Dulwich College International (DCI) is one of the most prestigious international school groups worldwide.
DCI has seven international colleges and two international high schools spread throughout China, Myanmar, Singapore and South Korea, the network currently provides for over 6,000 students across its nine sites.
DCI uses Moodle to deliver courses for some of its colleges and high school and recognised the need to extend their online learning platform.
PROBLEM
Dulwich College were already using Moodle at a number of sites but felt that they were not using Moodle to its full potential, and were keen to better integrate the platform with their management information system, Capita SIMS.
Dulwich chose to work with Certified Moodle Partner Titus Learning to develop a tailor-made Moodle solution with SIMS integration to equally fit the needs of teachers, students, and parents. This would be implemented first at Dulwich College Suzhou, and subsequently at Dulwich College Beijing in the initial phase.
ACTIONS
Titus worked on the following key elements of the bespoke Moodle installation:
- Implementation of a tailor made Moodle theme
- Integration between Moodle and SIMS
- Hosting on site with support and remote management
- Customisation of various plugins to better fit the schools’ needs
- Bespoke training programmes for administrators and teachers
RESULTS
THEME DESIGN
Designed to fit Dulwich College’s needs perfectly, the new theme improves on the standard one in several areas:
- Branded to match the Dulwich College visual identity
- Streamlines common tasks such as adding content
- “My Apps” menu to give quick access to commonly used features
- Personal dashboard showing vital user info
“The Titus team has truly partnered with us through an ongoing customization of Moodle to create a tool that has become part of our everyday practice.” – Staci Kalmbacher, Director of Educational Technology and Professional Learning
MOODLE/SIMS INTEGRATION
Integration between Moodle and SIMS gives teachers, students and parents a single interface to share reports, documents and information on a range of devices, allowing Dulwich College to:
- Engage students with an easy to use interface giving quick access to timetables, homework assignments, resources and exam calendars
- Involve parents by giving access their child’s grades, attendance and behavioural data, as well as instant messaging to keep them up to date with the latest news.
- Empower teachers to work flexibly, enabling on-the-go access to real time MIS data and allowing marking, assessment and registration to be completed from a mobile device.
- Support administrators with instant messages delivered directly to the user’s smartphone, and integration with cashless payment systems.
ONGOING SUPPORT
With the new systems in place and bespoke training sessions completed for staff, Dulwich College signed up to our made-to-measure support service at each of the sites using Moodle.
This includes:
- remote monitoring of the learning platform,
- regular security patches
- version updates in step with the official Moodle releases
Most importantly though, Dulwich College have a named member of our support team on hand to provide proactive advice on improving and adapting the platform. This ensures users remain engaged, and that Moodle continues to develop as the school’s needs change over time.
“Titus Learning provided the tools and communication we needed to make Moodle a true middleware platform to better serve our teachers, students and parents.” – Staci Kalmbacher, Director of Educational Technology and Professional Learning
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Titus Learning subsequently worked with a third member of the network, Dulwich College Shanghai, on integrating Moodle and SIMS.
Looking to the future, Titus is working closely with the central Dulwich College team on a custom development project, which will be utilised across each of the nine sites and is due to be unveiled in early 2018.
About Titus Learning
Titus Learning is a certified Moodle Partner providing smartly tailored e-learning services for schools and colleges around the world.
Titus handpick services to address specific Moodle requirements: whether that’s bespoke themes making Moodle effortless to use; integration with other systems to save valuable time; or custom development ensuring you get the perfect fit. And, of course, all of the above is paired with unparalleled hosting, training and support services.
With clients ranging from UK state schools and colleges, to international school groups supporting 40,000+ users, and plenty in between, Titus are perfectly placed to help a range of organisations meet their Moodle needs.
Please visit www.tituslearning.com for more information or to get in touch
