WordPress as a VLE or CMS?

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My understanding of WordPress is that it is a blogging tool, but I have also used it to run corporate, commercial, charity, and special interest websites. It also runs some extremely powerful (and large) websites that are much more than a blog or news site. But what of WordPress as a learning management system – whether you call them VLE, CMS, LMS, or something else?

Well, I’ve heard of it, but haven’t seen it “in the wild” … yet!

Here are a list posts and snippets of news I’ve collected from around the Internet over the last few months about WordPress, it’s ability to run as an alternative VLE/LMS/etc, and tools you can use to make it work as one.

I wonder if anyone is using WordPress for their MOOC?

WordPress as a Learning Management System – Move Over, Blackboard

“We use the BP-Social Theme for the BuddyPress sites. Clearly the theme was designed with Facebook in mind. To me, this is nothing but an advantage for an educational implementation. With so many of our students coming into the classroom with innumerable experiences in this social network, it’s such a blessing to be able to provide a user experience in a LMS that works in a way that students are used to and comfortable with. There are inherent stresses with online education: the lack of face-to-face communication, the inability to interpret tone in text, the discomforting anonymity of the faceless peer, so on and so forth. BP-Social helps break these stresses down to a manageable level, which I believe enhances the opportunity for learning.”

WordPress a Better LMS

“One of the major advantages of using WordPress is that, unlike Blackboard, it is highly configurable, and with one exception you can do everything and more on WordPres … there is a well developed community out there which can help you customize your site.”

A Simple, New Way To Run Your Own Online Courses

“If you thought WordPress was just blogging software, it’s time to take a second look. The latest version of WordPress is robust enough to help you create anything from a classroom blog to an advanced online course system complete with interactive quizzes and payment portals. Not too shabby.”

How To: Use WordPress as an LMS for an Online Learning Website

“The community behind WordPress is bigger than any LMS or CMS in the world. This means there are more solutions available to you, more support, and even support in your native language. Whether you are looking for a developer to hire, or free tutorials for beginners, you will find it easily for WordPress.”

Rebuilding the LMS for the 21st Century

“While brainstorming for a solution to fit these needs, Ugoretz and his team implemented an e-portfolio platform based on the WordPress blogging tool. “Almost immediately,” Ugoretz recalls, “faculty began to see the potential for building these incredibly functional and highly flexible course sites”.”

The Complete WordPress-as-a-CMS Guide: Benefits, Tips, Common Questions and Inspiration

“The WordPress platform offers a simple user interface when it comes to other content management systems. After logging into WP you’ll arrive at the dashboard. The WordPress dashboard allows you to change many elements of your website without having to know a line of code. You can change/edit images, pages, posts, content and a variety of other features fairly quickly.”

There are more links an resources that I can’t find at the moment (I had thought I’d saved them to Delicious, but it seems not). If you have any then please leave a comment with links, etc, and if you are using WordPress (or about to) as your School or Institutions VLE then also let us know and link to it and any other resources that can help people understand how versatile the system is.