Major UK Government Department

Project: Moodle and blended learning

Topic: Leadership and management

Challenge

A major UK government department with over 85,000 employees engaged Kineo to support them with the challenge to quickly implement a learning platform and e-learning to support their new vision.

The remit was to deliver some 'quick win’ initiatives and to support the development of a long-term sustainable approach to learning which would work across this large and diverse organisation.

Approach

Kineo collaborated with the department to:

• Assess the market for potential approaches and recommend a solution for the learning platform and e-learning approach
• Implement the highly cost-effective tactical solution: Moodle LMS as an open source, which was rolled out in six weeks
• Design and develop a leading set of e-learning initiatives that reflect the brand
• Create a brand strategy for the Leadership and Management portal, creating brand and tone of voice guidelines and a marketing plan for its launch

This initial phase led to the design and launch of the site, and three initial modules within it, in under two months.

Initial feedback proved that the model was going to be successful in the department and demand for additional learning and community resources expanded.

In the following three years, Kineo’s ongoing collaboration with the department to grow and manage the portal and its resources has been extensive, including:

• Continued design, development and implementation of the portal, which now has over 40,000 users across the department
• Design and development of over 250 learning resources and blended programmes including initial diagnostics, e-learning, discussion forums, live chat rooms, polls, surveys, two-minute overviews, video-driven scenarios, and expert audio interviews, all deployed to the site in line with interaction and branding expectations
• Various bespoke extensions to the initial site, for example development of a robust classroom management module, which enables all classroom management activity to be booked and managed through the portal
• Custom reporting functionality to meet with internal reporting requirements and to integrate with internal HR systems
• Training and support of a core client team to make straightforward updates to the site
• Ongoing hosting maintenance and support of the site to an SLA
• A full brand and layout update to advance the site
• Active management of the portal in line with key departmental themes. We have worked closely with the department, responding quickly with a learning module and site area on key topics such as LEAN and performance management, ensuring the portal keeps on topic and remains relevant for learners.

Results and Feedback

The site has over 40,000 active users within the government department, and has had nearly five million hits since its launch, making it the primary source of learning for all current and aspiring leaders in the department.

Feedback from stakeholders:

“Making the decision to go with Moodle was one of the best decisions we ever made”  – Team Leader

“Creating a strong and robust brand was essential from the inception. The brand has been maintained by working with Kineo to ensure that only learning that demonstrates the core values of the brand is able to sit on the portal. As a result it has become synonymous with an adult-to-adult straight talking style” – Design Consultant

 “We now have a universally applicable management and leadership development tool, which impacts directly on the frontline and contributes to the building of leadership capability needed to meet the challenges of the future.” – Programme Leader