Welcome to our series, Made with Moodle. Every month, we spotlight someone using the Moodle platform in creative, impactful ways. Have a story of your own? We’d love to hear it.
“Learners have different starting conditions, devices, languages, and access.”
For Tanya Tierney, curiosity and compassion go hand in hand. Although as a kid she wanted to become a lawyer, she always knew her future belonged in the NGO world. “It was very clear in my head that I was going to work for an NGO,” she explains. Her studies in development, social work, and global refugee studies all pushed her in that direction; as she puts it, “through one of those windows that opens when a door closes.”
As Technology Lead & Project Manager for the FABO Community at DanChurch Aid Learning Lab, she has seen firsthand the challenges that NGOs face in delivering high-quality learning.
Limited resources and budget constraints are some of the biggest obstacles, and as busy professionals, it is always helpful to have tools that can work within these restrictions.
“Beyond limited resources and tight budgets, one of the biggest challenges we face is the digital divide, especially out in the field. As busy professionals, it’s a constant balancing act, so having tools that can adapt to these realities makes a real difference.”
Tanya and her team work with organisations across the globe to help them provide learning to local communities. A significant stumbling block for these communities is internet access. In several countries, people don’t have access to unlimited subscriptions; they have to rely on small bundles such as 50 MB for seven days, which is almost nothing. Along with that, it is also important to consider what kind of devices they have.
“I see all of these as challenges because, as a project or program manager, each one on its own can drive up the cost and budget needed to create a course that’s well-targeted and thoughtfully designed.”
That is why FABO needed a learning platform that was flexible and lightweight. It could be adapted by member organisations to fit local conditions. It should work reliably even with limited internet and on a range of devices.
Moodle offered a very different approach. By owning their LMS, FABO could make improvements based on what mattered most to their members, planning and budgeting at their own pace. The platform also allowed them to add as many accounts as needed without costs escalating, which was a stark contrast to subscription models that increase fees as user numbers grow.
“In Moodle’s case, what was interesting and we thought could benefit us was the flexibility.”
FABO has been using Moodle for over ten years now. “It’s also great because our members can tailor training programmes to their own organisations while still having the option to share certain courses even in challenging contexts.”
For example, one of its members created a course for primary school teachers in a refugee camp just outside Kenya, where internet connectivity was low and unstable.
Using Moodle, the course was designed with multimedia content. YouTube videos were embedded, taking advantage of the platform’s ability to auto-adjust video quality based on the learner’s connection. Simple, printable PDFs were also included, which provided core content in a format that was easy to access offline.
As Tanya mentioned, “In today’s world, where funding is increasingly unstable and political polarisation creates uncertainty, open-source learning platforms, like Moodle, play a central and vital role in ensuring access to digital learning.”
Through Moodle, FABO has built a platform that empowers NGOs to deliver quality, accessible learning for local communities worldwide. Recently, we had the chance to interview Tanya for the Moodle podcast. To hear more about FABO’s journey, why not listen now?
