Learning Ideas

So, you want to set up an eLearning site, populate it, and get rich on the proceeds, but you don’t have any funds? Well, being the cheapskate that I am, I will show you some sites that just might help.

First off, you’re going to need a website. That means registering the name, and getting the space. Since you’re going to set up eLearning on it, you’ll need to get a Learning Management System up and running, as well. That means “root access” is required.

I’m not going to make your choice for you, but whomever you choose, you shouldn’t have to pay more than $20 per month until you get enough traffic (that means “money”) to afford increasing your bandwidth. All of the sites I looked at had plenty of storage. Some of the things to look out for are charges for everyday maintenance items like “$10 per reboot,” or “$20 for additional anything.” Find a site that gives you the space, gives you the bill, and leaves you alone. You should be able to get the package set up for less than $100, total, including registering the domain name, and three months’ payment (in advance).

Now that you have a site provider selected, you need to come up with a catchy name. Go to Whois to find a name that isn’t in use. It may take some time. “freelearning.com” won’t be available until December of this year, and may be extended at that time. I wouldn’t suggest it, anyway, since you want to make money on this venture (or not). But making enough to get it paid for wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Some tips on getting website names:

• It should be as short as possible.
• It should be able to be pronounced.
• It shouldn’t contain punctuation.
• It should be “dot com” not “dot net,” or some other extension.
• It must be untaken.

A good way to do the above is to make up a word that is not being used. I happen to have “colorbration.com” which I hope to eventually turn into my online photography site, if I ever get the time.

Now you have selected a provider, and found a catchy website name. The provider should be able to help you set up the site and assign the name to it. You’ll probably have to edit the NameServer entries, but most sites help you with this. Usually, though, you’ll need to be able to read and follow directions.

Now, you have a site, but nothing on it. You’ll need content. I’m going to suggest a freeware (gnu license) LMS. Go to Ilias. This website has a SCORM-certified LMS for free. In addition, there are both SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 versions available. There is also a support forum. If you speak German, you’re at an advantage, but most of the documentation and forums are in English. This download will give you the building blocks you need to get you started.

Ilias has a lot of information on setting it up on a Linux server. I would suggest any Linux version you are familiar with, but if you have a choice, I did it on a Debian Etch server, myself. Follow the directions, and you’re off.

Once you’re done with the previous step, don’t forget to set up a mail server, as well, for email communications.

Now for the good news: Everything to this point can be contracted out to a “Server side” person. For $100 to $400 you should be able to find someone to get the whole she-bang up and running for you. Ta-daaa! That’s the easy way.

Well, you’ve now got a website with a catchy name, and a new LMS that you’ll need to play with for a few days or weeks to really get the feel of. What’s next? Content, of course!

You need to start writing content for your empty site. I suggest you go to OpenOffice.org and download their package. In addition, from the Ilias site, there is a link for an OpenOffice.org extension to allow you to set up content directly, using OpenOffice.org. This extension is called eLAIX, and information, as well as a link to the publishing site, can be found here.

Anyway, now you have everything you need to set up a bare-bones site for eLearning. You can go to my test site at Don’s Test Site to take it for a spin, if you like. I’ve only got a couple of courses up, right now, but you can see how easy it is to use, and how full-featured it is. Sign up for a free user (student) account, and give it a go.