How one of the UK’s finest public research universities has developed an intuitive online platform to support fully transferable micro-credentialling in pioneering research knowledge
- University of Nottingham Online (UoNO) had a clear vision of what they wished to achieve to support sector professionals and practitioners with cutting edge research, uncertain whether it could be done or how to make it happen
- They embarked on a dynamic developmental journey with Catalyst IT Europe to build a smooth, intuitive and easy to navigate online learning platform to bring the latest research understanding to public service and industry sector employees
- After 6 months UoNO went live with a fully verifiable online learning service delivering as its first offering vital fall prevention research to NHS Trusts and Care Home staff
Challenge
As one of the UK’s leading research universities, the University of Nottingham is acutely aware of the challenge in bridging the gap between research, policy, and practice. A key part of this mission is ensuring that pioneering research is actively applied, and that the micro-credentials professionals earn can move with them across roles and organisations.
Associate Professor and Director of Product and Operations for UoNO, Luis Neves and his colleagues had a clear vision for the kind of platform that could bridge the gap and reach sector employees with cutting edge research, but no idea how to materialise it.
He says: “We looked around in the market for online learning platforms from Microsoft, Blackboard and Moodle, but we knew that none of them could do what we wanted Out of The Box.
In the end we approached Catalyst IT, who have been supporting our LMS since 2017, with an unusual proposition.
We told them that we wanted to buy a certain amount of their time every week for three years to help us understand the feasibility of our requirements, and then to identify and customise the LMS platform that best suited our needs.”
Likening the process to building a car, Luis says: “We didn’t want to buy the car itself. We wanted to buy the know-how of how to build a car, and then find the parts to match.
At first Catalyst IT were a bit wary, but we were very explicit about needing their help to define our end goal and guide us towards it with their product knowledge and educational experience.
This helped to build a constructive relationship.”
Solution: Custom LMS Built with Totara
As a Premium Moodle Certified Partner and Totara Platinum Partner, Catalyst IT brings deep expertise and long-standing experience in delivering secure, scalable, and innovative learning platforms.
Given UoNO’s long list of requirements for customised notifications, reporting and visual data dashboards, Catalyst IT recommended the open source solution Totara.
Why Totara Was the Right Fit for UoNO
In this short video, Associate Professor Luis Neves explains why Totara was chosen as the foundation for UoNO’s innovative micro-credential platform, and why Catalyst IT was the partner to bring it to life.
Proof of Concept
Initially Catalyst IT spent time conducting feasibility research into how Totara would respond to UoNO’s requirements.
“Based on this Catalyst IT developed a Proof of Concept, which demonstrated that they knew what they were doing and understood what we were aiming for,” says Luis.
“I was confident in Catalyst’s agility and in our dynamic co-creation of the solution, trying things and learning from them.”
User journey
“We began with defining and streamlining the user journey,” explains Luis.
The public’s standard for online experiences is something like Amazon or Netflix and we wanted to ensure that our Online offering matches that standard.
Searching for a course, enrolling, participating, submitting course work and receiving a qualification all need to be simple and efficient.
So we combed through the requirements and deleted all those things that would complicate the user journey.”
Collaborative mindset
Explaining the relationship and way of working Luis says: “We have lots of open discussions and work together to review developments, identify priorities and where we’re going to focus and adjust.
We are on a journey together and there is a lot of mutual respect of our different skill sets, as well as transparency in how we work.
Since our requirements are quite specific and specialist the solution may not have been tried and tested before, so we have a high degree of developmental risk tolerance. If Catalyst over- or under-estimate the time and effort required to customise something or build something new, we can be flexible and trust that everything balances out.”
Security
One area that Luis’ academic colleagues were dubious about was how to quickly and efficiently carry out secure user identification.
“When your normal experience involves prospective students bringing their IDs into the office online verification seems like a bit of an impossible mental leap,” says Luis.
But with Catalyst IT’s help we integrated a third-party service that checks student identity and makes sure that no one can progress through enrolment until their identity has been confirmed.
In 6 months we implemented a secure, verified and fully functioning learning platform complete with user ID capability, despite some doubts that this could ever be done in a thousand years!”
See the Platform in Action
Take a look at the user experience UoNO created with Catalyst’s support, designed to make learning intuitive, accessible, and secure. This short demo showcases the seamless learner journey.
Results: A Platform with Purpose
While the platform is now up and running with its first learners in Fall Prevention, Catalyst IT continue to work with UoNO on enhancements and customisations. As the user experience becomes increasingly streamlined more courses and content will be made available.
“Initial feedback from our learners and from NHS Trusts is very positive,” comments Luis.
“Since Catalyst IT design everything with a Totara mindset, working with the philosophy and flow of the product, the result is easy, affordable, long-lasting and resilient.
We know there is no technical debt building up nasty surprises down the line,” Luis says.
Commenting on how the Online experience is helping engagement levels across the university Luis says: “If we can get people who have either never been to university, or whose university career is long behind them, to interact with and enjoy online learning then there are lots of lessons for us to improve full-time learners’ engagement also.”
Looking Ahead: From Analytics to Personalised Learning
In the immediate future Luis is looking forward to nudging students with content, continuing to improve templates and making content easier to find.
But it’s the analytic potential that lies in the platform’s data accrual that Luis finds most exciting.
He says: “I can’t wait to carry out curriculum analytics and determine what’s working and what isn’t in the way learning material is presented.
Are the students learning actively or passively? Are they engaging, interacting, revisiting material and re-reading content?
If students are systematically giving up at a certain point there’s something wrong with that point of the course, and we can address that,” Luis says.
“Tracking online behaviours will help us spot students who are at risk of dropping out; and it will be amazing to analyse learning styles and target users with content that best suits their abilities and preferences.”
Transforming Learning: The Full Webinar
In this in-depth session hosted by Totara, Luis Neves (UoNO) and Catalyst IT Europe dive into how the platform was conceived, built, and launched, and what it means for the future of digital learning in the public sector.
Recommendation: A Partner Who Delivers
“Catalyst IT are true solution providers and will work tirelessly to help you get the most out of whatever product platform you select. They have no reason to be pushy or defensive of any technology, which enables a very open-minded and possibility-rich approach.
They are very knowledgeable about teaching and learning in the higher education sector, and know how to create beautiful, intuitive and streamlined sites for easy learning experiences.
The team are very serious, honest and capable and have embraced our uncertainties very positively. We have learned a lot of working practices from them also, which has made our life a lot easier!
With Catalyst it’s easy to be optimistic when things are going well. It’s also easy for things to go well when you’re being optimistic!”
Catalyst IT says
We are proud to partner with Luis and the brilliant team at University of Nottingham Online. From day one, they’ve trusted us to lead with expertise, and it’s been a genuinely rewarding collaboration.
We enjoy working towards a common goal with them, and delivering truly beautiful learning platform sites for their students.
Luis has become a passionate advocate for online learning, and it’s a privilege to see his impact extend beyond UoNO.
We look forward to continuing to support UoNO in the future.
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