With the release of DotNetNuke 6.2 several new social features can now be incorporated into Accord LMS Websites.  This blog article will drill down into some of the more advanced feature setup and configuration options. For a quick review of these features please see the previous Accord LMS Goes Social blog post.

Profile Bar

One of the first features you will notice on social enabled Learning portals is the Profile Bar which is usually displayed in the top right of the page header.


 
Clicking on the Envelope icon will direct you to your personal message center where you can compose, send and receive messages to and from other members in your portal.  Clicking on the Exclamation Point will allow you to review and system and LMS notifications that are addressed to you. If you click on your User Name of Profile Picture you will be taken to your profile page. 

Building Blocks

Our social enabled Learning portals usually have a top level Community menu item with sub pages for My Journal, Groups, Community Exchange and New Articles.  



Each of these pages is composed of different social modules assembled together like building blocks to suit the needs or your organization or product. 

My Journal

The Journal, Console and View Profile modules are all placed on the My Journal page.  This allows the Learner to quickly review and comment on postings associated with their Friends and Groups.

Group List

On the top level Groups page, a Social Groups module is added.  The module automatically creates a Group List with a "Create Group" button for any LMS Admin with the proper permissions. All Groups that a specific Learner has access to are listed on this page. 

Individual Groups

Each Group page includes access to its own Group Activity Feed and to the Group’s Members directory. Social Groups are a great way to let Learners know what is going on and to invite then to join the conversations. Items posted in a groups' activity feed will also appear in each member’s private journal on their My Journal page.

Accord LMS Integration

Each Group is associated with a specific Role that can be granted to or dropped from a user. Groups can either be private or public.  Private Social Group can be created for any Accord Learning Role, such as Safety Supervisor training, or any Accord Team, such as your West Coast Office.  Depending on your specific needs, this allows you to offer any number affinity groups tailored to your Learner population.  Private groups are only visible on the Social Groups List if you are a member of that group.

You can also create public Social Groups that all Learners can join.  By default a group called Community Learners is usually setup as a public group.  Then you can make the associated role automatically assigned to new users who registered on the portal, which makes them a member of the Community Learners social group.  We find this a convenient way to keep Learners informed about general news items, like the availability of new courses or a company picnic.  In fact,  This is useful for informing Supervisors and Managers of performance reviews and staff reminders.

The power of the Accord LMS social features can enhance your Learner's experience by connecting them to their cohorts and fostering an online community and support network.  The Facebook like interface of the Journal and Groups modules makes it easy for them to understand and utilize.

For more information, DotNetNuke (DNN) corporation provides a short video on the Social Features.  Although the video was created on the Professional edition of DNN, all the functionality described is available on all of the DNN editions.