From Within The Belly Of The Beast – Domains Inside The LMS?

Life has accelerated astronomically since my first #domains17 post, so I haven’t finished the other writing I was working on since I’m now headed to Australia for a short-term job. Fun fact, my domain actually helped me secure that job. 🙂 Anyways, here’s the rundown of my #domains17 presentation (PS thank Jim Groom for the title of this post):

From the ideas I submitted as #Domains17 proposals, I was extremely excited that “Domains Inside The LMS?” was the one accepted. This technology merger is based on using two simple tools, Let’s Encrypt SSL (in cPanel) and the Redirect Tool (in Canvas), working in tandem to bring course websites, blogs, DS106 challenge banks, etc. directly into the LMS interface like so:

I invite you to explore the integrations listed in the above screenshot (including many from other #domains17 presenters)—check them out here. Alternatively, here’s a guide to setup this Domains-LMS integration in your own Canvas course. It’s even possible to setup a domain inside the LMS when administrators restrict access to the Redirect Tool as demonstrate here by Andy Rush:

However, the goal of my presentation was not to solely demonstrate valuable tools, rather I wanted to engage folks in a more critical scenario:

What if the LMS vanished tomorrow?

First off, I’m confident everyone at #domains17 would manage fine in such a predicament. Unfortunately, too many instructors would struggle to run online components of their courses without the LMS. This is tragic. Consequently I’m curious, as instructional designers, how do we scaffold the jump to a world without the LMS? Alternatively, what does teaching and learning look like when instruction isn’t leaning so heavily on the LMS for “support?”

I didn’t want to spend my session revealing my thoughts to these questions, rather I hoped we could each arrive at our own conclusions since everyone comes from different institutions, backgrounds, and we each play various roles when it comes to using the LMS. In other words, we intentionally spent most of our session time in discussion while my “Domains Inside The LMS?” examples were available to spark more conversation and creativity.

Discussion

Jon Udell, Laura Gibbs, and Jim Groom were some of the folks discussing among themselves, sharing their experiences and ideas of how they might use (or currently use in Laura’s case) domains inside the LMS. Stringing together instructional sources from across the web into one location offers its own pros and cons and hearing people dissect the particulars was extremely rewarding. While folks were having a blast discussing and experimenting, I was moving around the room engaging others with questions and problem solving aid as needed. My session felt quite comfortable since structurally, it was similar to certain trainings I offer at OU. Again, my goal was to let everyone arrive at their own conclusions:

Lastly, if I had to sum up my session into 3 thoughts, they would be as follows:

Thank you everyone for making my session a blast! Here are my slides for those that want to see. Have a wonderful summer and hit me up with questions/feedback. 🙂

The featured image is provided CC0 by Dan Deaner via Unsplash.