How Canada Learning Code Delivers Technology Skills Training With Greater Customization Options From Open LMS

Toronto-based Canada Learning Code is a national technology education charity. The organization empowers people to prosper in the digital world by providing equitable access to technology skills training and other learning opportunities, especially for learners in marginalized communities. Since 2011, Canada Learning Code has delivered more than one million meaningful learning experiences to people across the country and continues to expand its reach to more learners.

The Challenge: Evolving Organizational Priorities Required a More Customizable LMS

Canada Learning Code has provided technology training and resources to a wide range of audiences over the years, including K-12 students. In recent years, the organization has refocused its mission and now primarily serves communities of adult learners who want to improve their professional computer science and technology skills. When Canada Learning Code tightened its scope, the organization also decided it needed to reevaluate the effectiveness of its tools and systems to best meet its evolving needs.

The organization used a learning management system (LMS) to house its materials and deliver content, but the platform was designed for more traditional education spaces. Canada Learning Code didn’t (and still doesn’t) operate as a conventional learning environment. Instead, the organization partners with training providers, designs and curates resources for other programs or institutions, and delivers asynchronous content and webinars to individual learners. Canada Learning Code’s former LMS wasn’t flexible enough to meet its changing needs. The platform limited what the organization could provide for its learners and partners.

Additionally, the LMS was becoming cost-prohibitive for the organization, especially considering the limitations on how content could be created and delivered. As a charitable organization, Canada Learning Code was working with a strict budget and finite resources. The organization needed to find a suitable LMS replacement that offered enhanced flexibility and customization options, as well as hosting support.

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The Solution: A Configurable, Open-Source Learning Management System With Hosting Support

Canada Learning Code chose Moodle™-based Open LMS as its new learning platform and hosting provider. The open-source LMS is highly configurable and makes it easier for the charitable organization to design and implement learning experiences that meet the needs of its learners and partners. Open LMS also provides hosting support, ensuring Canada Learning Code’s technical needs are met and giving the organization more time to focus its resources on creating meaningful learning experiences.

The organization uses Open LMS as a content repository, so learners can access recordings from live workshops or other educational experiences asynchronously. Canada Learning Code also curates recommended learning resources from third parties, giving its users easy access to professional development content. According to Charlotte Nurse, Canada Learning Code’s Director of Programs, switching to Open LMS has given the organization more flexibility with fewer “hoops to jump through” when it comes to updating the software or customizing the look and feel of the platform for its end-users.

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The Results: A More User-Friendly Platform and the Introduction of a New Subscription Model

Since switching LMS providers, Canada Learning Code has pivoted from its previous learning content offerings, and its LMS platform needs have therefore shifted significantly. The organization didn’t need to migrate much data and was able to start its Open LMS journey with a clean slate. While this makes it difficult to directly compare many functionalities of the previous learning platform with Open LMS, the charity says that Open LMS is a much more user-friendly system and offers the customization options needed to achieve its goals.

With Open LMS, Canada Learning Code can customize the back-end of the platform to meet its needs, and navigating the system is much simpler. According to Charlotte Nurse, “Now our learning experience designers can just go in and create things, whereas before there were many more levels of access. It was confusing to know who had access to what.”

The organization also saves time by leveraging the extensive support documentation available through the Open LMS help desk. Canada Learning Code’s LMS administrators and learning experience designers are able to self-serve many of their support needs instead of waiting for assistance from others. This empowers the organization to keep projects moving forward with minimal delays.

Additionally, Open LMS’s ecommerce feature and Stripe integration has helped Canada Learning Code introduce a new product with two subscription-based content models. The organization now offers a monthly and an annual subscription to its professional development content. These subscriptions make it possible for Canada Learning Code to gate its content and better track how many learners access the materials. With this information, Canada Learning Code can make informed decisions about its future educational content and resources.

As its needs continue to grow and evolve, Canada Learning Code and Open LMS work together to ensure the charitable organization achieves its goals.