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Is there a WordPress plugin to create online courses?

January 22, 2013 By 38 Comments
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Until recently I would have said that you need to create a membership site in order to have a WordPress based online course. Yesterday WooThemes changed all that when they released their new Sensei plugin also termed as a learning  management plugin. Of course I had to buy it and test it out, and I’ve spent all day playing with it. It’s true love :) , cue hearts and violins :)

Sensei is different from the WordPress Membership plugins I’ve recently posted about. Sensei allows you to create an online course quickly, it’s installed via the plugin section of the WordPress dashboard and then you populate the lessons area with your content. As well as lessons you can also add quizzes to test the understanding of your students. All good so far :)

Can you sell your online courses using Sensei?

If your online course is a paid course, you’ll need to add the free WooCommerce plugin to manage the sales aspect. WooCommerce is a lovely plugin and is very easy to use, you should go and grab a copy and see what you can do with it – you can easily sell digital products using it and you don’t have to use the WooThemes framework to use the plugin, which makes it pretty awesome.

Back to Sensei…

After uploading your plugin via the dashboard you add your license key to the Woo plugin updater. This appears at the top of your dashboard:

Sensei WordPress Plugin Login banner

 

You just add your details to the next screen and click login.

WordPress Online Course plugin activations

 

When you purchase your copy of Sensei, you will be given the choice of a single site license, a 5 site license or a developers license.  When you activate your license key you will be able to activate the support facilities that come with the plugin. If you are not great at configuring things you should make sure that you do this so you can get any help you need.

The next set is to look along the left hand side bar of your dashboard and find the tab that says lessons.

online course wordpress plugin

 

Click Add New Lesson

WordPress Online Course Plugin

 

And a page appears for you to add your lesson content to.

WordPress Learning Management plugin adding lessonsYou can use the Woo Shortcodes within your content as well.

Under the content area is another tab that you can complete to let your students know how long each lesson will take and the lesson’s complexity. As the content I’ll be using is suited for beginners to intermediate the facility to keep the student informed is useful.

WordPress Learning Management plugin

What I love about Sensei is the simplicity. It enables you to create an online course quickly and effectively. I’ve found in the past after you’ve created your course outline, created the content etc the most time consuming aspect is the actual creating of the Learning Environment. As I mentioned above, I’ve had to use the membership site option which can take time to configure.

When you’ve added your lesson the next option is to the lesson to a course. You’ll find this section to the right of the post in the sidebar area. I love this aspect, in theory I can add certain lessons to separate courses without having to duplicate pages.

WordPress Learning Management Plugin Course

You can also create prerequisites, in my case if I want someone to take a foundation course before the main training course I have the option of adding this.

 Quizzes.

Aside from ease of use, the next engaging aspect of the Sensei plugin is the ability to quiz your students. This can be found underneath the lesson information area.

Sensei online course plugin quiz

 

In my excitement about the plugin I’ve not yet created a quiz… :(

 

WordPress Menus.

You can use the WordPress menus aspect of WordPress to create your own menu. The default menu has several options (I also have WooCommerce installed)

Sensei WordPress Plugin menu

 

I like the facility for the student to see what courses they are undertaking, the ability to add multiple courses and sell them from one site and using WooCommerce I can suggest additional products – upsells.

What I’d like to see for Sensei in the future…

  • The ability to drip feed content
  • To have one time offers for students
  • To be able to send email reminders when students have not logged in for a week
  • To have some sort of forum integration, I’m not sure what that would look like though
  • Built in video player

How does Sensei compare to Premise, Wishlist Member and eMember?

Premise, Wishlist and eMember have been created with a different aim in mind – membership sites. Sensei is geared towards learning and tuition rather than just delivering the content. The fact that I’m using it like a membership plugin is down to it’s ease of use. Sensei doesn’t have the ability to drip content (yet) or email students/members.

If you are teaching courses you’ll find Sensei more to your liking than a membership site plugin, which is geared towards marketers rather than teachers.

Sensei WordPress Online Course plugin lessons complete

Given that most marketers are quick to snap up simple, effective products, I can see more marketing features added as an upgrade in the future.

As I mentioned earlier, I love the plugin and I recommend it highly at just $99 (usual price currently discounted to $79)  it’s a great investment. You can grab a copy here.

I can see how I can use this to create upsells to my Kindle social media guides, fast and efficiently. I can see lots of uses for this plugin and it’s one that’s going to get a lot of use from me.

Have you tried Sensei yet? What do you think of it so far?

Sarah Arrow

Sarah Arrow

Sarah Arrow

Director of Special Projects at Sark eMedia
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Comments

  1. Lilach says:
    January 22, 2013 at 9:34 pm

    Thanks for this excellent and indepth review of Sensei Sarah. It looks like it’s a very useful plugin that will compliment my traffic course I’m currently creating. Can’t wait to get started:)
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  2. Keith Davis says:
    January 22, 2013 at 9:41 pm

    Wow!
    Impressed by the plugin and impressed by you finding it and putting it to the test so quickly.

    Are you using it on a live site yet Sarah – if you are please post a link.

    Also notice that you are using the Fancier Authorbox plugin – is that the paid version?
    Do you recommend?

    Always learn something when I come over and you are still by #1 female blogger.
    Keith Davis recently posted..Dynamik Website Builder for Genesis or…. the Genesis Extender plugin?My Profile (dofollow)
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  3. julie bishop says:
    January 22, 2013 at 10:16 pm

    Sarah…Thanks so much for this, this is so helpful :)
    Julie
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  4. Bob Dunn says:
    January 23, 2013 at 12:20 am

    Hey Sarah, thanks for the fast review. I saw the release of this in my inbox this AM and jumped right on it. Going to purchase it tomorrow as its perfect timing for some new coursework I am putting together. Although I’m always a big fan of anything from Woo, great to hear such a favorable review from someone I know and trust :)
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  5. Angelika Davey says:
    January 23, 2013 at 11:24 am

    As a teacher, who also teaches online, I was intrigued by the title and had to check it out. But it’s not for me. All my lessons are different, depending on the student or students.

    So, until I start writing my own material one day I won’t be investing in it … I’m out! (I always wanted to be able to say that in public ;-) )
    Angelika Davey recently posted..Learn German with Children’s TV ProgrammesMy Profile (dofollow)
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  6. Garen says:
    January 23, 2013 at 4:59 pm

    Hey Sarah,

    Wow, looks like a cool plugin. I go plugin happy (at times) and have used WooThemes for a number of years. I like the fact that it uses shortcodes because I know some html and css, but would rather not dig around with code. Have toyed with doing a membership or course style site in the past. Got so much going on I have to sit down and see which stuff I want to pursue.
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  7. Anita says:
    January 23, 2013 at 6:58 pm

    Oh wow Sarah!

    I am really quite excited by this – would be perfect for my future plans, YAY.

    Thanks so much for bringing it to our attention :)
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  8. Claire Jarrett says:
    January 24, 2013 at 8:54 am

    Hi Sarah – This looks extremely interesting for creating my AdWords courses and getting them online, especially as you can upload youtube videos to it. Will take a look – thanks!
    Claire Jarrett recently posted..3 Assets Every Smart Online Marketer NeedsMy Profile
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  9. Lydia Brown says:
    January 24, 2013 at 8:00 pm

    Thank you Sarah you always provide helpful information. I will save this because having a memebership site is on my 2013 list.
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  10. Clint Butler says:
    January 26, 2013 at 11:22 pm

    I heard about this plugin in an internet marketing group that I am involved in. They are using it for list building. Creating a small course out of content they already have and then turning it into lessons that they can give away for the opt-in. There are plenty of opportunities created by this thing.
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  11. Rob Wilson says:
    January 29, 2013 at 11:43 pm

    I’ve had a quick play with Sensei for a few days. Initial thoughts are that is a great start but it needs a few more versions and some sensei plugins to make it really useful for anything but simple courses.

    For example the quiz to move on a lesson option seems to be all lessons or none. Plus it is only multiple choice at present. No checklists or other options. Would love to integrate with gravity forms for great questionnaires.

    The lesson and course creation works well but feels a little basic.

    The integration with woocommerce looks very interest but I’ve not tested that yet.

    Great start and a snip at $79 plus 50% off at the minute.
    Rob Wilson recently posted..Bite Sized Webinar – WordPress SEOMy Profile
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  12. Chery Schmidt says:
    February 1, 2013 at 10:11 pm

    Hi Sarah, You did a Great job explaining this plug -in You make things look so easy! Of course I am not ready for this one yet but have book marked your page for future referrance Thanks for sharing Chery :)
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  13. Sadie-Michaela Harris says:
    February 2, 2013 at 12:32 am

    Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed overview Sarah – I’m absolutely racking by brain to think of the name of another plugin that I saw about 18 months ago which was also for online courses … I’m beginning to think I dreamt it now!
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  14. Julieanne vanZyl says:
    February 2, 2013 at 4:07 am

    That looks fantastic Sarah. I wish so much that they’d released that before I set up my course, and I might use it for my next course, anything to save time. Does it allow for multiple courses on one site and restrict students from going to the courses they haven’t paid for? I’m sure it does, but just making certain:-)
    Julieanne vanZyl recently posted..Daily Marketing Coach and Calling People for BusinessMy Profile

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  15. Ian says:
    February 5, 2013 at 12:59 am

    Hi Sarah,

    Thank you for such a thorough review of Sensei. I’m really intrigued, but like you I want a few more features.

    While doing some more research I came across another LMS plugin called LearnDash http://www.learndash.com/ It has a bunch of features you had on your wishlist such as being able to email your students and to also have a forum and feedback set up. You can also schedule your lessons to drop according to a schedule.

    I’d love to hear what you think of LearnDash compared to Sensei.

    -Ian
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  16. Charlie says:
    May 21, 2013 at 1:40 pm

    If you want your course to be a paid for course and the customer clicked on it, would they automatically get redirected to the payments system with the course in the basket ?> what would happen ?

    Reply

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