Creating an effective and engaging eLearning course involves thoughtful planning and the use of best practices to maximize learning outcomes. This article will summarize the various types of courses you can create and provide best practices for structuring and presenting your course materials.
Types of Courses and Their Structures
Once you upload all materials necessary for your course then you need to organize the access to them for your students (to learn how various types of materials can be added to the course, see Course materials).
JoomLMS offers flexibility in how you organize and manage your course materials, allowing you to tailor the structure based on your preferences and instructional goals. Here are the different types of courses you can create:
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Virtual Classroom: This format allows for real-time interaction between instructors and students, similar to a traditional classroom setting but conducted online. For a detailed guide on setting up a virtual classroom, please refer to this tutorial. You can also watch our video tutorial to learn how to organize webinars in JoomLMS courses. If you are going to handle an eLearning webinar or live session the article on how to prepare for a webinar and hold students’ attention could be useful for you.
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Learning Paths-based courses: Courses can be organized as a series of steps that students need to complete sequentially. Each step may include various types of learning materials, such as links, quizzes, documents, video, content pages, SCORM packages, assignments. For more information on creating Learning Paths, see this guide or watch our video tutorials on how to create a certain succession of the course materials and how to configure the prerequisites for the learning paths .
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Module-Based Courses: In this structure, various types of materials are displayed within respective modules at the course Home page (such as Learning Paths module or Quizzes module or Recent Documents module or Upcoming webinars module etc.). This method allows students to navigate through the course content systematically. For the detailed instructions on setting up module-based courses, visit this section.
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Topics-based courses: Course materials are presented within frames called Topics (for more information, see Topics) located at the Course Home page. Topics help break down the course into manageable sections, making it easier for students to follow along and understand the content. Each Topic can focus on a specific subject or skill, providing a clear structure for the course. For more information on how to organize quick and easy navigation to any course resource via Topics, refer to this manual.
- SCORMs-based courses: SCORM packages allow you to quickly fill your courses with engaging and effective interactive content for your online courses. Using SCORM packages can be particularly beneficial if you prefer not to use the native in-built course-builder tools of JoomLMS. This approach saves time and leverages pre-existing content that meets high standards of instructional design. For a detailed guide on how to upload SCORM files to your course, please refer to this tutorial. Our article covering the SCORM benefits for Online training could be also useful for you.
- Courses can be also presented as a combination of modules, Topics and Learning Paths etc. More information on this course structure is available in our manual tutorial.
For more insights how to organize eLearning content effectively with JoomLMS, refer to our blog post.
For tips on providing clear instructions, check out our blog posts on How to display courses of a certain category and How to Circumvent Self-Enrollment in Publicly Offered Courses.
Explore our tips on creating your own eLearning course in our blog post here.