LMS migration glossary
Definitions of platforms, technologies, and concepts used in LMS migration engineering. Each term links to relevant service pages and articles.
LMS (Learning Management System)
Software that creates, delivers, and manages online courses. Examples include LearnDash, LifterLMS, Tutor LMS, and Thinkific. An LMS handles course structures, student enrollment, progress tracking, and assessments.
LMS Migration
The process of transferring courses, users, enrollments, and content from one LMS platform to another. API-driven migration uses the source platform's API to extract data programmatically, as opposed to manual rebuild or CSV import.
LearnDash
A WordPress LMS plugin used by universities, training companies, and course creators. Features the ProQuiz engine with 8 question types, drip-feed content, and WooCommerce integration. We migrate to LearnDash from Thinkific and LearnWorlds.
LifterLMS
A WordPress LMS plugin with a free core and paid add-on bundles. Supports memberships, course bundles, and built-in payment processing. Popular with coaches and small training businesses.
Tutor LMS
A WordPress LMS plugin with a modern frontend course builder, 10+ quiz question types, and WooCommerce/EDD integration. Supports YouTube, Vimeo, and self-hosted video.
LearnPress
The most downloaded free WordPress LMS plugin. Modular add-on system, often paired with ThemeForest education themes. Good for beginners and budget-conscious creators.
Sensei LMS
A WordPress LMS plugin developed by Automattic (the company behind WordPress.com). Integrates natively with WooCommerce for course sales.
Thinkific
A hosted SaaS platform for creating and selling online courses. Provides a GraphQL and REST API with access to course structures, video content (via VideoContent type), users, and enrollments. One of the two source platforms we migrate from.
LearnWorlds
A hosted SaaS platform for online courses with built-in interactive video, assessments, and certifications. Provides a REST v2 API with OAuth2 covering 15+ endpoint categories. The second source platform we migrate from.
Academy LMS
A Laravel-based learning management system available on CodeCanyon. One-time purchase with course management, quiz system, certificate builder, and multi-instructor support. A destination platform for our Laravel migrations.
Edulab LMS
A Laravel + Tailwind CSS learning management system with role-based access for admins, instructors, students, and organizations. Modular architecture with SaaS configuration options.
GraphQL
A query language for APIs that lets you request exactly the data you need. Thinkific's GraphQL API exposes VideoContent types with direct MP4 CDN URLs — the key to extracting video content without Vimeo.
REST API
A standard architecture for web APIs using HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE). Both Thinkific (REST + GraphQL) and LearnWorlds (REST v2) provide REST endpoints for course and enrollment data.
OAuth2
An authorization framework that lets applications access APIs on behalf of users. LearnWorlds uses OAuth2 client credentials flow — you exchange a client_id and client_secret for a time-limited access token.
AWS S3
Amazon's cloud object storage service. We migrate course videos and PDFs to S3 buckets, where storage costs approximately $0.023 per GB/month — dramatically cheaper than Vimeo or Wistia hosting.
CloudFront
Amazon's content delivery network (CDN). We place CloudFront in front of S3 to deliver videos globally with low latency. CloudFront also enables signed cookies for video access control.
Signed Cookies
A CloudFront feature that ties video delivery to authenticated user sessions. When a student logs in, your LMS sets a signed cookie. CloudFront validates the cookie on every video request — no valid session, no video access.
Pre-signed URLs
S3 URLs with embedded authentication that expire after a set time (typically minutes). Prevents students from sharing video download links since the URL stops working shortly after generation.
controlsList
An HTML5 video attribute. Setting controlsList='nodownload' removes the download button from the browser's native video player. Part of our player-level video protection stack.
wp_kses
A WordPress function that sanitizes HTML content, stripping attributes it doesn't recognize. By default it removes controlsList and disablePictureInPicture from video tags. We use a mu-plugin to whitelist these security attributes.
Enrollment Migration
Transferring student enrollment records — including start dates, expiration dates, and access windows — from one LMS to another. Critical for preserving students' existing access without requiring them to re-enroll.
Hook Suspension
Temporarily removing WordPress action and filter callbacks during bulk operations. LearnDash and BuddyBoss hooks can crash CLI import processes by triggering frontend template rendering in a non-browser context.
DRM (Digital Rights Management)
Technology that controls access to copyrighted digital content. Includes Widevine (Google) and FairPlay (Apple). Overkill and expensive for most educational content — our layered approach achieves equivalent protection at a fraction of the cost.
PSR-12
A PHP coding standard for code style. Our migration toolkit follows PSR-12 with Composer autoloading, namespaced classes, and .env-based credential management.