Why Moodle: How we chose a solution for creating an ONLYOFFICE training center

For this blog article, we interviewed our Customer Care Team who will share their experience and explain how they chose a LMS for the upgraded ONLYOFFICE training center, what factors they took into consideration, and which services they tested.

What are the Moodle advantages? What tasks do you solve using it?

We need Moodle to provide a high-level expert training to ONLYOFFICE users, customers, and partners. And here are the advantages we would like to highlight:

• Integration with ONLYOFFICE Docs. This way, trainees are able to work with documents and materials directly in the Moodle environment without leaving the platform. This eliminates the need to switch between several applications and makes the learning process more efficient and convenient.
• Centralized management of all training courses. We can easily create new courses, update the existing ones, organize and structure all learning materials.
• Ability to combine different course formats: pre-recorded video lessons with assignments for self-paced learning, and also live trainings under control of a tutor to discuss any follow-up questions. Moodle allows us to aggregate all training contents, including assignments, additional materials and certificates, as well as automate some processes.
• Useful tools. Moodle provides different options to track student progress and assess their knowledge. Interactivity tools such as quizzes or questionnaires make the learning process more engaging and productive.

Maria, Head of Customer and Partner Training Group at ONLYOFFICE:

We were looking for a platform that would allow us to perform all training activities from one place, and Moodle fits these requirements perfectly. All of the above mentioned benefits make this LMS an ideal choice for us and ensure we can provide high-quality training to our customers and partners.

Which LMS did you test and which factors did you consider?

Before our final decision to opt for Moodle, we tried lots of e-learning services and systems: 360Learning, ProProfs, Absorb LMS, Kredo, Expert LMS, Eurekos, Canvas, TalentLMS, Open LMS, Open edX, OpenOLAT, UMU, Claroline, Docebo, Chamilo, iSpring Learn, Gyrus LMS, and CanopyLAB.

For us, to build a reliable and intuitive ONLYOFFICE training center, the following factors were of the great importance:

• Open-source software or not. We understand the importance of transparency and trustworthiness (well, ONLYOFFICE is open-source). So, we wanted to find a suitable open-source LMS.
• Functionality. Necessary tools for creating and managing courses. Variety of assignment options, support for working with files, for example, the ability to view files without downloading them, the ability to make video calls/webinars or integration with the corresponding service. Ability to issue certificates. A single calendar for admins and tutors.
• Integration. Ability to integrate and use ONLYOFFICE Docs within the chosen LMS.
• Flexibility. Different rights/permissions (admin, teacher/tutor, manager, etc.).
• Pricing. For every team, a pricing factor plays an important role. Obviously, we wanted to choose a cost-effective solution suitable to our budget.
• Deployment options. Self-hosted or SaaS? It’s up to you. For us, it was important to be able to launch a LMS on our own server in order to keep all the data under control.
• Usability. The interface should be user-friendly and intuitive for both tutors and trainees.
• Language support. Support for all the languages we and our customers/partners work with, including English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, etc.

How would you rate the tested LMS solutions based on the mentioned factors?

Most of the tested systems (which we listed above) are not open-source and don’t provide an ability to host it on your private server.

Not all systems provide file management functionality, especially editing. Most systems have a closed API, which does not allow integrating ONLYOFFICE Docs.

Many platforms don’t support the languages we need and have reported that they don’t have any plans to add them.

One of the main criteria was pricing. Expensive LMS usually offer all the necessary features, except the ability to integrate our editors.

Below, we would like to list the pros and cons of several systems that we tested, from our point of view, of course.

360Learning

Pros

• Simple system for creating courses and training elements
• User-friendly interface
• Low price
• Support for multiple languages
• Chat, forum and various discussion tools

Cons

• No possibility to integrate with ONLYOFFICE Docs
• The task mode seems quite limited – few elements to add
• No video conferencing capability

ProProfs

Pros

• User-friendly interface
• Good platform and course protection system with password
• Large set of training elements
• Ability to insert pictures and videos, attach documents
• Certificates
• Ability to prohibit copying

Cons

• Bulleted and numbered lists don’t work correctly
• Screen recording for students is limited to 10 minutes
• No ability to run video conferences
• Presentations are not displayed for users
• No chat
• Sometimes the platform is unstable
• The support team stopped answering our questions about the integration

OpenOLAT

Pros

• Open-source
• Multiple settings for each element
• Ready integration with ONLYOFFICE Docs
• Forum and chat (however, they seem to be not very convenient)
• Search option which allows you to quickly find the required info

Cons

• Students open documents without editing rights
• Complex and not very clear course checking system
• Confusing system for creating each element, especially tests
• Few languages (only five are supported)
• Interface seems a bit outdated
• No possibility of video conferencing

Expert LMS

Pros

• User-friendly interface
• Various types of tasks
• Chat and certificates
• Flexible access rights

Cons

• Cloud version only
• No support for different languages and no plans to add them
• Too high cost of integration with ONLYOFFICE Docs
• Too high cost for a small number of students
• Presentations cannot be added

We hope that our experience and findings* will help someone who is also looking for a reliable LMS for customer learning.

If you have any comments and suggestions, or questions about ONLYOFFICE training courses, or would like to integrate your own LMS with ONLYOFFICE Docs, just reach out to us via marketing@onlyoffice.com.

*All opinions expressed in this article are personal opinions of the ONLYOFFICE Customer Care Team.