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Introducing Thomas Worthington

Posted by Joel Kerr on 01 Dec

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Team Synergy is pleased to welcome back a familiar face to our Belfast offices. Thomas Worthington first worked for Synergy in 2009 as a contractor before going off and walking the Ridgeway, getting married in the huge stone circle at Avebury and honeymooning near an active volcano. As Thomas says, “despite these obvious signs of insanity, they’ve decided to have me back as a full-time developer.”

Thomas on his experience…

“Over the years I’ve tried my hands at many things: computing, er…, well actually, just computing really. Everything from assembly languages for popular processors since 1984 to field gate arrays, to Perl, Forth, Smalltalk, Java, and of course PHP. For the last ten years or so I’ve been 100% Linux at home and nearly so at work; the idea of buying a computer that has less than five programming languages installed as a default is pretty alien to me now.”

Thomas on his games…

“On the side I do some writing, I play board games and role-playing games. Although I have a Wii, having been introduced to computer games by “Pong” I find that there’s not really anything left in the computer gaming scene that holds any interest. Even at the age of 45 you might still see me out on the old skateboard, however.”

Thomas on the rest…

“I am married (to Angela) but currently without either children or pets apart from my book collection. My main interest at the moment is Mediaeval history. Ask me what an acre is, go on, ask me.”

Thomas has already had a very positive impact on the team not least because he has made me more cups of tea in one week that Caroline Kennedy has made me in a year.

So Thomas – I would like to extend a very warm welcome from myself and all the Synergy Learning team…I’ll look forward to working with you in the near future.

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New Moodle and Mahara Hosting Platform

Posted by Joel Kerr on 07 Oct

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Synergy Learnings Senior Network Engineer, Peter Hinds, has been locked away in his office for the last few weeks, tirelessly building our new hosting platform.

Synergy Learning host Moodle and Mahara sites for a number of clients, from individual trainers to large universities and organisations. I managed to catch up with Peter to find out what he was up to and what benefits it will offer.

Hello Peter, could you tell us a bit about the hosting platform you are building?

Yes, it is a fully resilient platform comprised of hardware manufactured by industry leading vendors. The application tier, which resides on the hardware, allows us to assume full control of all services.

The advantage of building from scratch is that it has allowed us to standardise our operating system and installed packages, which will lead to a quicker diagnostic process and further optimisation for Moodle and Mahara hosting.

As a Senior Network Engineer creating a new hosting platform must be right up your street. What do you enjoy most about a job like this?

It really is, I’m not just saying that either!

I enjoy working with the latest technology and adapting it to best suit our needs. I take great satisfaction in the planning and implementation of the project. On a day-to-day basis working with Linux servers and Cisco brand network devices is excellent.

What are the benefits of the new hosting platform compared to the current?

The primary benefit is that the platform is engineered to be resilient from top to bottom. Every network device is redundant and every server is multi-homed in to the appropriate switches. Our firewalls run in a High Availability (HA) configuration with stateful fail-over, meaning should one firewall drop offline the other will maintain sessions without any noticeable switchover.

We already monitor our current platform 24*7 but improvements on the new platform will allow for even finer tuned monitoring.

Security is arguably the most important aspect of any network and on the new platform we have a really robust solution in place using the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliances (ASA’s). Our data centre also has ISO270001 accreditation, 24*7 physical security, redundant power supplies backed by diesel generators, strict environmental controls and fire suppression.

What differences will our customers notice?

Our high standard of service will be maintained when clients are migrated to the new platform however the new platform does have unique benefits.

One of particular interest is the ability to adjust server specs as required. For example, if it’s a particularly busy time of year for the client they could increase the CPU and RAM available to their server which would allow them to ensure the smooth running of their moodle application under heavier load than usual.

Increasing storage space will also be very straight forward which means the flexibility of our packages can be adjusted and refined to a particular clients needs.

Will there be a crossover period between the two systems that will impact upon the operations of our clients Moodle sites?

There will be a period of crossover but thankfully not one that will impact upon the operation of our clients Moodle sites. Each client will be contacted in due course and provided with details of when their site will be migrated and any actions they may have to undertake. The migration process is very straight forward and isn’t any cause for concern.

Peter is hoping to have the new system up and running by November, keep posted to the blog for more information. For more information on Synergy Learning’s hosting packages visit Hosting with Synergy Learning.

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Drupal Site // Post #1

Posted by Joel Kerr on 24 Sep

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As Drupal plays an increasingly important role in providing solutions for what our clients require, I thought I would follow the development of the Advice NI Drupal site we are working on at the minute.

Advice NI (Northern Ireland) is a membership organisation that promotes, supports and develops the independent advice sector across Northern Ireland. They are an established training provider and offer online learning courses via a Moodle site.

Advice NI now have need for a site focusing on older person rights in Northern Ireland, with two parts to the site:

one part for seniors over 60
the other for those who work with the older people (advisors / social workers / volunteers / carers)

Because of this the website will need to be two-tiered:

the back-end will exist as an essential tool for those who work with older people
the front-end will be designed as an easy to use reference for the over 60’s

All things considered Advice NI concluded they needed a site with the following functionality

Online Payment System
Blogs
RSS feeds
Podcasting
Newsletters
Activities / Quizzes
Social Networking, Bookmarks, Voice Chat and Message Boards
Subscriptions
Glossary and Search Functions
Feedback Form and Help Section
Banners
News and Announcements

All these functions are available in Drupal’s core code and as modules or plugins, so the Content Management System (CMS) emerged as the obvious choice.

Decision made, time to get down to business…coming up in the next post!

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Happy Birthday Synergy Learning

Posted by Joel Kerr on 21 Sep

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It’s our fifth birthday! OK so we have been operating since 1997, but it’s five years since the bosses, Alex Büchner and Roy Kerley, took the reins at Synergy Learning and turned it into the company it is today.

Here’s a quick photo of Alex, over from the office in Germany, with most of the Belfast office. Some are away on holiday and a few couldn’t stand around for long enough while I tried to figure out the timer on my camera!

Happy birthday Synergy Learning, and many happy returns.

Check out our birthday badge on the home page.

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Success for Synergy Learning in Scotland

Posted by Joel Kerr on 14 Sep

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A big congratulations to the boss Roy Kerley (Synergy Learning director and owner) on his appointment to the Board of the eLearning Alliance.

The eLearning Alliance is a member-based organisation that supports Scotland’s elearning community, boasting a wealth of knowledge and expertise.

With more years elearning experience than Roy would want me to mention, and commercial instinct that would bring a tear to Alan Sugar’s eye there is no doubt Roy is well qualified for his new position.

Roy’s passion for education through digital technology has seen him lead a team that has delivered results for the likes of BBC (Worldwide), British Airways and The British Council. The team has racked up over 4,000 learning hours of creating engaging elearning content, which incorporates everything from video conferencing to games development.

Roy has been integral in steering the company to becoming the leading Moodle and Mahara Partner in the UK and Ireland, the only Partner authorised to supply ZiLink services as well as a company with significant elearning and content development expertise, able to compete at a global level (and he’s not too bad to work for either).

The appointment further strengthens Synergy Learning’s presence in Scotland; via our offices in Belfast and Fife, Synergy Learning has provided elearning solutions for a number of Scottish clients, from schools, colleges and universities to private training organisations.

Our headquarters are only a hop and a skip away from Scotland and as demand for Synergy Learning services continues to grow there everyone is very excited about Roy’s new appointment and what the future holds.

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Moodle Case Study: The South East GP Training Programme

Posted by Joel Kerr on 07 Sep

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Introduction

The South East Training Programme for General Practice, based in the city of Waterford, was established in 1991 to prepare doctors for working in General Practice. In February 2009 the Programme commenced online training with the view to enhancing the onsite training.

After a review of course management systems in use by universities and businesses, it was decided Moodle offered the best solutions. According to the research carried out by the South East GPTP(1), some of the benefits of Moodle included the ability to:

Create a course for GP trainees and control access to the course
Lay out the topics for a term and upload aims and objectives, documents, presentations, web links and multimedia
Engage in discussion forums with teachers and learners
Set and review assignments and receive submissions

Synergy Learning worked closely with the South East GPTP to implement the new Moodle site providing Moodle Hosting, Support and Training.

Results

Questionnaires carried out by the South East GPTP found trainee’s experience of Moodle was overwhelmingly positive:

84% of respondents believed that Moodle had brought positive changes to the training programme
95% respondents would recommend Moodle to colleagues in other GP training programmes

Respondents were asked to comment on their experience of Moodle. In all, 95% of respondents made comments. The most frequent topics raised in the comments were:

“ Easy to use, great communication tool, allows wide sharing of information and cuts down on paper waste.”

“Topics posted in plenty of time prior to meetings which allows for better preparation and planning. Better follow-up by particiapants in topics raised as documents can be uploaded within the week.”

“Immediacy of contact, promptness of reply and all the information in one place.”

“Has fitted in well with the running of meetings and also useful as a study tool”

“It has resulted in better communication between trainees and programme directors and facilitated better planning of day release. It has also made it easier to communicate with the programme administrator”

“Very positive, all GP training schemes should have one. Has facilitated communication and information-sharing, I think it has been of enormous benefit”

Conclusion

In conclusion, the authors of the Research Article comment:

“Moodle is easy to use [and] the online learning environment was rapidly adopted and maintained to facilitate teaching and learning.

“Moodle has been successfully implemented in the South East GPTP. The course management system has received widespread acceptance and participation from trainees, programme directors and trainers.

“Moodle repays the time and effort made by all parties in making it work. The members of the South East GPTP recommend the use of Moodle to augment general practice training.”

(The South East General Practice Training Programme is funded by the Health Service Executive.)

(1) O’Mahony, B. Rouse, M. Drennan, P. Farrel, J. Dowling, S. Brennan, D. (2009) ‘Training programme gets ‘in the Moodle’’ Forum, Journal of the Irish College of General Practitioners December. p33 – 34.

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Moodle Themes from Synergy Learning

Posted by Joel Kerr on 01 Sep

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I’ve finally managed to drag Caroline Kennedy, our Multi-Media Designer (and recent winner of the Moodle 2.0 Theme Design Contest), away from her computer to talk us through designing Moodle Themes, her experiences of Moodle 2.0, and her time at Synergy Learning…

Congratulations on your success in the Moodle 2.0 Themes Contest. You must be pleased?

Yes I’m delighted and really excited to see the theme in the Moodle 2.0 core. It has been a huge learning curve for me over a short period of time and a great opportunity to get to grips with Moodle 2.0.

How long have you been working with Synergy Learning?

I am pleased to say I have been working at Synergy Learning since September 2007. This excludes my time here for placement during my University years.

As a Multimedia Designer at Synergy Learning, I am responsible for creating engaging and interactive eLearning content that will make your virtual learning environment unique to you.

Synergy Learning is a leading Moodle and Mahara partner in the UK and the only Moodle Partner offering full service solutions, therefore, I play a huge role in the design and development of themes for these eLearning platforms. I am also very much involved in any multimedia/web-based design that goes on here at the studio.

What makes Synergy Learning themes different?

Apart from having years of experience and a specialist team of designers and developers, we also offer a personal touch to each and every theme. We work very closely with our clients, to produce a theme that is right for them in design and functionality, whatever their budget.

We love a challenge and also have the expertise to fully customise a theme to give the client exactly what they need. With Synergy Learning you can achieve a theme, which is slick and professional, showcasing your learning environment.

What process do you go through when designing a Moodle Theme?

This will vary slightly depending on which of the 3 Moodle Theme packages the client purchases.

The Bronze theme package, allows the client to choose one of our template designs and personalize it with their logo and a colour scheme.

The Silver theme package allows me to design a complete Moodle makeover based on the client’s logo and any visual identity guidelines they may have in place.

The Gold theme package allows the client to experiment more with their Moodle environment and incorporate customized functionality in order to achieve more of a website style look and feel.

I would work closely with the client to make sure I understand their requirements and start a process of ‘Moodle-boarding’ and feedback, which leads to a professionally designed Moodle theme.

What do you think makes a good Moodle Theme?

Moodle is Open Source, the functionality is there and continually being improved, so for me a good Moodle Theme is one that makes excellent use of the features Moodle has to offer but at the same time, comes with a strong design concept.

A lot of the core themes are pretty standard in terms of design, so to be able to build upon what is there and give it an edge, is very important.

What challenges did Moodle 2.0 present?

Moodle 2.0 came with a huge number of core changes to the platform. Getting to grips with the new layout structure was possibly the most challenging. However, these changes have created greater flexibility in terms of skinning a theme.

Any tips for Moodle Themers out there?

Have patience! It is not always easy to work with someone else’s code. Think outside the box… almost anything is possible when it comes to themeing for Moodle.

To view the winning Moodle 2.0 ‘Splash’ Theme click here.

For more information on Synergy Learning’s Moodle Theme Services click here or email info@synergy-learning.com.

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Introducing Drupal

Posted by Joel Kerr on 25 Aug

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At Synergy Learning we have been working on a number of Drupal sites over the past few weeks and have been very impressed with what it has to offer.

Drupal is a Content Management system with built-in functionality and add-on modules that allow for a whole load of features:

E-Commerce
Blogs
Collaborative authoring environments
Forums
Peer-to-peer networking
Newsletters
Podcasting
Picture galleries
File uploads and downloads

Like both Moodle and Mahara, Drupal is:

1) Open-source software distributed under the GPL

2) Highly customisable – according to Saad Bassi, “You can mould it into any type of content-centered / user-generated site: from a social media site that allows users to submit and vote on content, a forum, a job board, to an image gallery or a service for deploying portfolio sites for designers – Drupal can get it done.”

3) Supported by a large community of enthusiastic users and developers - with this comes all the benefits of collaborative products – great modules, quick bug fixes, core updates, support and an endless supply of documentation and tutorials

Some Examples of Drupal Sites

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Firefox

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Mozilla

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My Play

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The New York Observer

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If you are interested in finding out more about how Drupal can benefit your organisation, or to find out more about Synergy Learning’s Drupal services, email me at joel.kerr@synergy-learning.com

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Alex Büchner Ironman

Posted by Joel Kerr on 30 Jul

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Synergy Learning’s Technical Director, Alex Büchner, has many strings to his bow, and now he can add the ‘Ironman’ title to his signature having completed the grueling Roth Challenge on the 18th July 2010. The race consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a marathon which he finished in 11 hours and 35 minutes. Here are a few snapshots of the highlights…

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Cheering on the competitors at 6am – the crowd on the famous bridge

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100m to go

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KM 50 and “Still feeling good”

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In the Stadium with 50m to go

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Well done boss.

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The latest with Moodle Test Drives

Posted by Joel Kerr on 10 Jun

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The good news is our studio has been very busy for the past few weeks; the bad news is designing the Moodle Test Drive site was put on the back burner!

Our Senior Designer, Laura Sweeney, has been working on the site in whatever free time she can get. I got a sneak preview of what it looks like this morning and I am thinking it has been worth the wait.

Here’s what it looks like so far…

This is entirely unrecognisable from the results I got using my basic Moodle skills (click here for screen shots) and is what you can achieve if you know your way around Moodle software.

Thankfully for me Laura understands the technology and pedagogical requirements of an elearning site, meaning I could give her minimal material and she could turn it into a site that is engaging and easy to navigate.

There is still work to be done on the lessons and quizzes so it’s not ready for release yet. Laura is a busy girl!

I’ll keep you updated with the progress…

Joel

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Archive for the ‘Synergy News’ Category

Introducing Thomas Worthington

New Moodle and Mahara Hosting Platform

Drupal Site // Post #1

Happy Birthday Synergy Learning

Success for Synergy Learning in Scotland

Moodle Case Study: The South East GP Training Programme

Moodle Themes from Synergy Learning

Introducing Drupal

Alex Büchner Ironman

The latest with Moodle Test Drives

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