What is the best ead platform and why do I need an ead platform?

Well, if you want to train your employees, act in corporate training or want to have your own portal of online courses for sale, you need an EAD Platform!

When you develop your training or course and choose to offer it online, you will have a number of advantages attributed to this modality. Among them, we highlight the number of people who will have the opportunity to acquire more knowledge.

If your goal is to sell direct sales of online coursesyou will be able to scale your business, reaching a large number of people who will have access to your course.

But, if your objective is to train your employeesor a company that operates in this segmentthe advantage of opting for distance training will also involve lower costs, greater flexibility of time, space and location, development of strategic training, directed at the company's objectives and with greater absorption of knowledge, among many others that we will list and describe in a future article.

Now that you have already opted for the online modality, let us now look at some points that can help you in this process.

How to choose the best distance learning platform?

Whether it's to sell courses or train employees, choosing an ODL platform can be a big differentiator for your business. And we say "could", because when you choose, you should take into account some relevant points for your choice.

1. Is the distance learning platform accessible on any device, i.e. computer, tablet and smartphone?

This is a condition that should weigh heavily on your choice!

Be attentive to identify if the platform of your choice is responsive, i.e. adaptable to any device and operating system - IOS/Android, as accesses will be made by different devices and operating systems.

Some students use desktops, tablets and, in their majority (according to the last survey conducted by IBGE), smartphones. Therefore, the adaptation of your course / training in these devices is essential for the student.

2. What is the investment to hire an ODL platform?

We put it as a second point, but I believe it is the first question that everyone asks: How much will I have to pay to use a distance learning platform?

There is no free distance learning platform on the market. What do exist are a few different ways of charging for the use of an ODL platform. What you should check is what is the best way to charge for your business model?

To assess the cost of each, take into account your financial planning and analyse the best way to charge each platform. Check what is most advantageous for your type of business:

- If the platform charges a fixed monthly fee;
- If the platform charges a fixed fee (a percentage) for each course sale made.

At first, the fact that the platform does not charge a monthly fee may catch your attention, but as you increase your sales and scale your business, a percentage on top of your sales can be extremely harmful to your business. Remember: this amount will come out of your profit margin!

The more sales you make, the more you pay!

3. I have the content ready. Do I need any technical knowledge to create my online course/training?

It depends on the platform you choose. For some platforms, you should have technical knowledge to structure your course/training. For this, you should have the resources and hire specialized professionals who can migrate your content to an ODL platform.

The good news is that Hotscool is an extremely intuitive EAD platform where the client himself creates his own course/training without needing to have another financial resource to perform this task.

4. How will my students access my course/training?

Through your own domain! Hotscool is structured so that you can have your own domain and that all your training is accessed by your student through it.

In addition, Hotscool has PowerPage, a powerful page editor where you can, in a simple, easy and intuitive way, create pages for your online course site. Fully customized, with images, videos, texts, colours, logo, in short, according to the visual identity of your company.

5. How is the virtual environment for my students? Is it intuitive and suitable for learning?

It is very important to take into consideration the features that the platform has so that your learners feel engaged by the course/training.

Social Learning

Also called Social Learning, this is a resource excluded from Hotscool that brings more effectiveness by allowing the exchange of knowledge between students and greater proximity to the tutor/teacher, as well as the sharing of materials and experiences that can assist in greater assimilation of the content.

Forum

This is a necessary and indispensable feature to have interaction between students and enrich the learning environment. The Forum is a space for discussions moderated and directed by the course manager/tutor. It is through the Forum that students feel the spirit of collectivity, discuss and interact with their peers publishing and removing doubts and besides finding materials arranged by subject, according to the course/training.

Chat

In addition to e-mail, Hotscool also offers the Chat feature where the tutor can schedule a chat room to answer the students' questions and discuss the subjects treated in their course.

In addition to the features above, it is important to take into account the virtual learning environment (VLE) that should be intuitive so that there is no difficulty or complexity to perform the course / training. By ensuring good navigability and usability, you also guarantee success for your course/training and the experience of the students.

6. How to follow the student's progress in the course/training?

This is an essential feature in an ODL platform. How do you track the student's progress in the course? Which students have already finished a class, a module or the whole course? How long did a student take to complete an assessment? What is the performance of this student? And a host of other information that will be obtained through student performance reports.

Hotscool offers 3 reports so that you can have all this data in a quick and simple way. The important thing is that you observe the quality of the information generated by these reports. With this information, you can also identify relevant, important and necessary issues that can help in the management of your students within the course / training.

Above, we have listed basic and important points to base the choice of the best distance learning platform to create your course / training according to your goal.

Hotscool also offers other features that deserve to be highlighted and will serve as a differential for your business as, Social Network for each of your courses (Social Learning),Creation of Landing Page (Sales Page), Integration with Payment Methods, Recurring Payments, Issuance and Validation of Certificate of Completion directly from your Online School, Creation of multiple environments from a single account and many others.

Always be attentive and check if the EAD Platform chosen really has the resources described and how they will serve to your course / training to achieve the goal outlined.

A great way to do this evaluation is to create a trial account at Hotscool where you can test all platform features for free for 7 days. Use and abuse of the trial account in this period, so you will surely make the best choice! Any questions, you can count on our support team throughout your trial period.

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