While it is apparent that online learning is here to stay, the delivery method of these courses is constantly evolving. Currently many online courses rely on a LMS such as Moodle or Blackboard to deliver the content of the course. This type of online learning platform allows instructors to create and administer courses as well as manage learning within these courses (Porto, 2015). With these traditional forms of online course delivery, instructors can create courses and manage student learning and information; however, these platforms are not very mobile friendly. With increased use of mobile devices by students new delivery methods that are mobile friendly are beginning to emerge (Spiro, 2014). An alternative to the traditional LMS is WordPress. For the course currently under development, WordPress has been selected as the LMS and the site will be hosted on School District 34’s intranet. WordPress was chosen because it is a straightforward site that allows for a great deal of customization through the additions of plugins (Scott, 2014). Additionally, this LMS is also supported by the District where I work which allows me to create and store the site on the District Intranet, forgoing privacy issues as outlined by FOIPPA (Guide to FOIPPA, 2015). Furthermore, WordPress is an ideal LMS for the middle school age group as it is mobile friendly. Quite often students have greater access to mobile devices than a family or personal computer; devices such as an iPod touch are relatively inexpensive and with WIFI, allow students to access the classroom website; for this reason, a mobile friendly LMS is imperative.
In addition to being mobile friendly, WordPress is also user-friendly. When using WordPress much of the guesswork is taken out of the site set up process. A concern for many teachers is the time that it would take to set up and maintain a LMS. A WordPress site is relatively easy to set up; one would just need to ensure that the selected theme supports the type of set up (for example parent pages etc.) and the ability to run the plugins that are required for the LMS as certain plugins have limited functionality with some themes (Scott, 2014). Once the theme is chosen applying plugins is literally as simple as the click of a mouse. For those teachers who may not be confident in their technical abilities, support may be available at the district level, as it is within my district, or through videos posted on YouTube. There is no official tech support available for WordPress, likely because it is an open sourced software and is constantly undergoing changes by many of the users of the site (Scott, 2014).
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