506 Building Your Own LMS Using WordPress and Google Analytics
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM Wednesday, March 28
Learning Platforms
Salon 5
There are benefits to off-the-shelf learning management systems, but in some situations the drawbacks outweigh the benefits. They often give you less control over the learner experience and may not provide the meaning from your learning metrics that you need. Sometimes the best solution for your LMS needs is a custom one. But custom LMS solutions are complicated and expensive to create, right? Actually, they don’t have to be.
In this session, you’ll discover an inexpensive and relatively easy solution for creating a custom LMS: WordPress. You’ll find out how WordPress can be used to build a customized LMS with minimal effort and cost, and what the benefits of this approach are for your audience and organization. You’ll then look at how you can use Google Analytics and Google Data Studio in tandem with this approach to deliver enhanced learning metrics that will add value for your organization and stakeholders.
In this session, you will learn:
- About the impact an LMS has on the learner experience
- How to know when third-party LMSs won’t meet your needs, and when to look at a customized solution instead
- How, specifically, you can use WordPress to build your own customized LMS with minimal effort and cost
- How to get the learning metrics you need using Google Analytics and Data Studio
Audience:
Intermediate to advanced developers, managers, directors, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.) with basic knowledge of standard off-the-shelf learning management systems and learning reports.
Technology discussed in this session:
WordPress, LearnDash plugin, Google Analytics, and Google Data Studio.
Joshua Berkstresser
Director of Instructional Design
PsychArmor Institute
Joshua Berkstresser, a director of instructional design for PsychArmor Institute, is a learning and development professional with 10 years of experience and a master’s of science in instructional and educational technology and design. While working for Apple Retail, he trained staff in the opening of four stores in the US and UK with audiences of over 180. Josh then entered the nonprofit sector as 2-1-1 San Diego’s manager of learning and development. While there, he brought in a learning management system and facilitated the development of their first eLearning curriculum and blended learning solution.