My specialist option is the design and delivery of Learning Management Systems (LMS) and incorporated courses, using WordPress. This involves designing and implementing tools and systems, and the management/administration of a sustainable e-learning process.

I include the following three LMSs in my CMALT portfolio.

1. cambridgelearn.com is a self-access site (open to anyone who purchases a course) focused on helping learners pass the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) test. It is the most highly developed LMS I have made in WordPress and includes many features to enhance the learner and tutor experiences.
2. conflictcomms.org is an LMS for delivering a postgraduate course for students of journalism studying at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria. It is the first fully online postgraduate course at the university.
3. khatwah.org is a multilingual (English & Arabic) LMS I developed as part of a project which supports civil society organisations delivering campaigns and learning around gender-based violence issues in Syrian refugee communities in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. It is free of charge and open to anybody but requires registration in order to access the courses available.

I am interested in the interplay between technology and learning, particularly the way free and low cost technologies can be employed to produce learning opportunities which are usually restricted to expensive institutions with expensive VLEs. As one of the most flexible and widely used and supported content management systems available today, WordPress, in my opinion, makes a good choice for a LMS .

I use WordPress Multisite as the core delivery platform and select and configure plugins and external services to provide the learning environment and experiences required. In short, I start with a domain name and the ‘raw’ learning materials (text and images) provided by the client; and I deliver a fully functioning learning environment ready for tutors and students to use.

Each of the LMSs I have developed is different but all include the core functionality to deliver courses (i.e. a series of related lessons and sub-topics) with text, audio and video plus formative and summative testing. On some projects I have also included:

• Assignment submission, plus marking and feedback mechanisms.
• Discussion forums.
• Multilingual language switching – Arabic and English.
• Open Badges – for encouraging and rewarding learner activity.
• Internal messaging – for learner-tutor communication without the use of email addresses.
• Wikis – for collaborative editing and group work.
• Xerte learning objects – to extend the interactivity options available.
• Blogs – used by learners as journals, portfolios or discussion spaces.

The student experience is my first priority when I develop a system. The site must be safe, secure and accessible but it must also be usable and include the functionality to make enrollment, learning, assessment and communication straightforward.

To improve accessibility and usability I use responsive theme designs (suitable for all screen sizes) and avoid technologies which require users to have specific browser plugins (e.g. Flash). I ensure the environment functions as quickly as possible (e.g. I optimise all images and host audio and video resources externally on Dropbox and Vimeo) to enable access to users with low bandwith internet connections. I use sans serif fonts, plain backgrounds and contrasting font colours to help users with visual impairments and I use semantic HTML markup to reinforce the meaning of information on web pages rather than simply defining its presentation.

I uphold privacy and security by restricting user access to various elements of the environment (e.g. by editing .htaccess files and user permissions), and by using plugins which are well-supported and widely used in the WordPress community.

I advise clients on learning design to encourage active learning and communication as this makes a more rewarding experience for learners than a simple ‘e-learning’ course might deliver. I design and implement interactive and collaborative elements in the systems and courses. For example, I develop learning objects in Xerte Online Toolkits and animated slideshow presentations in Google Slides which are embedded into the courses.

Reflection

I have found that clients tend initially to take an ‘information dump’ approach to writing courses, focusing mainly on text delivery and fact-based asessments using multiple-choice tests – largely, I think, because they are unaware of the other possibilities within an online course.

To provide the best learner experience possible (within the time and cost constraints around any project) I spend a lot of time trying to educate clients with regard to the more engaging and effective approaches possible online (e.g. peer communication/collaboration, video presentations, interactive slideshows etc.) and helping them to understand that intervention by and interaction with tutors frequently makes a better experience for their learners. One of the best ways I have found to make this point is to compare a straightforward ‘e-learning’ course containing just text and quizzes with a course that employs a range of delivery, interactivity and assessment mechanisms. Often this results in the client re-writing much of their material, introducing a more active approach to the learning.

Evidence

For evidence of my LMS & Course development in WordPress see the following posts: