Testimonial: Totara implementation at i-Learn Academy
The i-Learn project focuses on personalization and the responsible and sustainable use of technology in Flanders.
In primary and secondary schools, groups are extremely heterogenous, which results in challenging circumstances for teachers. Therefore, learning tailored to the needs of each child individually is being promoted as the future of our educational system.
Technology is an important lever to enable this tailored learning path as technology can help to highlight different preferences and the learner’s potential. Hence, the main goal of this project was to implement digital solutions to support personalized learning in a qualitative and sustainable way across Flanders.
Challenge
In order to ensure that teachers use the tools on offer in an optimal way, i-Learn was looking for a Learning Management System underpinning the other tools. By means of a tender procedure, Totara was chosen as the foremost solution to shape the i-Learn Academy. To complete the implementation, the project team relied on The Learning Hub as an official Totara partner.
The solution
The predetermined go-live date was the first of September 2021, together with the start of the new school year. To meet this deadline, the implementation project was divided into 6 different sprints, each of 1 week. Several deep dive meetings were set up with the i-Learn project team during this time span. This was the right moment to collect feedback so that it could still be processed during the implementation process. Thanks to this approach, the system really took shape based on co-creation. This immediately gave the i-Learn project team some knowledge about Totara that they put into practice after the initial implementation (e.g. look and feel adaptations with custom CSS).
Because the Academy is an underpinning tool, it was important to keep the gap with other solutions (e.g. i-Learn MyWay) as small as possible. One way to achieve this was by setting up a Single Sign-On (SSO). The Auth0 platform was used for authentication, all i-Learn solutions are connected to this platform, which eliminates a surplus of usernames and passwords and is a real benefit in user experience. Furthermore, the fact that Totara is an open-source technology was certainly an advantage to connect with other solutions. End users will be able to simply redirect to the MyWay Portal at the click of a custom button in the navigation bar. It is this freedom to innovate in Totara that helps to meet specific needs.
Speaking of meeting needs, the Totara Learn functionalities were perfect for providing online support material (e.g. e-learning modules, guides, videos, …) so that users can work independently. In addition, a calendar of training sessions was configured for which users can enroll and unenroll themselves. To allow coaches and trainers to create such training sessions in a blink of an eye, the Microsoft Virtual Meeting Plugin was a must-have requirement.
Since an individualized learning experience was one of the main objectives, the feedback activity was used to create a site-wide tailored coaching request form. In order to learn from each other, Totara Engage was implemented to create an online community where like-minded learning professionals can collaborate all together. It is this freedom to learn what and when they want that brings added value to the end user.
Finally, i-Learn will manage the Academy on their own and will continuously update the available content. The Learning Hub will provide some additional training to a group of key users and is ready to assist where needed.
The results
- Online support material is available resulting in users who can individually target their personal learning needs.
- Implementation of several digital solutions where Totara TXP fits right in seamlessly.
- Qualitative and sustainable solution to share knowledge across Flanders in Teacher Design Teams (Totara workspaces).
Thanks to the many different functionalities and features of the i-Learn Academy, teachers have easy access to a broad variety of training and support possibilities. That way everyone can choose the option that best suits their needs.