Moodle is highly extensible and built with flexibility similar to how WordPress and other popular open source software applications are built. The core functionality of the Moodle LMS (referred to as Standard Moodle) is contained in their published download. Once you’ve installed Moodle, you can extend the functionality of the system by installing any of the nearly 2,000 plugins available in the Moodle plugin library.

To use open source software such as Moodle, it is best to have dedicated technical staff who can competently handle development and hosting environment tasks. For people, companies, or small organizations who don’t have DevOps know-how, installing and using an open-source learning management system like Moodle is probably going to be too complicated and require too much management overhead. In those situations, it’s better to shop for a hosted learning management system instead.

Benefits of Using Moodle

Moodle gives users a lot more flexibility than proprietary, hosted solutions. With Moodle, you can use only the essential features that come with the Standard Moodle default LMS download, or you can install and take advantage of any of the thousands of plugins that are available

Moodle Pricing

Because it is open source (which makes the software itself free), Moodle pricing is dependent upon your hosting environment and whatever deal you have set up. For companies who have their own data centers and hosting, the additional cost of hosting a Moodle installation may be negligible.

Also, the open-source plugins in the Moodle plugin directory are free.

For the most part and with some caveats (mostly hosting costs), Moodle is free to use.

However, there are costs associated with hosting a Moodle instance, and there are also premium Moodle plugins available for purchase. Moodle pricing is flexible, and highly related to your hosting environment and whatever features you need.

Community Participation

Because of the open source nature of Moodle, its learning management system comes with a large community of participants in both the development of the software and advocates for advancing the usefulness of LMS software generally.

Moodle Languages

Moodle has language packs that can be installed on the core software package to support over 100 different languages to one extent or another. The world’s 20 or so most commonly spoken languages are supported 100% with Moodle’s language packs.

Disadvantages of Using Moodle

Moodle is one the most popular (if not the most popular in terms of number of users) learning management systems available because of some of the reasons mentioned here. However, Moodle doesn’t work for people and organizations that are not interested in handling all of the configuration and hosting requirements associated with installing and maintaining Moodle.

For those who want to simplify how they use a learning management system by simply paying a monthly fee for hosting and for the system itself, Moodle doesn’t make sense.

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Introducing the Udemy App

Udemy for Instructors

Udemy aggressively invites anyone with a skill to use their platform for various aspects of the course creation process, including:

• Planning out a course
• Creating a course, including recording yourself, your screen, or whatever the visual is that best fits what you’re intending to teach
• Marketing a course to attract students so that you (and Udemy themselves) can make money

As of 2022, Udemy has nearly 50 million students using its platform. Udemy markets to those users consistently through email and other promotional methods, which means that a good course published on Udemy is likely to have consistent student signups.

Udemy for Students

Udemy gives access to online learning courses to nearly 50 millions students, who can choose from close to 200,000 courses taught be over 50,000 different teachers.

Course creators have the flexibility to charge whatever they feel like their course is worth, ranging from as low as $11.99 and as high as $199.99 per course.

Once a student has enrolled in a course, they are normally given lifetime access to review the course as many times as they choose. Students can see they progress they’ve made as they take a course, and they can usually interact with the course teacher and others who are taking the course through Udemy’s course messaging system.

Udemy Course Pricing and Discounts

While the most in-demand courses on Udemy tend to be in the higher range of the pricing, there are very often discounts and coupons available to bring most courses on Udemy under $50.

Promotional pricing and discounts are often shared through Udemy’s mailing list.

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Thinkific was designed primarily with education entrepreneurs in mind, people who want to profit from sharing their knowledge using the Thinkific course-building and promotion toolset. However, Thinkific is also used for employee training and corporate educational purposes as well.

Thinkific Demo

Thinkific Pricing

Free

Cost: $0

Access to Thinkific’s core feature set. This plan is essentially a test-drive of the Thinkific platform.

Basic

Cost: $49/month

Includes basic Thinkific features needed to launch one course.

Pro

Cost: $99/month

Thinkific Pro is for serious course creators determined to build their own education business using the Thinkific platform. Includes all of the Thinkific tools and features.

Premier

Cost: $499/month

This plan is for advanced users who are at the next level for online education and who want to scale their business. Includes all of the Thinkific features + Thinkific’s Growth package for scaling market efforts.

Thinkific for Lead Generation

Thinkific’s software platform can even be used for lead generation. Considering the customer journey as being closely associated with education about products and services, Thinkific’s set of tools can be used to escort potential customers through the product education process, acting as lead input system for a customer relationship management (CRM) tool. As potential and existing customers continue to learn more about a product or company, that education can then be used to generate revenue. By making the learning experience interactive between a customer or sales lead and an internal sales team members makes the sales process much more streamlined.

Thinkific integrates directly with Salesforce, connecting Thinkific user data with Salesforce contacts. Thinkific can also be integrated with CRM tools like HubSpot, Pipedrive, or InfusionSoft using the Zapier automation tool.

Thinkific for Entrepreneurial Educators

Thinkific was designed to give online educators simple but powerful tools to create online courses that can provide customized experiences for an unlimited number of students. Thinkific has resources for educators to build their own personal instructor websites on which they can sell and publish courses.

Here are a few of the resources Thinkific provides for course creating entrepreneurs:

• Delivery flexibility: lessons can be presented as live, on-demand videos, or a combination of both
• Assessments and certificates: built-in ability to evaluate students and formally reward them for succeeding
• Progress tracking: in-depth progress reporting system for each student
• Communities and memberships: ability to create an interactive section of your course for engaging with students or allowing them to interact with each other
• Drag and drop website builder: an easy to use tool for creating and organizing course content, then publishing it
• Checkout system: accept signups and payments through Thinkific’s ecommerce payment system
• Product flexibility: ability to sell your educational content in standalone courses or as components of bundles or subscriptions
• Pricing and marketing tools: control over pricing, coupons, and subscription, and promotion

Thinkific Course Examples

To understand how Thinkific’s learning management system works, it’s helpful to see what existing instructors are building with their courses. Here are some examples of courses that are marketed and published on Thinkific’s LMS platform:

Jonathan Levi’s SuperLearner Academy

James Testani’s GoodGuitarist School

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