Elearning Project Launch Checklist

Launch a sucessful ELearning project with JoomLMS

It might seem that launching an eLearning website is a complicated and costly process especially if you are a newbie. As our experience in the eLearning field has shown the client’s website needs to be carefully planned, designed, managed and promoted to be a profitable project. That is why we combined an ELearning Project Launch Checklist that everyone can use to walk through the launch process.

The ELearning Checklist is divided into several blocks and has a progress bar that displays how far you are from the project release goal. Each block contains steps with reference to the detailed description or useful tools that can be used. Checked points stay marked when you enter the Checklist page next time so you can add the Checklist to your bookmarks and come over every time you are working on your eLearning website set up.

ELearning Project Launch CheckList

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Set up of an eLearning site with JoomLMS

    • With a domain name that is memorable, easy to spell and contains a main keyword (like eLearning, for example) your chances to attract right visitors and successfully manage online presence become higher.

      How to register a domain name
    • To choose the right hosting services provider you need to know your needs first: amount of webspace and the number of domains necessary, server upgrade needs and budget.

      For Joomla! websites we recommend:

      JoomLMS Hosting
      Rochen
      BlueHost
    • ionCube protects software written in PHP language from being viewed, edited and run on unlicensed computers

      Install Ioncube
    • An open source code and a wide range of available extensions listed in Joomla! Extensions Directory (JED) make Joomla! + JoomLMS an ideal solution for your eLearning website. Learn how to create and eLearning website with Joomla!

      How to create an elearning website with Joomla!

JoomLMS Configuration

    • JoomLMS is easy to start working with, however, if an individual training for you or your team is necessary don't hesitate to contact us.

      Buy JoomLMS training
    • Keeping Joomla! up to date is important for security reasons. If you need help with Joomla! site upgrade send us a ticket.

      Download Joomla!
    • Having the latest JoomLMS version installed allows you to get advantage of all the new features. If your JoomLMS was customized, please, get in touch with the support team not to lose any customization.

      Buy JoomLMS
      Upgrade JoomLMS
    • A wide range of available Administrator setting allow you to go beyond a simple course creation and make JoomLMS far more targeted for your business goals.

      Admin settings overview
    • JoomLMS course creation process is simplified thanks to the installed Course Builder. All you need is to create documents, quizzes, links and SCORMs and then upload them into JoomLMS.

      Watch a video
    • To learn how to remove JoomLMS branding on your front-end interface: "Learning Management System (LMS) powered by JoomLMS", please, read the information here:

      Branding Removal Policy
    • To avoid any issues during JoomLMS installation or running process, please, follow the requirements.

      Read JoomLMS requirements
    • If the course is planned to be held in the format of a virtual classroom - select the Webinar-based pattern; if it is planned to be a series of steps a student needs to perform to complete the course - select the Learning-path based pattern; if the course is a combination of learning materials a student can study at any time – select the Lecture-based pattern.

      Watch a video

ELearning Site’s structure development

    • An eLearning website should contain pages with all the available courses, a teacher's and student's profile pages, a blog or news section, "About us" and reviews pages.

    • To create a "Contact us" page in Joomla! login to your Administration area, go to Components -> Contacts and click "New" button.

Appearance

    • JoomLMS 2.0 template allows Logo insert. You can brand your course with logo by setting Advanced course settings (the second step at the course builder).

    • To change JoomLMS color scheme enter Joomla! Administration panel, go to Extensions ->Template Manager ->JoomLMS Default. Click "Advanced" Tab to change the template color scheme.

    • To make your website and courses look professional and assure great User Experience follow fonts consistency.

    • There are a number of modules you can add to your eLearning course. Besides the predefined ones there is a "Custom HTML" module that can be edited to provide any necessary information.

      Watch a video
    • To make your course look professional add teacher's information. To do it enter the course builder and click the Advanced settings tab (the second step). Add photo and a description.

      Watch a video

Site performance

    • To avoid slow website loading optimize the images by their resizing, reducing the white space around the image, using proper file formats or compressing the file size using one of the available services such as tinyPNG.

      TinyPNG Image Optimiser
    • Check the correctness of your document against the declared DOCTYPE and correct the mistakes to improve the quality of the website.

      W3C Checker

ELearning Course Design

    • Make sure there is no spelling and grammar mistakes before publishing the course.

    • Following consistency during the course is one of main Usability rules. Make sure you use the same design, fonts, color scheme and a layout during the entire course.

    • Use easy to read fonts and avoid bright color combinations.

      Color Theory
    • Make sure there are clear and simple directions so the user will not get lost browsing around your website. Add "Go Back, "Remove", "Home" buttons to your course.

    • A picture is worth a thousand words, however, avoid using irrelevant images that can distract users from learning.

    • Make sure the quality of materials use you for course development is high enough.

    • JoomLMS allows you to create customizable certificates containing Students’ personal data. To create a new certificate enter the certificates Tab and click "New certificate" button.

    • To monitor students’ studies JoomLMS provides a variety of options for students’ assessment. Starting with multifunctional quizzes and surveys and ending with a professional system of grades, scales and homework.

    • You can integrate jReviews component with JoomLMS to allow rating and commenting your courses. This component allows users to rate each course according to different criteria and leave comments to provide a better feedback and assure the quality of your online courses.<.p>

Site speed

Usability

    • Make sure there clear navigation is implemented so the user will be able to find the way back. Add "Go Back, "Remove", "Home" buttons to your course.

    • Make URLs short, descriptive and without any symbols such as ?, &, $, %

    • To help learns find necessary information quickly add "Search" option.

    • Avoid both horizontal and vertical scrolling. Place the most useful information at the left upper corner.

SEO

    • To ensure better Search engines website visibility set Meta parameters. To make sure that the right content is shared via Social Media set OG parameters.

    • Each website page should have a proper title and description with a keyword included. Avoid using duplicate titles and descriptions.

    • ALT means alternative text. It is displayed if the browser cannot display the image.

    • XML sitemap is a special file, placed on your website that contains an index to help search engines to find the way to your pages. Find more information at www.sitemaps.org.

    • Redirects are used to tell search engines that a particular URL points to another URL and are useful when moving pages or changing domain names. During the redirect 1-10% of the link juice (rank power) can be lost.

Security

Analytics

Promotion

    • To promote your online courses build an online community where people can share their ideas and opinions.

    • A user choice is frequently based on other people’s reviews and testimonials. To show what people think about your eLearning courses simply integrate one of the Testimonials components available in Joomla! Extensions Directory.

    • Provide discount coupons to promote your courses to a wider audience.

    • A blog is an ideal SEO and Content Marketing tool that can help you to build credibility and customer loyalty. Install one of the Blog components available in Joomla! Extensions Directory and you will be able to schedule posts, add SEO attributes to make the posts visible for Search Engines, create author profiles, share the posts on Social Media with the help of built-in Social share buttons, allow commenting and RSS feed subscribing, team blogging and much more.