Advice NI is a membership organisation that promotes, supports and develops the independent advice sector across Northern Ireland.  It is an established training provider, accredited with the Open University to offer National Vocational Qualifications and is an accredited centre to deliver Open College Network NI qualifications.

Advice NI made the decision to make their training available online in response to advice workers finding it difficult to be away from their work for full days in order to participate in learning activities.

Other advantages included:

1. Saving on travel
2. Increased catchment area of users
3. Opportunity to develop ICT skills
4. Learners can complete courses in their own time
5. Environmental advantages (saving paper & fuel)
6. Competitive advantage offered by staying ahead of the trend

Synergy Learning worked with Advice NI to develop blended learning programmes, through a dedicated Learning Online website and face-to-face workshops.

Why Moodle?

Advice NI’s research found Moodle’s competitive advantage included:

1. Total cost of ownership
2. Long-term sustainability
3. Free support offered by the Open Source community
4. Moodle can be adapted to meet their needs and requirements

Synergy Learning’s approach

When creating an online learning environment, Synergy Learning conduct a Learning Needs Analysis.  This involves analysing the existing paper based training content.

We work with the client to understand the Aims and Learning Outcomes, the content is listed, the learner is identified and from this a learning strategy can be developed.

This strategy will determine what the eLearning environment will look like and what models will be used; communication methods, assessment, assignment, feedback etc will all be decided.

Once these facts have been agreed Synergy Learning work with the client to:

1. Decide on a suitable pedagogy(ies)
2. Develop online resources using the content supplies
3. Create necessary resources, build environment, expand the pedagogy

Developing online resources

A product of the Learning Needs Analysis is to list possible resources that will be used.  These are dependent on the content that is involved, the types of learners using the content, accessibility issues and the available environment.

When producing the materials, consideration is given to the fact learners do not all learn in the same way.  Learners take a variety of approaches and use these approaches in varying degrees in different situations e.g. visual, textual, auditory, kinesthetic, active and reflective.

In a similar way we look at the learning content and consider the theoretical perspectives such as drill and practice, constructivism (mental models and scaffolding) and social constructivism (social activities, communities of practice and common knowledge).

At Synergy Learning we develop materials to suit each of these learning approaches.  These models include animation, graphics, diagrams, text, learner interaction, step by step activities, demonstrations, simulations, video, sound/speech and learning as well as assessment tasks.

The Results

Advice NI’s students have embraced the new online learning format and there have been a number of positives to come from the new site.

1. The catchment area of their audience has spread from being mainly Belfast to include members of the rural areas.
2. The Advice NI Moodle site is available in 7 different languages
3. As a paper based training course it was solely Advice NI members enrolling on the courses. Now the courses are attracting students from technical colleges and those from a careers guidance background.
4. Advice NI have noticed their students are completing courses quicker than when studying offline.
5. There has been a rise in the number of students interested in the NVQ courses offered.
6. Advice NI now have access to a number of online courses which would not have otherwise been available.

Fiona Magee from Advice NI had the following to say:

“Advice NI were extremely happy to find a Moodle partner on a local level. Synergy Learning provided us with the most effective and efficient e-learning platform for our learners. We feel the partnership has been very resourceful for both parties and we will continue to build on this partnership to offer our learners the best e-learning experiences.

“We won an Aontas STAR award in 2009 for our NVQ Advice & Guidance e-learning training and were highly commended by the E-Well-Being awards for our e-learning site in 2008.  We feel through the increase in website hits, learner feedback and the winning of such prestigious awards Advice NI has achieved fantastic results which only enforce our ethos.  We feel with development of technology and partnership with Synergy we will continue to grow.”

Imagine being 12 and not having to go to school. All that time on your hands what would you do?   You would do your lessons at home of course, on your Virtual Learning Environment!

On the 23^rd February 2010, when the rest of Northern Ireland’s 12 year olds sat in school, the Year 8 pupils of St. Louis Grammar School took their lessons from home – on their Moodle (with a little help from Synergy Learning’s dedicated hosting).

Why hold a Virtual Day?

Mr. Kevin Martin, the Principle at St. Louis Grammar School, explains the reason behind the idea:

“We select Y8 to participate in the Virtual day because this allows them to see from the first few weeks in St Louis the range and extent of the learning and teaching strategies deployed in our school.

“It opens up an array of new opportunities for them to learn in their preferred style and illustrates to them the possibilities for future learning and development. Used as blended learning it can compliment and support the excellent teaching and learning that takes place in our classrooms on a daily basis.”

What were the aims of the Virtual Day?

The aim of the Virtual Day was to help encourage pupil’s independent learning skills as well as to hone and improve their ICT skills.

Mr Tim Brown, the school’s Director of ICT and eLearning says:

“We wanted to provide the pupils with a fun learning experience and we hoped that the pupils would gain more experience of using the VLE with reduced help from the teachers, thus improving their independent learning skills.

“Our other main objective was to encourage teachers to see the potential of using the VLE for a part of or whole lesson.”

The ultimate goal is to promote blended learning to the pupils and teachers and fully integrate the VLE into the schools education strategy.

What planning was involved?

This is the second St. Louis Virtual Day, with a lot of lessons being learnt from the June 2009 event.  For this year’s Virtual Day St. Louis invested in Dedicated Moodle Hosting, provided by Synergy Learning.  The new equipment allows hundreds of pupils to be working online at the same time from home or in school.

To be sure the day ran smoothly St. Louis involved all the key stakeholders in the planning process:

1. ICT worked closely with teachers to help them plan their lessons.
2. ICT ensured each student had the necessary logins and passwords
3. Pupils were involved in pre-Virtual Day activities to prepare them for the day
4. Support was enlisted from parents

The only obstacle that arose was the suitability of each pupil’s home internet connection, however interference was minimal with only 7 of the 80 pupils having insufficient access to take part in the day.

What happened on the day?

Based on their experience last year the online lesson where split into three parts

1. The start (a short activity)
2. The main lesson (the bulk of the work)
3. The end (a quiz / summative activity relating to the main activity)

Pupils took part in a broad range of online and offline activities including web quests, interactive quizzes, searching and sorting exercises etc.

Each lesson was allocated a 45 minute time slot with times built in for breaks and lunch. In order to develop independent management skills, pupils were allowed to complete the tasks in any order.

Evidence on the day showed that most pupils approached the tasks in order. However, some pupils were on the VLE from eight in the morning and had finished all the tasks by lunchtime while others were still completing tasks later on that night.

Should technical issues arise, the ICT team and teachers were only a phone call away.

Was the day a success?

Mr Brown thinks so:

“As the first specialist school in Technology with Computing, we feel that it is important to push the boundaries of the use of ICT in education and in particular investigate the role of ICT in helping pupils to learn from home. I am pleased that this years Virtual Day was such a success and I look forward to next year!”

Feedback from the students was also very positive:

‘It was fun being independent with what subjects you do and what time you get to do them at.’

‘I really enjoyed ICT and RE because the quizzes were fun and very interesting. In Geography I enjoyed making the graphs using Excel as this was something I had not done before.’

The future…

The Virtual Day provided a focus for teachers to develop e-learning opportunities that they may use again or which they may wish to develop further in the future.

Tim explains:

“There is massive potential for VLEs in the secondary sector though I envisage that it is unlikely that there would be much development of full e-learning courses. However, there is potential for schools to collaborate on providing certain courses across a number of schools within an area learning community were little direct contact with the teacher is needed. This would be particularly suited to some ICT qualifications or other skills-based courses.

The VLE is an excellent tool for teachers to store materials for pupils to access at any time of day or night. There is also potential for schools to collaborate on joint Virtual Days. This would provide an excellent opportunity for pupils to collaborate and communicate with pupils from other schools and therefore provide a more meaningful and realistic experience of working online. “

Full home learning may not be a part of the near future, but Moodle and other VLE’s are providing options that will continue to push boundaries so who knows what the distant future holds.

For more information on Synergy Learning’s Dedicated Hosting Package, or any of our services email joel.kerr@synergy-learning.com.

Wrexham Local Authority had a vision for dynamic, reliable and cost-effective online learning to deliver education throughout schools and colleges in the area.

Synergy Learning partnered with Wrexham Local Authority to create:

1. A large scale eLearning installation
2. An eLearning Network that allows one Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to link to other VLEs across different schools and colleges
3. Customised software to suit the individual needs of the Local Authority and schools

Wrexham chose Moodle because the Open Source approach helped learners to collaborate within and across schools, and to develop new knowledge and skills supporting the current drive towards personalised learning.

Simon Billington, Learning and Teacher Advisor at Wrexham LA explains why they chose to work with Synergy Learning,

“Moodle provided us with flexibility and is one of the best learning platforms available.  However, in order to make such a large elearning installation successful and run effectively we required professional level support from a company with Moodle expertise.”

Strategy

Synergy Learning worked closely with Wrexham LA to adapt, support and develop Moodle services to suit the individual needs of the LA and schools.

Synergy Learning implemented Wrexham’s eLearning Network providing the LA with a range of services including hosting, installation, technical support and training through an on-going support contract until 2011.  Simon explains,

“Our elearning network consists of one overarching Moodle Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) acting as an elearning portal linking to other Moodle VLEs across different schools and colleges who can access shared resources and courses.  From anywhere within the authority you can log on securely to access work and records.”

Synergy Learning provided central training sessions for teacher and LA staff.  Simon comments,

“Within six months Synergy Learning had trained 200 staff enabling them to really embrace the elearning programme.  Eleven of us from the Local Authority have been fully trained as ‘trainers’ and we now run ongoing training as part of our continuous staff development programme through the Wrexham 14 to 19 Network.  It is imperative to have staff fully trained to use Moodle in order to fully integrate the learning network across Wrexham and maximize it’s educational benefits.”

Results

Wrexham LA is now able to support students who are moving between locations to study options such as BTEC Sports, GCSE Law and Performing Arts.  Through the portal, Wrexham provides all students in the area with a ‘Collaborative Options Menu’ enabling them to choose some courses that they study at a different institution.  Students can log in and access their files wherever they are.

Simon concludes,

“Our experience with Synergy Learning has been completely positive.  It has been a big transition for the authority to move to Moodle but with Synergy Learning’s support the process was seamless.  Synergy Learning’s technical support is excellent allowing us to truly concentrate on the delivery of education for 14-19 year olds across Wrexham.”

Wrexham Local Authority installed Moodle across 10 secondary schools, two work based learning providers, one advisory learning and teaching support unit and four Pupil Referral Units.