Like a lot of things that gained traction owing to the wave of digitization, E-learning is here to stay. And, its popularity has only grown with the onset of social distancing during the ongoing global pandemic. Students and professional around the world are turning to online classes and distance education as social distancing and quarantines become the new normal. Interestingly, E-learning has been around for much longer than what many would expect; it dates back to 1999! And here we thought, it just happened a while back.
So, what makes E-learning so appealing? For starters, it is convenient; all you need is a smartphone and internet to start learning right where you are. It does not matter what your age is or what skill level you are currently at, there is a course out there for everyone who is interested. However, if you want to venture into E-learning as business and develop your own offering, then you need to keep a few pointers at hand. Here is a list of a few Technical aspects to keep in mind when you want to develop your own E-learning application:
Learning Management System or LMS
LMS is an important and technically complex aspect that you need to pay special attention to. An LMS helps you design and prepare courses that offer a good learning experience. While selecting and customizing an LMS, you need to keep in mind how you want your courses to appear and the structure of each module and sub-module in the flow of the entire course. The LMS tool should be able to help you edit and revise your courses as you move along. The LMS also needs to be secured to prevent any data on it from being compromised.
Hosting options
To venture into the E-learning business, you need to figure out where you will be hosting your offering. There are two options to consider: A hosted LMS or a cloud-based platform. The decision depends on the budget and technical expertise at hand. If you want to host an LMS, then it will be installed on the company’s server and the entire data will be stored in-house. This is a time-consuming option that is equally complex. Before you deploy the hosted LMS, the compatibility of the system with the existing network and software architecture should be thoroughly tested. Otherwise, the system will crash, leaving you without a working model. In many cases, the systems need to be integrated as well which can easily take about 3 to 6 months.
The role of technology in education has changed significantly over the last few years. There are many options for learning management systems, but some people prefer to use cloud-based platforms because they’re easy and fast Setup time with no need install any software on your device or take down resources from other programs you may have running locally.
The choice between an LMS hosted by a third-party vs one that comes preinstalled onto each student’s computer is something worth considering when deciding how best suit their needs. As more schools opt out storefront installations due expensive maintenance costs–or even worse: data breaches!–this will become even.
Integration with other systems
Once your E-learning application is up and running, the next important aspect to tackle is integration of different software and offerings with the application. Integrating services like HR software, BI systems and Customer Relationship Management system helps you cover the different aspects of running a successful E-learning offering. You need to list down your requirements and figure out the best solution that is compatible with your model.
Integrating different software and offerings with your E-learning application will help you cover all aspects. Make sure that the services are compatible before integrating them so as not to disappoint any stakeholders involved!
Take a look at your current organizational structure and determine which software can best help you integrate with E-learning. The more information from different sources is fed into one system, the easier it will be to track student progress in both courses as well as performance reviews for employees who have been enrolled on these same programs!
Video Asset Protection
It is crucial to ensure that the application does not allow for unlawful downloading and viewing of videos, as this could lead people in wrong directions. To protect your intellectual property rights video content can be heavily encrypted with Digital Rights Management or DRM techniques which prevent them from being decrypted by anyone other than those who own them originally – preserving legal usage while still securing against unauthorized sharing on platforms like YouTube where users might try out new courses without paying anything at all!
Payment Processing
‘The market for E-learning is blooming.’ As more people sign-up for digital learning and skill enhancement, the demand for E-learning solutions will only grow bigger. It is important that online learning solutions learn to efficiently cater the needs of the varied demographics turning up at their digital door. Learning is evolving and so should the industry.
