Synergy Learning – providing an eLearning network for 14-19 year olds

Wrexham County Borough Council had a vision for a dynamic, reliable and cost-effective eLearning Network to deliver 14-19 education throughout schools and colleges in the area.

Having received funding from the Welsh Assembly Government to help Wrexham deliver the 14-19 agenda, the forward-thinking LA looked to Moodle’s open source Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). The open source approach can help learners to collaborate, within and across schools, and to develop new knowledge and skills supporting the current drive towards personalised learning.

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

Moodle is a free and fully customisable management system however, Wrexham LA took the strategic decision to work with leading Moodle partner Synergy Learning (www.synergy-learning.com) for expert guidance, maintenance and support in order to maximise the full teaching and learning potential of this open source technology.

Synergy Learning is an UK & Ireland Moodle partner which offers a range of support services. 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.”

Synergy worked closely with Wrexham LA to adapt, support and develop Moodle services to suit the individual needs of the LA and schools. Services offered by Synergy range from customising the look and feel of the software to reflect a school’s own identity, to the hosting and installation, training, content migration and even systems integration. Synergy can also supply bespoke content and resources for use in the classroom as well as offer advice and support in rolling out Moodle across an entire Local Authority.

Synergy 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 teachers and LA staff. Simon comments: “Within six months, Synergy 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 one central training programme per week for other teachers. It is imperative to have staff fully trained to use Moodle in order to fully integrate the eLearning Network across Wrexham and maximise its educational benefits. ”

Wrexham LA is now able to support students who are moving between locations to study options such as BTEC Sport, GCSE Law and Performing Arts. Through the portal, Wrexham provides all students in the area with a “Collaborative Options Menu” enabling them to choose one course for an afternoon per week that they study at a different institution. This has been made much simpler by the network as students can log in and access their files wherever they are. Yale College in Wrexham, which offers many of the collaborative options courses for the students, has also installed Moodle. Synergy worked closely with Yale to ensure that they were networked with all the schools in the area.

Simon continues, “In extending choice for learners and delivering a collaborative options menu enabling learners to move between learning settings, it is imperative that our portal is effective, reliable and available 24/7. 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’s support the process was seamless. Synergy’s technical support is excellent allowing us to truly concentrate on the delivery of education for 14-19 across Wrexham.”