Biggest ELearning Happenings of 2013

By: Justin Ferriman • December 31, 2013
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elearning-trendsToday is the last day of 2013, and what a year it has been for elearning. Depending on your background, there could be a lot of different items to hit the “best of” list in our industry – as such, the items and events in this post are very much from my own personal viewpoint.

Tools & Technology

This year brought us new tools, businesses, and technology. In thinking about the biggest update in this industry, it is by far the formal introduction of Tin Can API (also known as Experience API). This new elearning protocol was long overdue.

The SCORM model of the past was clunky and not fit for today’s mobile technology – Tin Can API fixes this.

Version 1.0 of Tin Can API came out in April, and since then it has been adopted by many of the major tools – most notably the ones offered by Articulate.

Speaking of which, another major development of 2013 was the release of the eagerly awaited new version of Articulate Studio. The last version from 2009 was littered with bugs and was built originally off of an older version of Microsoft PowerPoint.

Articulate Studio ’13 boasts some new functionality, sleeker design, and important bug fixes. Most importantly, it carries with it Tin Can API support.

Movers & Shakers

Moving away from tools, we also saw some movers and shakers in the industry. First, we saw the popularity of MOOC platforms continue to grow, as evident by Coursera receiving millions of dollars in venture capital, by the similar growth in popularity of edX, and the folding of Google’s Course Builder program in favor of joining the edX project.

Course delivery platforms like Udemy, Skillshare, and Lynda are also growing. Heck, I even saw a television commercial for Lynda.com, proof that elearning is now gaining in popularity (and acceptance) in the general public.

New Industries

The convenience of elearning met the convenience of WordPress this year as we have seen the rise of elearning on WordPress. We are proud to be at the forefront of this industry, offering a WordPress LMS that is supported and developed by elearning professionals.

The learning record store industry is also taking off, as Tin Can API has made this new tool a necessity.

At the moment, most learning record store providers offer cloud hosted solutions – but you can reasonably expect that as Tin Can API’s popularity increases, so will the number of LRS providers and likely an option for a self-hosted option.

In the end, 2013 was a great year for elearning, setting us up for a very exciting 2014.

Happy new year!

Justin Ferriman

Justin started LearnDash, the WordPress LMS trusted by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, training organizations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. He is currently founder & CEO of GapScout. Justin’s Homepage | GapScout | Twitter