Social Learning with Wordpress or Google Sites
How Tin Can is a Modern Alternative to the LMS
Way Back in 2010
I used to teach the classes online through San Diego State University’s Educational Technology department.
Here are links to the Google Sites we used for group projects and as a class website.
I wrote a blog and forced students to respond to different prompts in each post. During synchronous classes, we’d continue our discussion from the comments.
Social Learning Theme for Wordpress
This WordPress theme is built for the Buddypress Social Networking plugin and the LearnDash plugin.
I’m building one of these for my upcoming workshops. I’m about knee ankle deep in it now, but am looking forward to sharing about the process.
BuddyPress
This wordpress plugin adds groups, messaging and friending to a Blog site.
LearnDash Plugin for Wordpress
This screenshot shows the intro screen of a LearnDash course.
A course contains multiple lessons, each with their own topics. Each topic can have video, text, comments, pictures. There’s a powerful quiz building capabilities.�
Here’s an example of LearnDash integrated with Buddy Press.
http://demo.buddyboss.com/social-learner-learndash/courses/endocrine-gland-hormone-review/
And it can be Gamified, too?
Drip-Feed
Manage Cognitive Load by releasing new content over a period of time.
Avoid the Firehose!
Schedule a new mini lesson each day/week/month.
What are some ways you could drip-feed a new employee?
Adding in Storyline Courses using Tin Can
Storyline courses CAN be imported into LearnDash.
However, they are not done via SCORM. Tin Can is the new kid on the block.
You’ll get a chance to see what steps you take to move from an LMS to an LRS and what the main differences are.
GrassBlade LRS
The Tin Can standard is tracked using a Learning Record Store.
For $199/year you can have the code to host your own GrassBlade LRS.
There is a live demo for the LRS Dashboard that you can check out here.
xAPI Companion
The GrassBlade LRS is the database where activity is stored.
The xAPI Companion helps data transfer smoothly between the WP site and the LRS.
Here’s the Plugin in Action
Let’s Look at Some Other Examples
Coursera is a well-known MOOC that’s one of my favorites.
Degreed is kind of a news aggregator for topics of learning.
Coursera
Are you up for a challenge?
This 4-week class is one of many that help you with a community of folks also doing real-world projects.
I’m signing up for this one because it’s my favorite price- free!
Degreed
This isn’t incredibly social, but it is incredibly cool.
I’m including it as a great example of how to capture all types of content. This is a shining example of what SCORM can’t do, but TinCan Can.