Are you struggling to decide on the platform to host your online course?
You’re not alone; the platform you choose will have a significant impact on the success of your course. That’s why many people choose from among the well-known and well-established platforms.
WordPress is the world’s largest CMS. It has a massive array of plugins and well-rounded functionality to make creating a custom online course easy for you.
Moodle is an open-source learning platform or learning management system (LMS). It was created in 2004 by a team of developers from Australia and New Zealand and is currently used by many schools, universities, businesses, and other organizations around the world.
Both WordPress and Moodle are great options if you want to start an online course, but each has its own strengths and weaknesses that you should be aware of. In this article, we will compare online course creation on WordPress vs Moodle.
Moodle vs WordPress—which is better?
Overall, we recommend using WordPress if you want to create an online course. Large educational institutions, however, should consider Moodle. The platform handles courses and scheduling better than most WordPress alternatives, which makes it the better option for more traditional learning settings.
For most people, WordPress is the easier and more functional choice. Here’s why.
Why we recommend WordPress
First, WordPress is a larger platform with more users and a much higher level of customization available. WordPress powers 43% of all websites on the Internet, meaning almost 1 in 3 websites you see were built with WordPress. If you want to join helpful communities or forums, troubleshoot any issues you encounter, or take advantage of the thousands of plugins available for it, WordPress offers a much broader and more comprehensive experience at each step.
A large part of WordPress’s popularity comes from its ease of use. You don’t need any coding skills (though they may be helpful sometimes), there’s no need to build a CMS from scratch, and it isn’t hard to become familiar with the CMS. Moodle, by contrast, requires coding skills and outside-the-box thinking. WordPress has many available plugins, but its base service is very bare and simple. Again, Moodle takes the opposite approach, coming with many niche features that will be difficult to navigate at first.
In terms of interfaces, both Moodle and WordPress do a nice job. But the WordPress interface is more user-friendly and conversion-friendly, as the CMS powers many monetized websites from companies across industries.
Lastly, after you learn how to use the platform you choose, you may eventually want to engage in more customization to make the perfect site and online course. WordPress is open source and offers massive libraries of plugins and themes (hundreds of thousands!). This makes it a more customizable platform for coders and non-coders alike.
What you’ll need to create an online course with WordPress
Creating an online course with WordPress is as simple as setting up a WordPress site and using online course plugins. Let’s look at the two main things you need to do to set up your course:
Create your WordPress Site
If you want a detailed overview of how to get started with your WordPress site, you can find this information on WordPress.org. If you want to build a great site without worrying about the technical details, you should look into managed WordPress hosting. A WordPress hosting service runs your site on its server, and also takes care of updates, security, and monitoring of your site’s performance. This means you can focus on building great content.
If you’re looking for a managed hosting platform for WordPress, we recommend Pressable. This host offers 24/7 support, guarantees 100% uptime, and seamless integration with WooCommerce and Jetpack. You can also get extra storage space through Pressable which ensures your site remains perfectly functional as your online course business scales.
There are just a few simple steps needed to launch a site in Pressable:
- Add a site domain in the “Domain Name” field
- Update your DNS settings with your domain registrar
- Ensure your SSL certificates are established
After launching the site, you can manage everything in the MyPressable control panel. This is the hub where all your WordPress sites are managed. You can see all the basic information about your sites from this interface. There are links to important resources and tools that ensure you have all the managerial liberty you need for a business with multiple sites.
Get Sensei LMS
Sensei LMS is an online course plugin that is native to WordPress, meaning that you can set up your courses using the same Gutenberg block editor that you would use to create any other content on your website. This makes it the easiest way to create online courses through WordPress.
Sensei has different pricing plans available, but if your main aim is to create online courses on a single platform, then you will likely need Sensei Pro, which gives you everything you need to build a feature-packed course (we’ll talk about these features soon). Sensei Pro integrates with WooCommerce and its various extensions. This is essential because you get more flexibility. For example, you can sell your courses through WooCommerce Payments, or set up membership plans with WooCommerce Memberships.
Sensei LMS enables you to create, customize, and sell all kinds of online courses. You can launch one simple and short modular course, or you could launch a complete online academy, hosting many courses. This is part of what makes Sensei LMS so great; it offers scalability, even to the point of creating an internal training platform.
How to create an online course using Sensei LMS
Once you’ve purchased and installed Sensei Pro, you can start creating your course. Adding each lesson is as easy as adding a single blog post to your website. All you need is the content of the lesson! Here are some of the key features you can use to create the ultimate online course:
Customization
You can add lessons through any mix of the applicable multimedia formats. That includes videos, slideshows, single images, written content, and more. This enables you to make your course as simple or as dynamic as you’d like.
A learning theme
Sensei LMS comes with a built-in theme, Reign, that was designed to let your students focus on the course content and be free of distractions.
Drip content
Drip content means content that is designed ahead of time, then released on a schedule. This feature enables you to create a course and then release it slowly. For example, you can have your students receive a scheduled lesson every weekday, once per week, or whatever schedule makes the most sense for your course.
Sensei Blocks
Use Sensei Blocks to create and insert test elements on any WordPress post or page.
These blocks can be filled with any of the customization options offered by Sensei LMS. They are available as a standalone product, but are also included in Sensei Pro! They can then be moved anywhere, making any area of your website or course more engaging. These are the Sensei Blocks currently available:
Grading features
Online courses aren’t complete without assessments.
Using Sensei’s Quiz Blocks, you can create customized grading protocols and quizzes with any of the common formats for quizzing, including:
- Fill-in-the-blank
- True/false
- Open-ended (long-form answers)
- File uploads
- Order-and-sort
Build Your Online Course with WordPress and Sensei LMS
If you want to create an online course, WordPress is the best option. WordPress powers almost a third of the world’s websites, and it has many active forums for those seeking advice. On top of that, WordPress offers thousands of plugins, including Sensei LMS, a complete online course solution.
Sensei LMS makes online course creation faster and simpler while leaving you all the necessary space for customization. Whatever subject you want learners to discover more about, Sensei LMS has the functionality to make it a reality.
Get started creating your online course with WordPress and the Sensei LMS plugin today.
