of Goals: How many goals are in the framework.
Reports: A link to a more detailed report on that item.

Within the Reports column, there will either be a link to a Summary report or a Status report which you can click on to see more detailed information.

7. Competencies

Set up one or multiple competency structures.
Defines skills, knowledge and behaviours you measure staff performance against.
Assign courses to competencies and competencies to a particular part of the organization or job role.
A user’s learning plan can automatically pull in all competencies and courses assigned to their organization and job role.

Reading for later? Take Part 3 Home with you.

Audience Management

Who is your audience? Audience management allows site-wide user groups to be populated manually or dynamically using unlimited combinations of rules built on supplied HR data, user completion records and other collected user metrics. This feature also allows each group to be assigned to a limitless number of courses, programs and certifications. Audiences are especially powerful when used with HR Import (see more about this feature in the HR Integration section). With both features enabled, your organization’s enrollments throughout your learning catalogue will be automatically updated based on your regular HR feed and the extensive range of business rules you define.

Use these groups to enroll learners in particular courses, programs and certifications. There are two types of groups:

Set: A set group allows you to manually select and add any user to the group.
Dynamic: A dynamic group is automatically maintained based on a set of rules you create.

Assignment of Multiple Job Assignments and Managers

This is a powerful Totara Learn feature. Job assignments enable users to capture their different responsibilities within their organization and can be created and updated manually via the user’s profile or via HR import. Users may hold any number of job assignments, with each job optionally linked to a position, organization, manager, appraiser or temporary manager.

1. Team

Managers with team members holding one or more job assignments—including users that might report to other managers too—can see all of their team’s details in their Team area and have full access to team member’s record of learning and learning plans.

2. Seminar Events

When requesting seminar event attendance, learners can specify their job assignment relating to the training event, ensuring development relevant to each job assignment is managed effectively.

For seminar events that require manager approval, learners reporting to multiple managers can choose to select which manager should receive the booking approval request. This allows the appropriate manager to approve attendance and manage team member training schedules.

3. Report Builder

Job assignment column and search fields are available within the Report Builder, and content may be filtered by jobs and corresponding managers. This enables detailed data to be gathered around training, responsibilities across the organization and team structures.

TIP! New rules around job assignments are available within Dynamic audiences, allowing custom programs, learning plans, goals and/or access rights to be assigned to the relevant people.

HR Integration

With its powerful out-of-the-box HR Integration capabilities, Totara Learn seamlessly connects user management and human resource information systems (HRIS). This means that less intervention from the IT team is needed to get the site integrated with other systems (translation: increased efficiency and costs!)

Enterprise HR systems store and maintain critical information about the people working in a company. These systems are updated daily as people join the company, change positions, leave and return, or any number of other numerous data that is collected and tracked.

All people working in an organization need training and development regularly, and most of the training and development they need is directly related to information maintained in the enterprise HR system. The way data is stored in an enterprise’s HR system depends greatly on both the HR system being used and the way the system has been configured.

HR import allows the people, position and organization data in Totara Learn to be regularly and automatically updated with all the relevant data delivered from enterprise HR systems. HR import is a one-way synchronization process (from the enterprise HR system to Totara Learn) supporting two types of data exchanges:

CSV file
External database connection

Benefits of Using HR Import

HR Import keeps Totara Learn up-to-date with enterprise HR systems without the need for manual steps. The process automatically creates, updates and deletes record types including: users, positions and organizations, as well as assignments to positions, organizations and managers.

When HR import is used in combination with Totara Learn’s Audience management and Report builder features, Totara Learn will dynamically deliver access to learning content and learning records to the appropriate people within an enterprise based on current HR information.

1. Audiences

Audiences can be defined on the basis of rules, where membership and learning assigned to audience members can be updated on a regular basis. Audience rules can be comprised of any HR data field found in Totara Learn such as organization, position and user data.

2. Report Builder

Report builder allows reports to be created and configured to control which columns of data and filters are shown in a given report, as well as which records are shown to a user viewing the report. Similar to audience rules, a report’s columns can be comprised of any HR data field found in Totara Learn such as organization, position and user data.

Compliance Training

Current compliance environments in almost every industry are increasingly more onerous and complex, and are continuously shifting— particularly in highly regulated industries like finance, insurance, healthcare, and oil and gas. Executives struggle to interpret regulations and turn them into business practices that meet requirements.

In Totara Learn, managing regulatory compliance is made simple. Totara Learn allows you to define and manage the structure of certifications and recertification paths for employees, as well as set expiration dates. Notifications can be set to automatically send custom messages to those staff requiring certification or recertification. It is also possible to run reports on the compliance status of every person in your organization, as well as track upcoming expirations and progress toward certification renewals.

Totara Learn makes it easy to:

Define and manage the structure of certifications and recertification paths.
Set expiration dates.
Edit notification templates to automatically send custom messages.
Run reports on the compliance status of every person in your organization.
Track upcoming expirations and progress toward certification renewals.

Certifications are also integrated with the program management system enabling your team to rapidly build learning paths by grouping courses together into logical sequences and setting the timing between them.

Assign certification and programs to individual learners or in bulk, by organization, position or audience.
Create and share reports on their progress and completions.

Sequence Training

Sequence training for the delivery of compliance training is delivered by two features of Totara Learn: Programs and Certifications. They are very similar but have one key difference. Both are used to sequence learning, for example, “must complete course A before being able to access course B.” Programs allow for you to sequence in this way but when the user completes the pathway, they are finished.

Certifications allow a learner to complete a course pathway and on doing so become “certified.” They are then certified for a defined period of time. After this time expires, they are automatically enrolled back into this pathway and need to go through a recertification pathway. This is a powerful feature as key to compliance training is the ability to see who is certified and when they are due to expire.

Reading for later? Take Part 3 Home with you.

Learning Plans

Learning Plans are a great feature of Totara Learn and can be used in many ways to enhance the LMS experience for learners and managers to communicate progress. Learning plans can include any learning component in Totara Learn and they can integrate with Appraisals to review items of learning. This provides ultimate control for staff to develop their skills for their role within the organization and to foster an appreciation for lifelong learning.

Priorities, due dates and comments are kept up to date and learning plan templates can be configured to suit your personal needs, or you can use the default template that is already provided.

Learning plans can be created by both learners and managers depending on the workflow, which can be changed to customize needs. Learning plans can also be automated to include courses that are assigned to a specific role within your organization and competencies someone must have.

Individual learning plans reflect your employees’ roles, training needs and objectives. Users can access and/or create templates, objectives, competencies, comments, evidence and workflow priorities.

Learning plans show all of the learning, competencies and objectives learners are working on now, their upcoming deadlines, what items are mandatory and what to prioritize. Learners love this feature because they can easily monitor their progress and directly access learning activities from their plan.

This feature allows quick and targeted access to relevant learning, which may be conducted face-to-face or within the LMS. The Learning plan enables staff to see at a glance their progress against specific learning events and the whole plan.

For more resources on planning lessons in Totara Learn, check out this article about Developing Learning Plans with Totara Learn LMS.

Getting Started with Learning Plans

This feature is based on a site-wide template which is configured by the Site Administrator. There are a wide range of implementation and configuration options to support the different ways you can use Learning plans to support your employees.

Learning plans can be configured in a number of ways, including:

Competency Centric: switch off Objective, Programs and Course assignment
Program Centric: switch off Objectives, Courses and Competencies assignment
Competency/Objective: switch off Course and Program assignment
Hybrid: allows mixture of Competencies, Courses, Programs and Objectives

1. Manage Templates

The learning plans your staff create are based on a template created by the Site Administrator. Multiple templates can be set up, however, there can only be one active template used at a time. When you have multiple templates, the active template appears at the top of the Manage templates list and has (Default) after the plan title.

In summary, Learning plans make it easy:

to set up templates to structure the workflow between learners and their managers
for learners to monitor their progress and directly access learning activities from their plan
to manage the process with approval workflows, comment boxes and notifications

2. Learning Plans at a Glance

Personalized learning plans
Custom workflows
External evidence for courses, programs, certifications
Add courses, programs and certifications to plans
Add learning objectives to plans
Priorities and due dates for learning plan items

Reading for later? Take Part 3 Home with you.

In case you want to review part 1 and part 2 of our Totara Learn User Guides, click below to revisit the resources!

Next Step

If you are searching for:

reliable Totara hosting and LMS support services
customization and consulting for your existing system
a solution with robust reporting capabilities for your LMS

Our solutions combine a choice of robust hosting platforms, seamless integration with your enterprise applications and friendly, easy to access support. Contact us for details!

Totara User Guide Part 2: Basic Features

marketing@lambdasolutions.net (Lambda Solutions) — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 21:54:30 GMT

Keep a Competitive Edge with Totara Learn

This guide will show you how to utilize the powerful basic features of Totara Learn that will enable your organization to deliver cutting edge learning programs designed to assist with your HR and organizational hierarchies, catalogue and user management, staying on top of certifications and compliance regulations, as well as customization options and plugins.

Catalogue Management

Course catalogues in large organizations can be overwhelming. One of the great things about Totara Learn is the ability to make a user friendly course catalogue. With Totara Learn’s enhanced functionality, courses and programs can be restricted so they are only visible to learners if they are a member of the relevant audience.

Administrators can also decide on the layout of the catalogue including the data that is displayed about each course, the filters used to dynamically update the course list and a search toolbar which can be multi-field. The use of dynamic filtering with tags makes it so much easier for a user to navigate a learning catalogue. Learners can also use custom filters to dynamically filter the list of items that appear in a course catalogue.

1. Categories and Subcategories

Categories are the folders set up to hold your courses and programs, much like the folders you set up on your computer to hold your files and documents. You can make one category a subcategory of another by checking the box to the left of its name and then by selecting from the drop down menu Move selected categories to. You can create a new empty sub-category by clicking the actions icon next to its name in the Site administration menu under Courses > Manage courses and categories. and selecting Create new subcategory.

2. Tags

Tags are keywords used to categorize courses and activities, programs and certification to help users find these items during a search. There are two types of tags that can be assigned to courses or certifications:

Standard tags: these are defined by the Administrator and are site wide.
Tags defined by learners: these are defined by learners for their own personal use.

Once a tag has been defined, other users can also select the tag to categorize their content. The Tag Manager enables the site administrator to see all of the tags that have been defined and ensure that tags are consistently and appropriately used.

NOTE: Prior to Totara version 10 and 11, Standard tags were known as Official tags.

3. Tag Collections

Tag collections are sets of tags for different areas of Totara. For example, a collection of standard tags can be used to tag courses, but user interests and blog post tags are kept in a separate collection. When a user clicks on a tag, the tag page displays only items with that tag in the same collection.

Tags can be automatically added to a collection according to the area tagged or can be added manually as standard tags. Clicking on the name of a tag collection then displays the list of tags, together with information on their creators, how many times they are used, when they were last modified, which tags have been flagged as inappropriate, and which tags are marked as standard.

4. Configuring Courses

When configuring courses, a number of settings can be set as follows:

Course Requests: If you want users to be able to request new courses, you can enable course requests in Totara.
Course Default Settings: Course default settings allow you to set the default settings used for new courses. You can adjust the course default settings so that they match your organization’s preferences.These will be the initial settings for all new courses, although they can be changed on individual courses after creation.
- To set your preferred default course settings go to Site administration > Courses > Course default settings.
Course Custom Fields: Custom fields allow you to set up custom fields on the Course settings page.

Reading for later? Take Part 2 Home with you.

User Management

Guest Access & Audience Management

There are many ways to administer users in Totara Learn, whether it’s arranging them into audiences or groups or allocating them specific roles within the system. Different roles will have different permissions to perform various tasks and access various areas. You can also create your own roles to suit your organization’s needs.

Audience Management in Totara Learn is a time-saving feature that allows site-wide user groups to be populated manually or dynamically using unlimited combinations of rules built on supplied HR data, user completion records and other collected user metrics. The feature also allows each group to be assigned to a limitless number of courses, programs and certifications. Audiences are especially powerful when used with HR Import. With both features enabled, your organization’s enrollments throughout your learning catalogue will be automatically updated based on your regular HR feed and the extensive range of business rules you define.

You can use these groups to enroll learners in particular courses, programs and certifications. There are two types of groups:

Set: A set group allows you to manually select and add any user to the group.
Dynamic: A dynamic group is automatically maintained based on a set of rules you create.

Dashboards

Dashboards are a visual representation of how content is displayed on selected user’s home pages. Dashboards are able to be assigned to audiences and users can select and customize their assigned dashboards if allowed.

TIP! The Totara dashboard is also referred to as the My Learning page and can be accessed by clicking on the Dashboard tab. It contains the Current learning block, which enables learners to see their progress and any outstanding learning.

HR Import

People working in an organization need training and development regularly, and most of the training and development they need is directly related to information maintained in the enterprise HR system. With its powerful out-of-the-box HR Integration capabilities, Totara seamlessly connects user management and human resource information systems (HRIS).

Reading for later? Take Part 2 Home with you.

Position & Organization Hierarchies

The power of Totara Learn really shines for organizations with the position and organization hierarchies features. They allow for mirroring the hierarchical structure and positions a learner would hold in an organization which is then used to automate the learner’s path of courses, programs and certifications assigned. With positions, organizations and audiences, user information such as the courses, programs and certifications associated with a learner can be identified.

TIP! You can set up and modify as many organization and position frameworks as required for your system.

Managing Enrollments

Once you have your courses set up, you can enroll users in the course. Enrollment methods must be enabled at the site level and Totara Learn provides a large number of course enrollment methods. Refer to the Managing Courses section in the Totara User Guide Part 1 for step by step details.

Managing Teams

Totara makes management tasks easier by enabling managers to be set up in the system. This can be done in one of two ways, by manually adding users or using the HR Import tool.

Reading for later? Take Part 2 Home with you.

GDPR

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) began to be enforced on May 25, 2018 and the new laws force virtually all websites and online platforms in the world to put control of data firmly back into the users’ hands. LMS platforms are able to process, analyze and report on data submitted by administrators and site users. The updated GDPR regulations affect these systems by holding them accountable to various changes and updates to data protection legislation.

Think because your company is not based in the EU that the GDPR doesn’t apply to you? Think again! GDPR compliance affects all companies, businesses and groups that hold, process and analyze the personal data of EU subjects, regardless of the whereabouts or headquarters of the company.

Working closely with Totara Partners across the EU, the team at Totara HQ took a proactive approach to supporting the rights mandated by the GDPR and released Totara Learn 11 ahead of the May 25 regulation. This gave organizations using Totara Learn the flexibility to control notifications to users about how their data will be used, give users access to the data held about them and manage the scenarios where an organization no longer needs to hold personal data.

1. Steep Fines

Organizations that do not adhere to GDPR compliance rules may be fined up to 4% of total annual global revenue for breaching GDPR or €20 Million! This represents the maximum fine that may be imposed for those found to violate the legislation.

The fines are tiered, meaning that an organization may be fined 2% for not having their data records in good working order, not notifying the supervising authority and data subject about a data breach or by not conducting impact assessments.

A learning management platform and software on its own doesn’t ensure GDPR compliance. Totara is just one piece of the GDPR pie and compliance is a result of:

implementing robust processes
clearly articulating policies and information given to users informing them of their rights and how you use their data
enabling technology to deal with requests from individuals that arise from their increased rights under GDPR

2. How Totara Supports GDPR

Totara Learn 11, and all subsequent releases, make it easy for users to understand who will have access to their personal and private information, what the data will be used for and provide consent to site policies regarding use of their personal data. Totara Learn provides extensive reporting capabilities to view, filter and export data to a number of usable formats. The features are described below:

a. Security Settings (previously named Site Policies)

Security Settings enable the ability for:

administrators to track the version of a site policy and any opt-ins that a user has agreed to
individual users to visit the site policy pages they have signed up to and amend their agreements to the policy or opt-ins

The Site policies functionality allows you to create and manage multiple site policies, including different versions and translations, all of which can require consent by the user.

b. User Data Management

To help facilitate the access to and removal of data, Totara Learn has two configurable features: export types and purge types. Export types allow you to configure what data should be exported, whereas purge types allow you to configure for the removal of data. Purging is different from the standard deletion process (e.g. clicking Delete user on a user’s profile) as it allows more control over which data is removed.

c. Export Types

You can create and manage different export types to decide which contain a list of data items that will be exported when a user requests an export of their own data, and an export task is run to produce a file containing this data.

It is useful to create an export type if:

Your organization needs to restrict users from exporting data you consider to be sensitive.
Due to impacts on site performance, you may want to provide the option of a reduced export type and a more comprehensive type (to meet GDPR requirements).

TIP! Users will only be able to export their own data and not that of others. When creating an export type, User exporting own data has to be selected to make the type available for use. Also, in Settings, the option for allowing user exports has to be selected to make the export function available to users.

d. Purge Types

A purge type contains a list of data items that will be purged (deleted, or anonymized if deleting is not possible due to system constraints) when a purge task is run. A purge type is restricted to being applied to a single user status type (Active, Suspended, Deleted). This is because the user status dictates which items may be available for purging (e.g. some data, like an email address, is only safe to delete when a user is in a Deleted state), and because scheduling a purge is connected to a user being assigned the Suspended or Deleted status (this status is the marker that indicates the user’s data should be purged in the next scheduled run of that purge type). User statuses are a way for the system to track the status of a user. In order to suspend or delete a user, you simply need to go to their profile and suspend or delete them.

e. Data Deletion

In order to comply with data retention policies and the right to erasure, administrators can configure these three purge types:

A type that:

keeps a user’s certification completions (they may represent compliance course completions), and
deletes the forum posts that they made when collaborating with other learners in courses.

A type that:

anonymizes the user profile information (so that the user cannot be identified anywhere in the system where user details would normally be displayed or tracked), and
deletes the performance management data (appraisals, 360° feedback, goals), and
keeps the course completion information (so you could still track content usage statistics for electronic content and physical training event fill-rates (seminars).

A type that:

deletes all the data related to a user.

To adhere to your data retention policy period and the requirement to only keep the data you need for as long as you need it, you may choose to apply a type when a person leaves the organization, the second type after five years and the third after seven years. This powerful feature enables administrators to configure these “purge types” and therefore what they mean for data in different areas across the platform—helping to keep the GDPR police away!

f. Data Portability

Totara’s data export feature provides all user data in a consistent format that allows for porting of data. Key learning data to be exported is in a more “human readable” format, via the Report Builder and Record of Learning areas. This is useful for an individual wanting to take their completion data (courses, competencies, certifications) with them to a new employer, for example.

g. Exports, Purges and Deleted Users Reports

To view a list of pending or complete exports or purges, go to either:

Export: Site administration > Users User data management > Exports.
Purges: Site administration > Users User data management > Purges.

TIP! Organizations running on earlier major releases of Totara need to upgrade to Totara Learn 11 in order to utilize these built-in improvements for achieving GDPR compliance. Need help with that? Contact our team of LMS experts today and we’ll get you up and running in no time.

Reading for later? Take Part 2 Home with you.

Next Step

Download The Complete Totara Learn User Guide Part 3: Advanced Features for a look at how to get your content online, set up your courses, organize your users, and customize your design to stay properly branded.

Did you miss Part 1 of our User Guide? Click the following link to go back to the resources:

Totara User Guide Part 1: Getting Started

Totara User Guide Part 1: Getting Started

marketing@lambdasolutions.net (Lambda Solutions) — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 21:24:47 GMT

Introduction to Totara Learn

Foreword

You’ve found The Complete Totara Learn User Guide, your source for all the answers to the most frequently asked questions regarding the world’s leading open source Learning Management System designed for the world of business.

The user guide has been split into three parts for your convenience, each covering progressively more complex features, with comprehensive and easy to follow step-by-step instructions to make it as easy as possible to gain all the benefits Totara Learn LMS has to offer.

Part 1 – Getting Started, is exactly that! Unveil the truth behind the global labour crunch and how you can navigate the new workforce landscape without losing a step with the powerful benefits that Totara Learn has to offer as your Learning Management System solution.

Then we’ll dive right into the LMS basics, providing step-by-step instructions on how to:

Manage content, courses, activities, and enrollments
Establish Offline and Blended Learning programs
Begin matching the organization of your LMS with the hierarchies of your enterprise

On top of all that, we’ll also cover learner personalization options, introduce the wide array of customization functionality, and show you exactly how Totara Learn LMS is built to help your business train, develop, and grow.

Part 1: Getting Started with Totara Learn

A Learning Management System (LMS) For Businesses and Corporate Learning

Are you thinking about adopting a learning management system (LMS) for the first time to support your corporation’s growing training needs? Or, are you fighting your current system that you’ve outgrown to make it work for your business? Maybe you are already using Moodle and are finding that it is lacking the functionality and capabilities you desperately need for your business to train workers and stay ahead of the pack in your industry.If any of the above points hit home with your situation, THINK TOTARA.

For those already familiar with Moodle, switching to Totara Learn—“Moodle’s corporate cousin”—will be an easy transition. Totara Learn is an open source distribution of the Moodle learning management system that has evolved specifically to meet the modern needs of businesses today.

While Moodle was originally built for the educational space, companies often find that it lacks the functionality needed for their businesses. Totara Learn has stepped up to the plate to meet these needs. With over 11 million users and growing, it has become the enterprise open source LMS and social learning platform of choice used by some of the world’s leading brands including Sony, Kodak, Berlitz, Samsung and Yamaha.

Totara Learn’s Four Freedoms

Totara Learn is dedicated to providing organizations with a powerful, flexible and innovative, open source platform and is based on Four Freedoms:

1. Freedom to Innovate

You are a creator, producer, problem-solver, innovator. Open innovation is empowering. Create the platform you want, rather than being forced to compromise. Adapt to changing circumstances and future proof your investment.

2. Freedom to Save

With Totara Learn, there are no expensive licensing agreements or locked down contracts. Save up to 80% of your total cost of ownership compared to other leading enterprise-class learning platforms. Maximize your budget and invest where it really counts—on your content and learners.

3. Freedom of Choice

Totara’s global community of solution providers offers you a real choice of value-added expertise. You get all the freedom, flexibility and benefits of Totara Learn with the attentiveness and personalized service of your chosen Partner.

4. Freedom to Learn

Totara’s open and flexible platform enables you to embrace change and create engaging learning experiences. Deliver seamless on-brand learning environments, improve teamwork, manage regulatory compliance and harness social learning.

Reading for later? Take Part 1 Home with you.

Top Five Benefits of Totara Learn LMS

Open source software: freedom and flexibility supported by a strong user community
No licensing costs, sustained by simple, affordable subscriptions: low cost alternative to locked down contracts
Accessed via a web browser: easy online and mobile access for users and learners; hosted securely in the cloud
Flexible and fully featured: choose how you want to use it and integrate it with other business software
Supported by a strong partner network: tap into the expertise of partners offering a wide range of value-added services and expertise)

The next sections will walk you through the most important features to get you started with Totara Learn.

Corporate Learning and Delivery

Managing Content

1. SCORM Compliance

SCORM is an acronym for Sharable Content Object Reference Model, a set of technical standards and specifications used to create eLearning courses so that they are compatible with learning management systems. If your course meets the standards and specifications of SCORM, then it is said to be ‘SCORM compliant’ and should integrate seamlessly in your LMS. In addition to this, your SCORM compliant course will communicate with your LMS so that your LMS tracks the activities of your learners.

2. LTI Support (External Tool)

The External Tool feature in Totara Learn lets you incorporate content from external providers via LTI, which stands for Learning Tools Interoperability. Using LTI external learning applications can receive data from and send data to your Totara Learn site.

You can add an External Tool directly to a course or a Site Administrator can add it at the system level, meaning that anyone can use it throughout the site. This is great for shared applications.

3. Static Content Creation (Labels)

The Label module enables text and multimedia to be inserted into the course page in between links to other resources and activities. Labels are very versatile and can help to improve the appearance of a course if used thoughtfully.

Labels can be used to:

split up a long list of activities with a subheading or an image
display an embedded sound file or video directly on the course page
add a short description to a course section

4. File Uploads

The file module enables a trainer to provide a file as a course resource. Where possible, the file will be displayed within the course interface, otherwise learners will be prompted to download it. The file may include supporting files, for example, an HTML page may have embedded images or Flash objects.

NOTE: Learners need to have the appropriate software on their computers in order to open the file.

A file may be used to:
share presentations given in class
include a mini website as a course resource
provide draft files of certain software programs (eg. Photoshop .psd) so students can edit and submit them for assessment

5. Dragging and Dropping Files

Simply click, hold, then drag and drop a file directly onto your course page. A message will briefly appear at the top of your screen to indicate whether this action is available or not. Folders must first be compressed/zipped before dragging and dropping them.

6. Uploading Files Manually

Instead of drag and drop, you can click the link Add an activity or resource and select File from the activity chooser (or choose from the Add a resource menu, if this is present instead). Clicking on the Add button takes you to the File picker which is the name given to the file storage and access area within Totara Learn LMS.

Having an effective way of getting access to this information is imperative for managers and C-suite executives to track progress, monitor completion rates or control access. They want to be able to run reports and dashboards that show whether objectives are being met and determine the return on investment.

Most LMS systems give access to only certain datasets, but not all data. If the built-in reporting functions of your LMS isn’t sufficient for your requirements, seek out vendors who can provide a reporting and analytics solution with enhanced capabilities.

Reading for later? Take Part 1 Home with you.

Activities

1. Database Activity

The database activity is both powerful and complex and has a number of capabilities that enable you to “fine-tune” your learners’ interaction with the activity.

Database activities enable participants to create, maintain and search a collection of entries (i.e. records). The structure of the entries is defined by the instructor as a number of fields. Field types include checkbox, radio buttons, drop-down menu, text area, URL, picture and uploaded file. Database activities have many uses, such as a collaborative collection of web links, books, book reviews, journal references etc.

2. Glossary Activity

The Glossary Activity feature in Totara Learn can be used in many ways as detailed below:

allow participants to create and maintain a list of definitions, like a dictionary
learner entries can be previewed by instructors before publishing
entries can be searched or browsed using alphabet, category, date and author
a glossary of terms can be easily referenced by learners
almost any module of Totara Learn can be set to hyperlink automatically to any word or phrase that is stored in or added to the glossary
glossary items can be grouped into categories
participants can comment on glossary entries
entries can be rated using trainer defined scales

Glossaries can be:

fully searched
viewed with different display formats
easily exported and imported via XML

3. Lesson Activity

A lesson is an activity that uses a series of pages to present the learner with information and questions. You can create a simple lesson like a slideshow, where the learner navigates through a series of pages or a branching lesson. A branching lesson allows you to present information in a non-linear way, where the learner is presented with a series of decisions that determine their path through the lesson. The learner’s answers are scored and feedback provided.

For planning lessons in Totara Learn, check out this article about Developing Learning Plans with Totara Learn LMS.

4. Planning a Lesson

Building lessons uses content and question pages and branches. There are two basic pages that you can create:

a. CONTENT PAGES

A page with a set of links to other pages in the lesson.
Each link has two components: a jump and a description that the learner sees as a button.
Divides the lesson into a number of branches (or sections).
Each branch can contain a number of pages.
The end of a branch is usually marked by an End of Branch page.
Can also be used to hold content in a lesson as a simple page with a Continue button at the bottom of the page.

b. QUESTION PAGES

Pages that have a set of links to other pages in the lesson.
There are six question types to choose from:
- multiple choice
- true/false
- short answer
- Numerical
- Matching
- Essay
Different jumps can be created based on the learners’ answers.

c. BRANCHES

Branches can be nested within each other. For example, a lesson might be structured so that specialist points are sub branches within the main subject branch.

5. Creating a Lesson

The lesson tool enables you to create a series of screens with links between them depending on the user’s answer to questions or the pathway you have defined—enabling you to use a decision-tree approach to learning.

Reading for later? Take Part 1 Home with you.

Managing Courses

1. Creating Courses

Courses contain the activities and resources that learners will access to complete their training. A course is a single page broken into sections by topics or weeks with links to the activities and resources that the learner will access.

2. Course Formats

Totara Learn provides you with a number of options for the general format of your course. You can choose to order your course chronologically by week, conceptually by topic, or socially with a big forum as the central organizing principle. The course formats options are:

a. SINGLE ACTIVITY FORMAT

The course will include one activity only without any sections. Choose the type of activity that you want to appear when the course is selected. This format is suitable for courses that have just one activity..

b. SOCIAL FORMAT

The social format is based on a single forum for the whole course and is useful for less formal courses or for non-training uses such as maintaining departmental sites.

c. TOPICS FORMAT

When you create a course using the topics format, start by choosing the number of topics you will cover. Totara Learn creates a section for each topic. You can add content, forums, quizzes and other activities to each topic section. If your course design is concept-oriented, and learners will be working through a range of concepts but not necessarily according to a fixed schedule, this is a good choice.

d. WEEKLY FORMAT

With this format, you specify a course start date and the number of weeks the course is to run. Totara Learn will create a section for each week of your course and the current week is highlighted. You can add content, forums, quizzes etc. in the section for each week. If you want all your learners to work on the same materials at the same time, this is a good format to choose.

Uploading Multiple Courses

Although it is possible to manually create courses in the system, you may wish to create courses via a file upload, especially if you want to create multiple courses at once. Site administrators can do this, as well as anyone with tool/uploadcourse:uploadcourses capability which by default is the Manager and Course creator roles (when assigned at system level). Any Managers or Course creators with the right permissions will be able to create courses and will also be able to delete courses (even if they do not have the capability course:delete set to allow).

Enrolling Users

Once you have set up your course, you can enroll users in the course. Enrollment methods must be enabled at the site level to be available within Courses.

This can be done by doing the following steps:

Click the Administration block within Site administration > Plugins > Enrollments > Manage enroll plugins
Each course can enroll users using different enrollment methods.
The enrollment methods can be hidden and have their settings changed and reordered. Being the flexible platform that it is, Totara Learn provides a large number of course enrollment methods detailed in the table below.

Course Completions

Using completion conditions allows the system to automatically report when a learner completes a course. If a learner has completed the course, or activities used to calculate the course completion, the completion options are locked. Courses with completion conditions set can be used as evidence items for competencies.

Reading for later? Take Part 1 Home with you.

Next Step

Download The Complete Totara Learn User Guide Part 2: Basic Features for a look at how to get your content online, set up your courses, organize your users, and customize your design to stay properly branded. Get the most of Totara Learn LMS!

Check out our Totara learn's product page for more information about the business world's best open source LMS!

Moodle™ vs Totara: Which LMS is Right for Me?

marketing@lambdasolutions.net (Lambda Solutions) — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 23:58:21 GMT

Last Updated: September 18, 2020

Moodle and Totara are both robust and flexible learning management systems, but how do you decide which one is right for your organization?

What is Moodle?

Moodle is an industry leading open source learning management system to deliver your eLearning programs. With over 202,000,000 users in 200+ countries, Moodle is a proven platform for educators, trainers and learners.

As a highly flexible LMS, Moodle can be used to conduct courses online or to support face-to-face teaching. Functionality can be extended with over 500 plugins for assignments, quizzes, grading, certification, and social and collaborative learning.

READ MORE: Check out our Moodle User Guide: An Introduction To Moodle, which will provide you with an overview of what Moodle can do and how it has been utilized across different industries.

What is Totara Learn?

Totara is an open source distribution of Moodle. Moodle was primarily built to suit the needs of Education where Totara was designed for Corporate Learning. You get the same benefits of using an open source platform and leveraging Moodle with a significant increase in functionality.

So what gain do you get in functionality? Check out our comparison chart below or click here to learn more about Totara.

Totara Learn 12 and Moodle 3.8 LMS Feature Comparison Chart

There are many similarities between the two popular open-source LMS options and we are here to help you identify which fits with your needs (click on the chart below for a PDF version):

Got questions about our Moodle or Totara hosting and implementation services? Contact us and ask our eLearning Solutions Experts anything!

Last Updated: September 18, 2020

Moodle™ User Guide Chapter 3: Advanced Features of Moodle

marketing@lambdasolutions.net (Lambda Solutions) — Fri, 13 Sep 2019 12:16:49 GMT

Advanced Moodle Features, will show you how to get the most out of Moodle using its most powerful and popular plugins to engage learners, track performance, and integrate with other business systems. You’ll find in-depth instruction on how to implement:

Data Analytics and Reporting
Features that improve learning engagement
Administrative features for productivity and fighting plagiarism
Organizational features that will keep things flowing smoothly

You can also download chapter one (Introduction to Moodle) and chapter two (top features of Moodle) today and learn exactly how to get the most out of the world’s most popular open source LMS platform!

Performance Tracking in Moodle

The Importance of Reporting

Learning Management Systems such as Moodle are like goldmines for data that are continually collecting a wealth of information about learners and their activity. Learning analytics can be used to dig into these golden nuggets of insight to improve decision-making by taking a data-driven approach. As a result, a world of benefits open up such as higher learner engagement, better user experience, improved organizational processes, enhanced training effectiveness, and increased revenue. These are just a few of the possibilities.

Moodle comes with basic reporting functions that look at only a few subsets of data which we outline below. Reports are available for Instructors, Administrators and Learners. For advanced reporting, we recommend adopting a modern solution like Lambda Analytics to extend the basic reporting capabilities in Moodle by being able to connect to and analyze all of your learning data stored in the LMS.

Insights for Everyone

Moodle Reports for Instructors

Grader Report—This report provides access to the grades for each learner in a course and can be accessed by going to Administration > Course Administration > Grades. This report pulls all of the graded items from the various parts of Moodle and presents them to you, allowing you to change them, or sort them into categories as you wish. When you add a graded item into the course in Moodle, the grader report automatically leaves some room for the grades the course will produce. These fields will be automatically populated with grades as they are generated.

User Report—This report displays the grades of every user enrolled in the course. It offers a breakdown of the grades for each grade item within the course, the weight of each graded item in the overall grade, the option to include instructor feedback with each grade, and the final grade for the course.

Overview Report—This report is functional for both instructors and learners. Instructors can use this report to see an overview of courses they are teaching, and the current grades for learners by clicking on the link “Courses I am teaching” on the overview report.

Activity Completion Report—When Activity Completion is enabled, an easy to use checklist of what learners have done so far is presented, allowing them to track their own course progress. This report can be viewed by managers, instructors and non-editing teachers, by going to Administration > Course Administration > Reports > Activity Completion. You can manage who can view it (all participants, or just those who are selected).

Course Completion Progress Report—This report shows a column for each of the activities/resources in courses that have “Completion Tracking” enabled. It shows a row for each user enrolled in the course and the completion status for each activity. There is also a checklist for course grade, date passed, period post-enroll, un-enroll, self, teacher, course complete and mark complete. You can check self-select this into your view.

Moodle Reports for Administrators

Activity Log Report—This report comes in two views: A course activity report, or an individual activity report.

The Course Activity Report shows how many views (in numbers) there are for every activity and resource, as well as any related blog entries. These can be accessed by Moodle managers, teachers and non-editing teachers, as well as anyone who has the “report/outline:view” capability.

In an Individual Activity Report, participants have access to a report of their contributions to a course, including activities like forum posts, assignment submissions and logs.

Change Log/Config Changes Report—The Config Changes report allows administrators to see which parts of Moodle have recently been changed or altered. This log shows you the date the change was made, which administrator made the change, the plugin, the setting and the new value.

Course Automated Backups—This report is a detailed log of all scheduled course backups, the time it took to create them, their status and the scheduled time for the next scheduled automated backup. It also includes details such as the name of the particular course, and the date, hour and minute when each step was performed. This log is most useful when troubleshooting backup errors.

Moodle Reports for Learners

Overview Report—With this report learners can see an overview of their grades in all Moodle courses through a link that says “Grades” in the user menu. Here, users can access the courses they are taking. When they click on a course, they will be redirected to an overview report for activities in their course.

Activity Log Report—This report comes in two views: A course activity report, or an individual activity report. With Individual Activity Reports, participants can access a report of their contributions to a course, including activities such as forum posts assignment submissions and logs.

Reports for Executives

Corporate leaders are demanding to know what they’re getting out of their training investment and have more pressure than ever from their organizations to demonstrate the tangible business impact of training. Measuring training ROI is not always straightforward. As a result, training evaluation has historically been focused on activities, asking questions such as:

How many people completed the course?
How many man-hours were spent in training?
What was the cost to the organization?

With the rising importance of training today, this is no longer enough. Executives are recognizing the value of making the right investments in their people, and are demanding proof of concrete business results. In order to do this, L&D professionals will need to demonstrate clear growth in trainee skill sets, linked to actual improvements in job performance.

Lambda Analytics makes it easy to create compelling visualizations, including tables, charts and cross-tabs. Bring your views and reports together into stunning, filtered dashboards and schedule reports to be sent to anyone in your organization who needs them.

Need More Moodle Reporting Capabilities?

Connect to and analyze ALL of your learning data stored in Moodle with Lambda Analytics!

Create compelling visualizations including tables, charts and cross-tabs. Bring your views and reports together into stunning, filtered dashboards. Or work from over 30 pre-configured views, reports and dashboards connected to your LMS that are ready to run and share.

Struggling with Moodle? Let us walk you through a solution that brings the benefits of Moodle with eCommerce and Analytics to the table.

Feedback Module & Surveys in Moodle

Moodle’s Feedback module is not the same as its Survey module. With Moodle’s Feedback module, you can create your own questions to conduct surveys. Using Moodle’s Survey tool, you have to choose from a list of pre-written questions that you create (similar to Moodle Quiz). Moodle Feedback Activities are also ideal for course, trainer or instructor evaluations, as there is the option of creating non-graded questions. With the Moodle Feedback Module you can:

Manage when the survey will be available (i.e. x date to y date)
Enable or disable anonymous feedback
Select whether users can make multiple submissions (yes or no)
Manage whether you want to be notified about submissions (yes or no)
Show summary results to respondents
Link to a new activity once a survey is submitted

Building Feedback

When creating a new feedback activity, you can begin designing your survey by “adding questions.” Select the type of question you want from a drop list to create: longer text answer, multiple choice, multiple choice (rated), numeric answer and short text answer.

After you have created the questions, you can manage the order of the questions and specify which ones are required to be answered by users. By creating dependence items and dependence values, users can be asked questions conditional on their answers to a previous question. In other words, you can make it so that certain questions are only visible once a previous question has been answered. This can be used to find out more information. For example, if the user said the course is poor, a comments question can be displayed to gain more insight.

In the “Analysis” screen you can see a graphical view of the data entered for each question. Here, you also have the option of exporting the results to an Excel file for further statistical analysis.

As mentioned, feedback is most commonly used to evaluate educators and courses, but it also has other extended functions such as:

Guest Survey can be used by non-users, such as parents, to submit their feedback anonymously through an open and accessible page.
Guests can sign up for events or courses using the Feedback module.
The Feedback module can be used as a Contact Us form by non-users (i.e. users without a login).
It can be used as a safe platform for learners to anonymously report incidents of bullying or harassment, including details of what happened, and where.
Learners can use the Feedback module to select course modules or subjects they wish to study in subsequent years or semesters. The results can easily be exported and used to match availability.

Moodle Competency Learning and Training

When developing a Competency Based Learning (CBL) program with the Moodle Competency Module, training managers are equipped with a process for defining competencies that are linked to an evaluation scale such as a series of numbers or letters used to determine the learner’s level of understanding of the defined competency. This could also be something such as not competent, competent with supervision, fully competent. Unlike grades, which may be composed of test scores, participation points, attendance and projects, competencies assess a series of statements which can be provided at the end of a course along with the overall grade or even at the activity level.

Before setting up your competency learning program in Moodle, it is important to have clearly identified the competencies that are to be achieved with the completion of the courses and/or activities. Once these have been defined, it is a matter of going through the various activities and assigning competencies that are achieved once completed. Activities can cover single or multiple competencies and can be set so that they are only achieved once a student has attained a certain level of understanding. This level of understanding is defined by either completion of an activity or course, or a set of minimum scores.

Using Gamification to Engage Learners

When learners are engaged with their material, training effectiveness skyrockets. Gamification is one of the most effective ways to encourage learner engagement. According to market intelligence company Newzoo, there are more than 2 billion video game players worldwide and the video game industry is worth 100 billion today and growing. Progressive educators have caught onto this game by incorporating elements of video gaming into their instructional design. The approach taps into the human reward center to help build engagement. Often, it does not involve playing games at all but applies similar mechanics in a non-game context to engage users in solving problems and retaining material.

Gamification offers the learner the option to learn through failure as well, allowing them to learn by trying things, exploring if it works, failing and trying it again. For this to be most effective the failure should lead to a learning opportunity. If a problem is asked to be solved, and it is not successfully solved, there should be a lesson follow-up or the ability for the learner to attempt things again with maybe a hit or push in the right direction to be successful the 2nd or 3rd time through. People often fail in games but learn quickly by adapting to solve a problem or meet a challenge. Engagement intensified!

Gamification stimulates two basic psychological human needs: the first is a need for competence (a desire to seek out control or to feel mastery over a situation) and secondly, autonomy (the desire to feel independent or have a certain amount of control over our actions).

Gamification in Moodle

Gamification can be applied in Moodle, using game design elements, mechanics and thinking to make learning more engaging for the learners. Common gaming tactics are used to ignite healthy competition and the desire for learners to ‘win’. Game-based learning on the other hand utilizes tangible games such as hangman or crosswords. The Moodle Games Plugin allows you to utilize glossaries, short answer questions, multiple choice questions, and true/false questions to quiz learners with the following popular games:

Hangman
Crossword
Cryptex
Millionaire
Sudoku
The Hidden Picture
Snakes and Ladders

Moodle Plugins That Support Gamification

Moodle has several features and plugins that enable you to step up your engagement learning game by adding gaming features to your programs.

Points

Points can be awarded to learners to motivate them throughout courses and activities. They can be used to drive desired behaviours, signify status in a course, and even unlock new learning stages or rewards.

Challenges, Badges & Achievements

Motivate learners to do more, innovate faster and work smarter than others. Challenges that are a bit difficult and more meaningful for your learners that provide visible recognition will motivate them to reach higher and work even harder.

Leaderboards

Sports enthusiasts are glued to the leaderboards during competitions to see how their favorite team or player is progressing against competitors. Leaderboards in Moodle are scoreboards that display progress and ranking of learners to help them gauge their performance against their peers. Rankings motivate learners to excel past their peers in addition to boosting repeat visits. The Moodle gamification plugin, Ranking Block, makes this easy to implement by assigning points to activities completed in Moodle. Rankings are then displayed in a scoreboard block.

Levels

Levels help learners understand when they have reached a milestone or accomplishment. Many also use levels as an opportunity to provide meaningful feedback, and highlight areas for improvement.

Time-based Activities

Adding artificial time pressures like countdowns or timed-quizzes, can be used to motivate learners to work faster, as well as teaching them to work better under pressure.

Continual and Immediate Feedback

Games are fun, but losing isn’t. In order for gamification to be successful, learners have to want to play the games, which means that winning has to seem like a possibility. It is essential that users are given feedback when they lose—this not only helps solidify learning, but it also motivates learners when there is clear direction for improvement.

Stories and Characters

Creating stories and characters around learning challenges will help to immerse learners in courses. Bringing learning material alive through story and memorable characters provides an engagement boost—particularly for course material that is dry or dull.

Freedom to Fail

Giving learners the freedom to fail by giving them multiple lives, second chances or alternative methods to succeed is an engaging tactic, as it keeps learners motivated to work through a challenge for points or rewards.

Badges in Moodle LMS

Rewards such as badges have no financial value, yet some learners are still motivated to work hard to acquire them. This is an example of intrinsic motivation, where the individuals aren’t learning to receive something tangible, they are working to acquire new skills and knowledge. Intrinsic motivation refers to behaviour that is driven by internal rewards. The ability to award badges is a core feature of Moodle that originates from Totara Learn.

A digital Moodle badge is essentially an online recognition of achievements and skills. If a learner has a number of certifications, for example, they can receive and display LMS badges online to recognize their achievement or competencies. Moodle badges can be awarded based on a number of different achievements or criteria. With the ability to track a recipient’s communities of online interaction, a Moodle badge will explain the work completed, and the outcomes learned to achieve the badge.

Moodle badges are great motivation and engagement tools to award learners for their hard work and progress. They are simple, yet effective ways of accrediting learning. Moodle badges motivate learners who have received them to work hard to gain more, and they motivate other learners to work hard to gain their own badges—fostering healthy competition. Badges can be managed at either the course or site level.

Badges come in two varieties: site badges and course badges. Site badges are used across Moodle, and are offered for activities that are site-wide, such as completing a set of courses. Course badges are awarded for activities within a specific course.

Learners can view each other’s badges by going to the “Participants” tab on the Navigation bar, and clicking on the user’s course profile. Instructors can both add, and manage badges in their courses, as long as the administrator has enabled course badges in Administration > Site Administration > Badges settings. Instructors can also add their own badges, with a title, issuer detail, badge expiry date and criteria for awarding the badge.

If you are managing your own Moodle badges, you can do so by going to Navigation > My profile> My badges. You can also view all available course badges at Navigation > Current course > Badges. You can see what badges other students in the course has, by going to Navigation > Participants, and clicking on the user’s profile.

Here is a full list of Badges capabilities:

Add “My latest badges” block to the front page
Add “My latest badges” block to the user dashboard
Award a badge (this capability is prevented for the role of student)
Set up the criteria for awarding badges
Set up badges details, with the ability to edit
Configure badges messages
Create or duplicate badges
Delete badges
Earn and award badges
Manage badge site administration settings
View and manage your own earned badges
View users who earned a specific badge
View public badges in other user’s profiles

Microlearning

Microlearning is a way of teaching and delivering content to learners in small, very specific bursts with the learners having control of what and when they are learning. The approach involves short-term focused strategies, usually specially designed for skills based learning/education.

Microlearning nuggets can be used to supplement or reinforce the primary formal training to effectively create sticky learning experiences, and can be connected or stand alone. Microlearning is focused on specific learning outcomes and can be used as part of a formal training program to provide quick references to trainees. They should also be able to be referred to at any time and by anyone, ideally in a repository for quick access.

Generally, the microlearning process can span from a few seconds up to 15 minutes or more. The sweet spot target range for most content though is around 4 minutes, especially when it is video or media based.

What is Microlearning?

Bite-sized pieces of content
Learner controlled
Great for skills based learning
Target range for most content is around 4 minutes

Why use Microlearning?

Create “Sticky Learning”
Serves as a knowledge booster
Increases retention
Good for skills based training
Media rich

Using H5P

The plugin H5P in Moodle can be used to build interactive content. This page learning resource allows instructors to build a single page of content without a text-editor. This Moodles Book resource is similar to the Page except that it allows for multiple pages to be built and connected through a table of contents. The File resource offers instructors a way of providing files (PDF, PPT, Doc, Excel, etc.) to learners. Some organizations have also created short SCORM modules.

This approach to learning is usually cheaper to build, quicker to deploy and can be used as a standalone asset or as a multiple micro-course.

Moodle Mobile

The Moodle Mobile app provides learning on the go directly from a mobile device. Learning on a mobile phone or tablet allows for increased collaboration, and acts as an extra channel for communication in a course.

The Moodle Mobile app is a HTML5 application that works for Android and Apple devices. With the app, users have more multimedia capabilities, including being able to upload smartphone pictures, and record audio and videos into Moodle. Users can also use the mobile platform as an added channel of communication with peers and instructors.

Features introduced in Moodle Mobile 3.4 include:

Increased Learner Support

100% learner support for core activities and learning resources (to enable more of their study to be accepted directly on mobile devices).
Feedback, Lesson and Workshop activities are able to be completed in the app.

Moodle from your Mobile! Links in the footer and user profiles now encourage you to download and use the Moodle Mobile app.

One Log In

Integration with Facebook, Google G-Suite and Microsoft Office means easier, faster access to all of the learning tools that users need, and the ability to open documents from other systems while on the Moodle site.
If an administrator enables OAuth2 on their Moodle site, mobile learners are able to log in via G-Suite, MS Office or Facebook to access all of their courses and activities.

Course Progress

Course overview is displayed in the app so learners can view their course progress anytime and see which assignments they need to complete.
Current, past and future courses can be filtered directly on the app.

Access Communications

Use the search functionality to look for messages faster and easier.
Users can turn off notification sounds through their notifications preferences setting

Set Important Communications

Instructors can pin forum posts from within the app so that they stay at the top of the list of forum discussions

Moodle Mobile app version 3.5 will come with several UX (user experience), performance and design improvements. The new changes will give the app a modern look and feel, making it easier to use by learners and instructors. In an effort to offer a seamless experience between devices, the new app design will be more consistent with Moodle 3.5.

Multimedia Capabilities

One of the greatest benefits of eLearning is the ability to incorporate multimedia. The multimedia capabilities in Moodle are available through several multimedia plugins. By enabling the Multimedia plugins filter in Moodle, multimedia will be transformed from a link that points to a multimedia resource and to the appropriate multimedia player. An example of this is if an instructor places a video file as a resource in a course, or includes a URL link to an external video file. When the multimedia plugin is turned on, learners will then be able to play video files from a screen within their Moodle interface.

Video

According to Cisco’s Visual Networking Index (VNI) forecast, by the year 2021 there will be an estimated 4.6 billion global internet users, 27.1 billion networked devices and connections and 82% of all IP traffic will be video. Video can be used to provide learners with lectures they missed or to deliver learning videos (i.e. “How to”). If you have an original video, it can be uploaded directly into Moodle or embedded from an external site, such as YouTube or Vimeo.

Images

Images (.jpg, .png) can be uploaded to Moodle through the Text Editor that is available when creating or editing content. The Text Editor offers the author the ability to upload and embed an image into the text, similar to how you would in WordPress.

Podcasts/Audio Clips

Using the Podcast plugin, instructors can upload audio clips and podcasts in a Moodle course to allow learners to catch up on lectures (by listening to recorded lectures).

Animation

Animations can be uploaded to Moodle, just as you would upload a video. Depending on the animation file (animated .gif), you can also upload it as you would an image. Within Moodle, you have the capability to add additional file types to Moodle that may not have previously existed.

Communication in Moodle

A steady stream of communication is an essential component in online learning environments. There are a few common tools available for communication in Moodle.

Forum module—The forum module allows communication in Moodle between learners and instructors. There are 5 forum types, as discussed below.

Single simple discussion—In this format, a single topic discussion is developed on one page. This is useful for short, focussed discussions, as it is only available within one group, not throughout separate groups.

Standard forum for general use—This type of forum is open, so anyone can make posts, or start new topics at any time. For general forums, this is the recommended format.

Each person posts one discussion—This is a useful format if you’d like each learner to start a weekly discussion, for example. Even though each learner can only post one new discussion topic, everyone can reply to them.

Q and A forum—Instead of an open discussion, participants can post questions as the initial discussion starter. Learners can post their answers, and they will not be able to see other responses until they have done so.

Blogs—In Moodle, each user has their own blog, but users can also register their external blogs (i.e. Blogger, WordPress). This means that if a user has a WordPress blog that they register in Moodle, for example, anything they post there will automatically be posted to their Moodle blog. Just like in other blogging platforms, files can be uploaded in Moodle blogs, and posts can be edited or deleted.

Messaging—There are two forms of messaging in Moodle: instant messaging and message alerts. Instant messaging allows users to communicate instantly with one another, in real time. This isn’t always the most efficient form of communication (especially if there is much to discuss, if there needs to be more than 2 people involved, etc.), but it is the quickest way to communicate through Moodle. This feature is similar to popular instant messaging platforms such as Slack.

Message alerts can be enabled so that users can receive notifications when things are happening in Moodle. For example, if someone writes a new forum post, if a new assignment is submitted, if a message is received, users (both instructors and learners) will be notified.

Attendance—This module allows instructors and teachers to take attendance during class, and it allows learners to access and view their own attendance records (providing the Moodle admin has made this visible to them). The default attendance statuses are present, absent, late or excused.

Plagiarism Plugins for Moodle

The internet has drastically changed the way we access and publish content, and it has also changed how we steal it. In minutes, learners can buy essays online, hire a contract essay writer or copy and paste unattributed text into their papers. Plagiarism is the serious byproduct of our modern technology world. In order to address these issues, Moodle has introduced a number of plagiarism prevention tools that are widely used by schools and education. Here are the top plugins for plagiarism prevention in Moodle.

Turnitin Plagiarism Plugins

Turnitin is a plagiarism prevention and detection system used by secondary schools and higher education institutions. Currently, there are some Moodle plugins that work with Turnitin in Moodle. These plugins integrate with the existing Moodle Assignments module.

Turnitin Plagiarism Plugin—This plugin is fully supported by Turnitin, and can be activated in other Moodle modules to check for plagiarism throughout them. For example, you can use this plugin to check for plagiarism in Moodle forums, Moodle quizzes, Moodle blogs and anywhere else learners might be posting work.
Moodle Direct Plugin v2—This is a standalone Moodle module that maps assignments submitted in Moodle, with assignments in Turnitin. Once they are mapped, all submissions are checked for any changes. In this case, you can log into either system to access the assignments.

VeriCite

Vericite is a simple and cost-effective tool that identifies possible plagiarism immediately. Vericite makes it easy for instructors to tackle plagiarism without making it a primary focus of their course.

Web Conferencing and Virtual Classrooms

Lambda Solutions includes plugins to make web conferencing with Moodle possible by allowing for easy and seamless integration with third-party web conferencing service providers. A selection of third-party solution providers for web conferencing is available. Note that some of the third-party services may require a paid for account to be able to fully use the software.

Web Conferencing Service Providers with Plugins

Adobe Connect—Web Conference software capable of sharing video, audio, screen sharing, webcam and presentations including whiteboard capability. Compatible with desktop and mobile viewing.
Zoom.us—Web Conference software capable of sharing video, audio, screen sharing, webcam and presentations including whiteboard capability. Compatible with desktop and mobile viewing.
BigBlueButton—Open Source Web Conference software capable of sharing video, audio, screen sharing, webcam and presentations including whiteboard capabilities.
WebEx Meeting—Web Conference software capable of sharing video, audio, screen sharing, webcam and presentations including whiteboard capability. Compatible with desktop and mobile viewing.

Media Integrations and Services

Lambda includes plugins to make media based content in Moodle possible by allowing for easy integration with third-party media solution service providers. Note that some of the third-party services may require a paid for account to be able to fully use the software.

Media Solutions Service Providers

All of the media solutions listed below offer an organization a streaming media solution capable of uploading video and audio, as well as managing access to content. Each service provides different levels and ways of integrating with Moodle.

MEDIAL—If you face the challenge of your users uploading large video files to Moodle on a regular basis then the MEDIAL Moodle video streaming service is for you! The integrated service allows Instructors/Lecturers to upload video or audio files to MEDIAL directly from Moodle using a specific MEDIAL Activity which then creates a link to the video or audio file on the Moodle course page. Medial is Lambda’s preferred media solutions provider because of its integrated experience with Moodle and value added services. Through Lambda’s strong relationship with MEDIAL, clients are able to get access to special deals and service offerings.

Kaltura—Kaltura’s Video Package for Moodle makes it easy to add the robust capabilities of Kaltura’s open source online video platform to a Moodle site. The package integrates with Moodles features and modules, such as resources and activities, so that users can upload and embed media easily.

JW Player—JW Player provides video professionals with powerful and flexible technology for reaching viewers, growing audiences and perfecting your video strategy across all screens. JW Player offers a cost effective entry point for organizations to start using and managing streaming media; however, the JW Player service lacks the tight integration with Moodle that both MEDIAL and Kaltura offer. Overall the JW Player service allows for an organization to upload and easily manage video content. After upload to JW Player, videos can be linked back to a Moodle course by copying the media URL into a resource.

Panopto—Panopto provides an easy way to manage, live stream, record and share videos across your organization in your Moodle site.

Multi-tenancy in Moodle LMS

Multitenancy in Moodle is made possible with the use of Front-page settings and Course Categories. This can be done by configuring the “Front page items when logged in” settings to Enrolled Courses. With regard to branding courses to specific departments or business units, the Course Categories can be named after the department, and subcategories can be labelled as Course Topics. Each Category and Subcategory can then be themed separately from the Corporate/ Organizational theme. Roles and capabilities can be assigned to specific categories to allow access to edit courses. Additionally, this can be done by inheritance to the Subcategories and courses.

Learn more about the features of Moodle that now come with eCommerce and Analytics in Lambda Suite

Enrolling Cohorts

Cohorts are site-wide, or category-wide groups, that can be created by site administrators and any other users with the relevant permissions. The benefit of using cohorts is that is enables you to perform bulk actions for everyone grouped in a cohort. For example, you can enroll an entire cohort into a class. To enroll users by cohorts, you will need to add the Cohort-Syn Enrollment plugin as an enrollment method for the course. As well, the Moodle administrator will need to enable the Cohort-Syn enrolment plugin site-wide.

Instructors can add cohorts to courses by default, but Moodle managers or admin can hide certain cohorts from teachers by unchecking the ‘Visible’ box in the Cohort settings, or by clicking the eye icon on the Cohorts screen.

Moodle Integrations

Google G-Suite

The integration between Moodle and Google allows you to benefit from the two platforms working seamlessly together. You will need to centralize the authentication process and can choose whether to login using Google credentials, Moodle credentials, or an existing identity provider (if your institution has a centralized directory).

If you decide to use your Moodle credentials for login, you can implement a Single Sign On (SSO) solution to preserve the session between systems and avoid any direct connections to the database. If you use your Google credentials, you can login through a OAuth2 sign-in method. If you choose to use your existing identity provider, you can configure an SSO solution to allow Moodle and Google access through the same credentials, while keeping the session between them running. It’s a simple integration, as Moodle users are automatically created in Google G-Suite (Google Docs, Calendar, and Gmail). On the Google side of things, there is a Google Widget that will generate a link to Moodle in your Google account.

Microsoft Integration

Similar to Google G-Suite, simply login to your Office account to access and manage Office documents while logged into Moodle.

Customer Relationship Management System Integrations

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems provide deep value for sales teams and organizations due to the capacity to track, automate and organize interactions with customers. Organizations who use Moodle for partner, client, channel or sales training began to see the benefit of having learning information synced with Salesforce. A number of integrations have been developed as described below.

SugarCRM

SugarCRM can be integrated through CourseCRM, a custom implementation of SugarCRM. Integrating directly with Moodle and your eCommerce store enable lead, contact, sales and learner activity data to be synced with SugarCRM to provide extensive reporting and analytics capabilities.

Salesforce Integration with EnlightenCRM

The challenges that organizations can encounter when delivering online training have to do with managing their learners. These include issues like scalability, cost, accessibility and integration with a CRM system. EnlightenCRM integrates Moodle with Salesforce. With this integration tool, you can collect all Moodle registrations in Salesforce, and manage them in that system. The integrated platform also delivers automation and enhanced reporting, and provides training content to customers, partners and employees that is mobile-friendly.

InfusionSoft

InfusionSoft, a CRM designed for small businesses, can also be integrated with Moodle through custom developed integrations. Get in touch with one of our Moodle Experts to learn more.

Moodle™ User Guide Chapter 2: Top Features of Moodle

marketing@lambdasolutions.net (Lambda Solutions) — Fri, 13 Sep 2019 12:13:44 GMT

Top Features of Moodle

This chapter, Top Features Of Moodle, is split into three sections that will cover the most important features of Moodle. Learn how to use Moodle to stay in compliance with the GDPR, no matter where in the world your operations are.

You can also download chapter one (Introduction to Moodle) and chapter three (advanced Moodle features) today and learn exactly how to get the most out of the world’s most popular open source LMS platform!

GDPR and Moodle

Does your Moodle system comply with GDPR? The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) began to be enforced on May 25, 2018 and the new laws force virtually all websites and online platforms in the world to put control of data firmly back into the users’ hands. LMS platforms and eLearning systems are able to process, analyze and report on data submitted by administrators and site users. The updated GDPR compliance regulations affect these systems by holding them accountable to various changes and updates to data protection legislation.

What is Personal Data?

It is all information that can be associated with a natural person. Each user account and all the activity associated with that user account is classified as personal data/information. This also extends to associated information such as web server log files.

Who Does GDPR Affect?

Think because your company is not based in the EU that the GDPR doesn’t apply to you? Think again! GDPR compliance laws not only affect all organizations located within European Union borders but also any company, business or group that is located elsewhere in the world and collects, processes and analyzes the personal data of EU subjects, regardless of the location of their headquarters. For example, a company selling online courses internationally will be held accountable to the GDPR regulations if anyone in the EU purchases and studies their courses.

Non-Compliance = Fines!

These laws are not to be taken lightly. Depending on the severity of noncompliance, organizations can be fined up to 20 million euros or 4% of their annual global revenue, whichever is highest. Ouch!

How Moodle 3.5 Supports GDPR

Moodle 3.5 focuses on GDPR compliance, enhanced usability and accessibility. The Moodle HQ team has been working hard to support GDPR compliance for all Moodle sites prior to May 25 2018 and continues to enhance capabilities. A new set of features have been developed to assist Moodle sites to meet GDPR compliance needs and mainly cover:

Onboarding of new users, including age and location, check to identify minors, versioning of privacy policies and tracking of user consents.
Handling of subject access requests and erasure requests and maintaining a data registry.

Two plugins will help organizations and IT administrators comply with key sections of GDPR including:

Data privacy (tool_dataprivacy). This adds a “request workflow” to the Moodle site to ensure users can enforce their rights to request what personal data is hosted by the site and how it has been used in the past. The current version of the plugin retrieves information from selected Moodle activities including Choice, HTML Block and User Tours.
Policies (tool_policy). This helps administrators create policies around everything in the site including privacy, intellectual property and late assignments. In compliance with the regulation, it keeps a history of policy changes as well as user consent given to each one. It forces users to accept the policies prior to using the Moodle site.

Right to Erasure

The GDPR introduces the right for individuals to have their personal data erased. The ‘right to erasure’ is also known as ‘the right to be forgotten’. Individuals can make a request for erasure verbally or in writing. Companies have one month to respond to a request.

Upgrading Is Not Enough

If you are using Moodle and have any of your servers or users in the EU, then just upgrading to a recent version isn’t enough. New tools in Moodle 3.5 make things easier but you are still responsible for ensuring that your organization is GDPR-compliant. Remember, simply having a GDPR-ready LMS doesn’t automatically make your business compliant; there are a number of processes and systems that must be in place also.

GDPR for Moodle Administrators

If you are a Moodle system administrator and have a Moodle site older than the 3.3.6 or 3.4.3 version, or have a site that is not affected by GDPR but would still like to do as much as possible towards compliance, we recommend that you read the GDPR for Moodle Administrators guide.

Moodle & GDPR for Plugin Developers

If you are a plugin developer, we recommend the following actions to assist you in preparing your Moodle for GDPR:

Read through the documentation GDPR for Plugin Developers in the dev docs.
Check on the Moodle forum site for discussions about the GDPR.

Moodle & GDPR for Educators & Learners

If you are an educator or a learner and would like to find out more about your rights under GDPR and how features in Moodle can assist with protecting your data privacy, we recommend that you check in with your system administrators for information specific to your institution or organization.

By downloading our Moodle User Guide Chapter, 2, you can also discover how to create a competitive advantage with Moodle features that will allow you to:

Implement Competency-Based Training and Certification
Track Learner Completion Rates
Setup Automated Regulatory Compliance
Manage User Access Restrictions

Need to revisit Chapter 1 of the Moodle User Guide? Click here for the introduction to Moodle LMS.

Guides & Research

The Moodle™ Setup and Installation Guide

Moodle™ Setup & Installation Guide- UPDATED AUGUST 2025

Moodle™ Setup & Installation Guide (Lambda Solutions — 2025 Edition)

Part 1: Planning & System Requirements

Part 2: Server & Environment Setup

Part 3: Download Moodle & Prepare Files

Part 4: Moodle Data Directory

Part 5: Database Setup

Part 6: Run the Installer

Part 7: Cron & Post‑Install Configuration

Part 8: Configure Email via SMTP

Part 9: Security & Performance Optimization

Part 10: Backups & Disaster Recovery

Part 11: Post‑Installation — Users, Courses & Plugins

Part 12: Upgrading Moodle (Version Path & Plugins)

Part 13: Advanced: Developer Setup with Docker or Cloud

Internal Lambda Links

2025‑Compliant Summary Table

Part 14: How to Add and Upload User Accounts to Moodle

Add a Single User

Upload Multiple Users via CSV

Part 15: How to Set Up a Moodle Course

Part 16: How to Enroll Students into a Moodle Course

Manual Enrollment

Bulk Enrollment via CSV

Part 17: How to Create a Moodle Quiz

What is an eLearning Business? Examining the $200-billion eLearning Industry

1. Introduction: The eLearning Industry - Projected Growth

“What exactly is an eLearning business?”

You can also check out this article, What is eLearning? eLearning Defined to Benefit Your Business.

What Does the eLearning Industry Look Like?

2. Technology

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Providers

Learning Management System (LMS) Providers

The majority of LMS providers fall into the proprietary category, with the industry leader in terms of size being Blackboard.

Virtual & Augmented Reality

Virtual and Augmented Reality have found very practical applications in the business of eLearning.

3. Providers

Hosting

Applications

Support

Content

The nature of eLearning’s digital landscape means that there are a plethora of opportunities for technical and subject-matter experts.

Conclusion

Ready to start your first eLearning business? Read this blog post for a checklist of things to consider: eLearning: Starting a Business for Dummies

Additional Resources

References

LMS Cost Management: How to make cost-saving eLearning decisions

Introduction: LMS Cost Management

What does it mean by cost-effective eLearning?

How do you get the most value from a Learning Management System (LMS)?

Finding the right portfolio of user features, for the right implementation price, is crucial in setting organizations up for the future.

What is the most important factor for your organization when choosing an LMS?

1. LMS features/capabilities

2. Training and onboarding

3. LMS costs

4. Technical support

5. Security

What is the largest cost associated with your LMS?

LMS Cost #1: Implementation

LMS Cost #2: Training

LMS Cost #3: Hosting and Support

LMS Cost Management: Conclusion and Key Takeaways

Solving 4 Common eLearning Challenges To Increase Your eLearning ROI

Technology is changing the way we learn, teach, and train new skills.

Contents

Top eLearning Challenges of The Fourth Industrial Revolution

The Rise of The Fourth Industrial Revolution

4IR Drivers for eLearning

eLearning’s Biggest Challenges & Solutions

1. High Cost of Scaling

Constraints of LMS Solutions

Case study: Sandler Training

Capital Expenditures (CapEx) Related to Self-Hosting

2. Lack of Knowledge & Skills

Adult Learning theory: What’s in it for me?

Assess the LMS admin!

“For a pro, it really takes a whole day (8 hours) to put together a quality one-hour lesson with out-of-class activities (homework, projects, etc). So it's really about time management.” - Dr. Scott – Founder Easy Hard Science

3. System Integration

Part 1: Planning & System Requirements

Part 2: Server & Environment Setup

Part 3: Download Moodle & Prepare Files

Part 4: Moodle Data Directory

Part 5: Database Setup

Part 6: Run the Installer

Part 7: Cron & Post‑Install Configuration

Part 8: Configure Email via SMTP

Part 9: Security & Performance Optimization

Part 10: Backups & Disaster Recovery

Part 11: Post‑Installation — Users, Courses & Plugins

Part 12: Upgrading Moodle (Version Path & Plugins)

Part 13: Advanced: Developer Setup with Docker or Cloud