There are many good reasons to create multilingual online courses. Choosing the language that best suits the users is a core component of user experience in multilingual organization.
At the same time, managing multiple versions of a multilingual online course can be time consuming. When the learning management system does not provide good support for multilingual contents, problems compound fast.
This article identifies some issues that are likely to make managing language versions difficult – and how Workseed LMS addresses them.
Problem 1: The LMS does not support multilingual online courses
The learning management system can seriously limit creating language versions of courses. Some systems have no multilingual support at all or may require plugins to operate them. This makes managing the platform less intuitive and makes the user experience worse.
Lacking support for multiple languages can reduce the usability of an LMS in the long term. That is why language features should already be considered when purchasing an LMS.
Workseed has been designed from the beginning to support multilingual online courses. Language version management is a native tool that requires no configuration or plugins. The user interface is also available in multiple languages, including but not restricted to English, Swedish, German, and Spanish.
Problem 2: Language versions constitute different courses
Even if the platform itself supports multiple languages, it is possible that the same course cannot have language versions. Rather, new language versions must be published as separate courses.
This can make managing users more cumbersome. The teacher must at the beginning of the course allocate students to the relevant language version. This increases the amount of admin work, particularly when there are multiple courses available.
Workseed supports not only multiple languages, but also creating language versions of the same course. The teacher does not need to manage students, because the students can choose the relevant language version themselves.
Problem 3: Version management is cumbersome
If there are no adequate tools for managing language versions of multilingual online courses, content creation can be laborious. Content creators should be able to track which contents have been created and what is still missing. Lacking tools can make keeping track of translation progress difficult and increase human errors.
Workseed makes it easy to move between language versions and keep track of translation progress. It is easy to understand which segments have been translated and what is still in progress. Incomplete contents cannot be published by accident.
Problem 4: Quality management is lacking
Translation quality and consistent use of terminology is necessary to offer students equal opportunities to participate. Key concepts and assessment criteria must be used logically and consistently across translations, even when contents are updated.
This puts pressure on quality management. Particularly when there are multiple teachers and content producers working in the same environment, a clear quality management process for a multilingual online course is vital.
Workseed is based on the principle of competency based learning. It supports defining clear key competencies and learning goals. Having formal competencies defined on the platform in all the relevant languages provides translators clear guidelines for using key terms consistently across all the contents.
How can I manage multilingual online courses and language versions better?
Workseed is an LMS for multilingual online courses and content production. It facilitates translating contents and managing versions for content producers, and makes supervising multilingual groups of students easier for teachers.
At the same time, multilingual support improves user experience for students, who can themselves choose which language version suits them best. There is no need to roll in students separately based on the language.
In case you want to know more about the potential of multilingual content production, feel free to book a demo with our experts. We can help you map how to improve your workflow for supporting learners in multilingual organizations.
If you are comparing LMS providers, why not take a look at out popular blog post on choosing an LMS based on user needs.
