Forth Valley College is a higher education and training college based in Scotland. The college provides all-round, flexible education and training opportunities for their students, which are specifically designed to help them discover their potential at a time and pace suitable to their lifestyle and commitments.
At the time of this project, Forth Valley College had over 20,000 active users on their Moodle and Mahara sites and had been a long term partner with Synergy Learning, an eLearning software company and Moodle Premium Certified Service Provider.
The challenge: Upgrading an outdated online learning platform
Forth Valley College found that their previous learning platform was too constrictive and didn’t provide them with the flexibility they needed from a virtual learning environment (VLE).
The college chose to partner with Synergy Learning again to evolve and enhance their online learning platforms to meet the growing needs of staff and students.
The solution: A bespoke VLE to support on-demand learning
To create the custom LMS solution that Forth Valley College needed, Synergy Learning designed and developed two new sites.
First, a Moodle site to provide a virtual learning environment for students and lecturers to collaborate; and second, a Mahara site to provide an ePortfolio system.
Some of the key technical and eLearning support services that Synergy Learning delivered through this project included:
- Configuration and optimisation of the Moodle and Mahara hosting platform.
- Ongoing upgrades of Moodle and Mahara releases.
- Theme design and enhancement of landing pages with dynamic content delivery.
- Responsive theme design to support access on mobile and tablet devices.
- Development of bespoke features, including assignment feedback reports.
- Training and support for key staff.
- Consultation with future plans and features of the platforms.
The results: A simpler, smarter learning management system
With the new and improved LMS systems that Synergy Learning built, Forth Valley College reported considerable cost and resource savings alongside many improvements in the online learning experience for staff and students, including:
- Greater flexibility – students can learn when they want, where they want.
- Instant access to support materials and resources.
- Independence and responsibility for lecturers and students to manage their own learning.
- Online assessments – no need for students to travel to submit assignments before a deadline, it can all be uploaded and assessed by lecturers online.
- Self directed study – students can use the system to learn other topics which may not necessarily be related to their current course, giving them a wider skill set.
The college’s Organisational Learning Co-ordinator, Jasmin Hodge, had the following to say about the project’s success:
“Our students say they couldn’t imagine being without the Virtual Learning Environment provided by Synergy Learning. It is a one stop portal for learners for everything they could possibly need whilst studying at Forth Valley College. Since the installment of the VLE, there have been huge cost and resource savings made, as all mandatory training is delivered to staff on Moodle and all recording is automated.”
