There’s no e-learning without learners. That’s obvious, and it’s the reason that at Titus Learning we adopt a very user-centred approach to our work. We concentrate resources on helping our clients to build learner engagement with Moodle Workplace through outstanding user experience design, personalised learning paths, comprehensive training programmes, and so the list goes on.
However, it’s equally true that without a solid technical foundation underpinning your learning platform, you don’t have much to offer those users. The enthusiasm and motivation surrounding the launch of a new platform won’t survive long if there are technical problems from the word go.
Slow loading times, labyrinthian interfaces, 404 errors, or disappearing data quickly have an impact on whether users can even be bothered to log in. So we thought it was only fair to give some attention to the technical aspects of our LMS solution, the engine room which keeps everything running smoothly without users having to pay it much attention.
Uptime
We expect our TV to work when we reach for the remote, or our phone to wake up with a quick tap. Equally, we expect an LMS to be available when we need it, with no disruption to service whether it’s 4am or peak business hours.
Whether your organisation uses Moodle Workplace or another LMS, keeping the platform live constantly is a must have. We host our platforms on best-in-class cloud or on-premise infrastructure, and deploy elastic capability to ensure your system performance scales up when you need it to, but scales down when you don’t, keeping costs under control.
Reliability
If your learning platform is online, but doesn’t work, that’s not a lot of good to you either. For large implementations with an extensive user base reliability can be a challenge. As the platform expands, as it integrates with more services, as it requires more frequent upgrades, there are more and more chances that something will go wrong.
To avoid this, preparation is the key. At Titus Learning we use a multi stage testing process to ensure any changes to the platform have been demonstrated to work in our development and staging environments before being released to the live platform. This removes any nasty surprises that may crop up during complex software integrations or updates.
Integration
One of the main advantages of Moodle Workplace is the depth and breadth of integrations it allows. From e-commerce to HR, from office tools to cloud storage, the modern workplace has a host of software to manage daily tasks. Integrating each of these (and many more) is not only possible, in the case of most popular software the integration already exists. If not, the tools to build it are easily accessible.
From the users’ point of view, all they need to know is that it works. Whether they need to pull an important report, view a calendar, pay for a training course or update a personnel record, it can all be achieved through Moodle. No signing in and out of multiple systems, with multiple usernames and passwords – a single familiar interface which talks to the other systems on their behalf to get the job done.
Security
Whether due to the recent introduction of GDPR, or the frequent stories of data leaks from websites, security is always one of the first topics potential clients discuss with us. For a truly secure solution, there are a number of areas to consider beyond how strong the usernames and passwords are.
Things to look for in a new platform – which we implement with each of our solutions – include frequency of upgrades and patches, data centre security (including physical security, who has access) encryption (is data encrypted at rest/in transit), SSL certification, security monitoring and logging capabilities, intrusion detection and protection against network and transport layer attacks – the list goes on. For a detailed list, feel free to get in touch with our technical team.
If you’re in the process of choosing an e-learning provider, or looking to move from one platform to another, the points above should help you ask the right questions about what goes on beneath the list of features and the attractive design mockups. If you’d like to discuss any of these points in further detail, we’re always happy to help.
