July 28th, 2011 by Robin Green

Back-to-school is right around the corner, and many of us are considering taking a course or two or even enrolling part-time or full-time.

Why not consider e-learning as opposed to the classroom? Not only is it more convenient, it is the future, available to you right now.

Why Online as Opposed to In Person?

A recent article featured in Campus Technology suggests that e-learning and learning management systems (LMS) are gaining in popularity not only because of their impact on the corporate world, but for the ease with which individuals can now embrace higher education. The availability of coursework has become so widespread that people can choose from certifications all the way up to advanced degrees. Traditional academia is also beginning to embrace LMS strategies in order to accommodate students who are more eager to learn outside the classroom environment.

LMS Works on Campus and In the Office

The same protocols that help management keep track of employee progress can be used on campus to track coursework, projects and paper submissions from students. The idea that students needn’t be present in the classroom to turn in high quality work is one that has taken some getting used to, but with the help of technology, LMS has given students the opportunity to obtain course materials online, and submit papers without the pressure of having to get to campus to meet deadlines. LMS is now fostering a traditional learning atmosphere without the traditional setting.

E-Learning Offers a Wide Range of Choices

Just like a traditional course catalog, e-learning options are seemingly endless. Take your pick of everything from safety training to public health initiatives and just about everything you would expect in a conventional academic setting. The difference is, you get to choose where and when to tackle the material, as opposed to having a set schedule. This makes it easy for full-time employees to learn at their own pace, and for students who are reticent to return to a traditional classroom environment.

Whether you’re choosing full-time education or specific training in order to further your career, the coursework you need is just a few clicks away. Gone are the days of having to stress about closed out classes or traveling to inconvenient campuses. The future of learning is online, and the time to embrace it is now.

Coggno has an extensive library of all types of coursework. Safety certification and public health initiatives are two of our most popular categories.

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Coggno.com provides a robust learning management system platform for users all over the world.

July 21st, 2011 by Robin Green

One of the perks of listing your course offerings on Coggno is that you retain control over your material. You can remove, update and add new material whenever you choose through your account. We encourage all our contributors to price their courses or Learning Management Systems as they see fit. It is also appropriate to offer the occasional coupon; these days, there are deals on almost everything that can be purchased online, including training courses. Why not give your learners value in addition to the information they need?

Why Offer a Discount?

The most important way to spread the word to your target audience is to create buzz. Think about the many coupon or “deal” sites like Groupon and Living Social that are so popular now. Instead of offering a discount on yoga classes or sushi, you’re offering a deal on valuable tools that will encourage people to hone their current skills or acquire some new ones. Offering a coupon makes your material look more attractive and gives learners more incentive when they see they are getting a deal on the courses they want or need.

You Decide How You Want to Market Your Courses

Coggno offers all our content creators the ability to sell their courses to anyone, or as a branded Learning Management System. Selling to anyone gives you the ability to reach a wider audience, giving you the opportunity for greater exposure. That exposure has the potential to increase sales; the more courses you sell, the better you’ll be able to price them. You can help generate that interest by creating coupons for your courses. The discount amount you offer is completely up to you.

How Can I Create Coupons?

Coggno gives its content creators complete autonomy to create coupons. Your account contains a coupon feature that will allow you to create coupons for materials for sale in the marketplace. You can create discounts based on single and volume purchases, as well as purchase-with-purchase deals, and single purchases. You create your deals based on whatever it is you’d like to move. Maybe you have a newer version of a course coming out, or there is time sensitive material being offered that is close to expiring. Whatever the reason, Coggno gives you the opportunity to price your offerings as you see fit and offer coupon incentives whenever you choose.

Everyone Loves a Deal

Let’s face it; we’re always looking for deals whether it’s at the supermarket, the mall, or online. Education is expensive enough, and if we can get a few bucks off on our courses, we’re going to take advantage of a coupon. Think about creating coupons for a course or two and see what happens. We scour the Internet for deals for everything else, why not education? There’s no better feeling than gaining knowledge; getting it at a discount makes learners feel even more empowered.

For more information about coupon creation, sign in to your account and click on the “Marketplace” tab to get started.

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Coggno.com is a leading provider of Learning Management System

July 15th, 2011 by Robin Green

Anyone who uses e-learning courses will tell you that when running down your check-list of desired  features, one aspect not to be ignored is how easy or difficult it is to integrate your existing learning materials into the course you want to create. An LMS’s ease of integration will speed up course creation and allow you greater flexibility with the kinds of materials you offer your learners.

In choosing an LMS, integratability is key. You’re not creating learning modules in a vaccuum. You have years of experience and probably have a lot of material up your sleeve. Maybe you’re a teacher or a trainer and have learning materials stored on your computer, an external hard drive, or online in the cloud. Choosing an LMS that allows you to take advantage of these text, video, and audio files is going to make your course creation experience much easier.

What is SCORM and why might I need it?

Besides your learning material, you may want to make sure the learning management system you choose integrates with all SCORM software.

SCORM is a group of standards set for online learning. If you are creating a course for a governmental organization or an NGO that requires the use of SCORM standards, you will need SCORM authoring software.

One purpose of a SCORM authoring tool is that it allows you to control the order in which learning modules are experienced. Does your course have a natural flow, an order in which your learners should work through the material and activities? Most courses do, since knowledge is meant to build on previously learned knowledge, continuously reinforcing what has been learned. The ideal is not that a learner is able to jump ahead to the last section of the course without any difficulty. So what SCORM does is provide the structure of the learning program. It allows you to create and control the rules, time your learners, and ensure they are on task.

Live Webinars and Web Conferencing

Some learning management systems have incorporated web conferencing and webinar tools into their e-learning courses. Such LMSs provide you with the options of both synchronous HD visual and non-synchronous training.

How does it work? Learners simply log into the LMS course and participate in seminars or other kinds of real-time web conferences. The integrated webinar prevents confusion and produces seamless learning, without having to go back and forth between various locations. Additionally, webinars are an dynamic and increasingly popular way to provide collaborative and self-paced training to learners.

Easy Integration with Existing Learning Materials

Some learning management systems, such as Coggno, allow course creators to integrate existing learning materials, powerpoint documents, SCORM and video files with the click of a button. Having the course ready can be simply a matter of uploading the material that you have already worked on. You also can brand your material with your company logo, colors etc. Using a pay-per-use model like Coggno provides a few options for delivery. You can distribute the course within your organization, syndicate it on the web, or publicize it on Coggno’s catalogue of training courses.

Flexibility in Action

The flexibility of Coggno’s LMS platform to meet organizations’ particular requirements and needs, as well as its standards implementation, make it among the top online learning platforms on the market.

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Coggno.com provides high-quality online education  world-wide.