Terms from online learning and online schools, in plain words. Short and to the point: what it is and what it's for.
An LMS (learning management system) is a platform for building, hosting, and selling online courses and managing students. It holds the lessons, the tests, and student progress — and often the sales and analytics too.
On an LMS the course author puts the program together, gives students access, grades assignments, and sees the statistics. Modern LMSs for online schools bring learning, payment collection, CRM, and campaigns into one place.
Learn moreA VLE (virtual learning environment) is another name for an online learning platform, close in meaning to an LMS: a place where courses are run, students are taught, and progress is tracked.
The term turns up more often in academic and corporate settings. In terms of what they do, a VLE and an LMS largely overlap.
Learn moreAn online school is a business that sells learning on the internet: courses, programs, or a subscription to content, taking payments and working with students online.
Unlike a single course, a school is a system: a catalog of products, sales, student support, and repeat purchases.
Learn moreAn online course is a structured learning program on the internet: lessons made of video, text, and tasks, usually with a knowledge check and often a certificate.
A course is split into modules and lessons, assignments and tests are added, and access is given after payment or for free.
Learn moreA webinar is an online seminar broadcast live: the speaker runs the stream while participants watch and ask questions. In teaching, webinars are used for live sessions, walkthroughs, and launches.
Technically the stream runs the usual way — from OBS, Streamyard, YouTube, or Zoom — and is shown to students on a webinar page inside the school, with a chat and a viewer counter.
Learn moreDrip content (staged release) is a way of opening course lessons gradually, on a schedule or as the student progresses, rather than all at once.
Staged release sets the pace, keeps a student from swallowing the course in one evening and dropping it, and raises completion.
Learn moreGamification means game mechanics in learning: points, rewards, and leaderboards for progress. They motivate students to finish the course.
It works alongside community: when progress is visible and the group is there to help, completion goes up.
Learn moreA certificate of completion is confirmation that a student finished the course. Often with a unique serial number and a QR code so it can be checked.
Certificates raise the value of a course and serve as confirmation of a skill or of required training.
Learn moreWhite-label means running your school under your own brand: your domain, your logo, your colors, with no mention of the platform. Students see your brand, not the name of the LMS.
It matters for companies and schools that need a single, coherent look.
Learn moreA course sales funnel is a person's path from first touch to purchase: an ad → a sales page → being carried to the purchase → payment. It shows where prospective students are lost.
Analyzing the funnel helps you see which stage is sagging and lift sales without raising the budget.
Learn moreA CRM for an online school is a system that keeps the contacts and history of every student (where they came from, what they bought, where they stopped) and moves deals through stages. It helps you not lose leads and sell systematically.
Unlike a spreadsheet, a CRM connects sales to learning: after payment the student is connected automatically.
Learn moreMembership (a content subscription) is a model where the student pays regularly — monthly or yearly — for access to material or a community, rather than buying one course outright.
A subscription gives the school predictable recurring income and improves retention.
Learn moreA paywall is paid access to content: part of the material is visible to everyone, and the rest opens after payment. In teaching, a paywall goes on courses, individual lessons, and community posts.
It works as a soft sell: the person sees the beginning, understands the value, and pays for the rest — with no separate page and no phone call.
Learn moreUTM attribution ties a sale to the channel the person came from: tags in the link say they arrived from a campaign, an ad, or a blogger.
The key is carrying the tag all the way to the payment: then the report shows not "200 leads from Facebook" but how much money Facebook brought in. Otherwise the budget gets split by guesswork.
Learn moreRetention is the share of students who keep learning or stay paying subscribers over time. High retention means steady income and more reviews.
It grows through engagement: community, gamification, regular content, and support.
Learn moreA cohort is a group of students brought together by something they share — everyone who bought the course in the same month, for example. Cohort analysis shows how each group behaves over time.
Cohort analysis helps you see LTV and the share of repeat purchases by group, rather than "on average."
Learn moreNPS (Net Promoter Score) is a loyalty metric: how ready students are to recommend the school. It's calculated from the answer to "on a scale of 0 to 10, would you recommend us?"
A high NPS is a sign that people like the school and will tell others about it.
Learn moreLTV (lifetime value) is how much money a student brings the school over the whole relationship, not from a single purchase. LTV is what tells you how much you can afford to spend on acquisition.
It's calculated by cohort: you can see whether customer value grows from one cohort to the next, and what share buys a second course.
Learn moreA course funnel is the student's path through the lessons and the points where they fall off. Unlike a sales funnel, it's about the learning: you can see exactly which lesson the group loses students at.
If a third of the cohort leaves at lesson three, the problem is probably the lesson rather than the students — and that can be fixed in one place.
Learn more