The Importance of LMS Self-Service

By: Justin Ferriman • February 23, 2016
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team-workAs an administrator of a learning management system it is important that you incorporate elements of self-service into your platform.

Sure, it will make life easier for you.

But more importantly it makes life easy for those interacting within the LMS.

Year ago this was not necessarily a deal-breaker for organizations when choosing their learning management systems.

As such it meant that learners had to constantly request access to various sections and courses. The IT staff would then have to grant these permissions.

What are some ways that you can incorporate self-service components to your LMS? Well, it really depends on your organizational policy on how much freedom you wish to grant.

Generally speaking, the more freedom the better.

There are few things more frustrating as a user than wanting to do something online but having to wait until you are granted permission. Time is money after all!

The easiest form of self-service is to allow for users to register themselves into any online course they wish to take.

Not a request for access, but immediate enrollment and access to the content.

You don’t have to grant access to everything though.

For example, you can still control which courses are visible for a user to self-enroll based on their role in the organization.

Also, if you want to control the amount of content a user receives then you can configure drip-feeding (scheduling) of the course content.

Another way to enable self-service is to allow departments (or in some cases depending on your LMS, other companies) the ability to register their employees into courses.

For example, a manger enrolling people from their department.

Or if you sell courses, a company purchasing courses and then granting access to their staff.

If you provide ample instructions then this eliminates an extra clerical step on your part.

If you’re looking for an LMS that empowers you and your users in this way, then send us a note with more details about your learning management needs.

All of the strategies discussed in this article are possible with the LearnDash WordPress LMS.

Justin Ferriman

Justin started LearnDash, the WordPress LMS trusted by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, training organizations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. He is currently founder & CEO of GapScout. Justin’s Homepage | GapScout | Twitter