Sclipo – Web Learning Application or eLearning for the Rest-Of-Us (part 1)

What is Sclipo? This is a very frequently asked question. And, I must admit, it is hard for ourselves to describe it. This is because there is no established category name for what we do. Established ones – like Learning Management System (LMS) or Course Management System (CMS) – do not quite fit. Why? Because Sclipo offers a new solution to a new group of users who till now have been excluded from using LMS due to price and complexity. Hmm… now you are even more confused, aren’t you?

Thinking about another, well known product, will help you understand. Let’s take the computer as an example. According to the Computer History Museum the first computer was build in 1939. Review the timeline of computers, and you will see that for each new type of computer, a new category name was established: Mainframe, Mini-Computers, Personal Computers, etc. Some categories displaced others. Some added to the computer market, offering a new solution to a new group of users.

So, what IS Sclipo?
Sclipo is a Web Learning Application (WLA). We like (and hence invented) the term WLA, because Sclipo provides learning tools as a web application: no download, no installation on your web server, no configuration, no maintenance, no hosting: Just register, and you have your own WLA up and running in minutes.

The main functional differences to a traditional LMS are:
* Ease of use: if you know Facebook, you know how to use Sclipo.
* Affordable: your Sclipo WLA costs as low as $10 per month. Try beating this with a traditional LMS, including an open source one (ah, and do not forget to calculate the cost of hosting, configuration, maintenance, system admin, etc.)
* Learning Network: you can use your Sclipo WLA in total privacy and isolation (like a traditional LMS) or you can share and connect with students and teachers of thousands of other Sclipo WLAs (this is simply *not* possible in a traditional LMS).

Who is that NEW group of users?
The Sclipo WLA is for “rest-of-us”: independent teachers, and small companies and schools in continuous education. For them, a traditional LMS is too expensive and complex. LMS are made for large organizations and schools, whose educational process and requirements are quite different. For example, continuous education hardly requires plagiarism control – something essential for Universities. Besides being easy, affordable and providing an unique learning network, Sclipo offers the right mix of tools that respond to the particular needs of continuous education.

So, what learning applications does Sclipo offer? As this post is getting a little too long, I will answer this question in an upcoming one. For those of you who are too curious to wait, check out About Sclipo and the Sclipo University. You can also see the Sclipo Features page for an overview of all our applications.