If you are running an online course, then you are probably familiar with the burden of manual administrative tasks and how time and resource-consuming they can be. From user enrollment to content management and reporting, repetitive tasks can overwhelm administrators and instructors, hindering productivity and limiting the scalability of your eLearning business.
Fortunately, the solution lies in automation. Thanks to technology, there is now a wide range of tools available to help you automate tasks on your online courses.
In this article, we’ll examine key areas where automation can be applied to your Learning Management System in order to save time and facilitate daily management.
Let’s take a look at the main areas where you, as an LMS user, can benefit from automation. Since our clients frequently work with LearnDash, we’ll be focusing a little bit more on this LMS for the purpose of this article.
Notifications and Reminders
It’s all about keeping everyone in the loop without anyone having to lift a finger. Instead of manually sending out messages to a bunch of people, automation handles it all for you. You can set up notifications to go out automatically based on certain course events or schedules and send updates to relevant groups of students with a single click.
Plus, automated notifications can help boost course completion rates. By gently nudging learners with reminders about their assignments or upcoming activities, you’re helping them stay on track and finish what they started.
Depending on the LMS of your choice there are several tools available to help you set up more efficient notification and communication systems. When it comes to LearnDash LMS, we suggest trying tools like LearnDash Announcements Pro that help you add announcements for one or multiple courses, lessons, topics, quizzes, groups, or user roles.
Plus, it allows you to set starting and ending, dates and times for the individual announcements.
Additionally, you can use tools like Zappier to create “Zaps” that automate tasks between LearnDash and other apps like Gmail, Slack, or CRM systems which can aid in your communication systems.
Reporting
Automating reporting on your LMS can streamline the process of tracking learner progress, course completion rates, and other key metrics, saving time and providing valuable insights into the effectiveness of your learning programs.
There are several tools and options available for streamlining reporting for LearnDash LMS. For example , Tin Canny Reporting provides detailed insights into learner activity, including course progress, quiz attempts, time spent on courses, and more. It also integrates with popular tools like GrassBlade.
The Uncanny LearnDash Toolkit offers additional reporting widgets and dashboard insights, allowing administrators to track course activity, enrollment trends, and learner engagement more comprehensively.
You can also benefit from the LearnDash Quiz Reports Pro add-on that allows you to create your own local databases of your student’s performance by downloading quiz reports straight to your computer in CSV format.
Upsell and Cross-Sells
Automating cross-sells and upsells for your online course website can significantly enhance revenue generation and improve the overall user experience. You can use technology, compatible with your LMS of choice, to analyze learner behavior, preferences, and past purchases to dynamically recommend relevant courses or bundles at several points, such as on the course catalog page, during checkout, or after completing a course.
You can also send automated follow-up emails recommending complementary courses or resources to learners shortly after they complete a purchase, leveraging their existing interest and engagement.
If you are using LearnDash we recommend integrating WooCommerce with LearnDash to leverage its built-in cross-selling and upselling features, such as related products, product bundles, and personalized product recommendations. CartFlows also enables you to create customized checkout funnels for LearnDash courses
Content Creation and Updates
Adding and updating course content, like lessons and quizzes, to your site can take hours if not days of work. It’s not just about producing the content, it’s about uploading it and formatting it correctly on your site.
For LearnDash, tools like the LearnDash Course Import/Export add-on are game-changers, allowing you to create your content all at once from a spreadsheet and upload it with a single click. You can make changes directly on the file and reupload it for quick and efficient updates. You can even set the appropriate content settings right from the sheet.
The LearnDash Student Quiz Builder even allows your student to automatically generate quizzes on their own, directly from the front end, drawing questions from selected question categories.
Conclusion
By leveraging automation tools and strategies, organizations can streamline administrative tasks, enhance user experience, and drive better learning outcomes.
Automation matters because it allows administrators and instructors to focus their time and energy on what truly matters: delivering high-quality content, engaging with learners, and continuously improving the learning experience. By eliminating manual, repetitive tasks, automation frees up resources that can be reinvested into innovation and strategic initiatives.
If you want to learn more about automating your LMS or need a unique solution built to make running your eLearning site easier, don’t hesitate to reach out to our LMSninjas.
