What we do: Learning platforms

At U Interactive we have diverse backgrounds and a collective experience of working on many different learning platforms for clients including Sun Microsystems, DfES, HERO.ac.uk and CfBT. We have increasingly become interested in the crossover between social media and learning platform design, aiming to harness the other 80% of informal learning activity that takes place around the water cooler and after work. Our recent learning design work extends to the following:

The Open University’s ground-breaking social learning platform

We are delighted to be working as the design partner to CommonNeed, one of the world’s leading innovators in the integration of social media and applied learning environments. This is a hugely ambitious project for the Open University but also one currently taking place in closed beta (that is, behind closed doors), so we can’t say much more about it except that it will really set the agenda for online collaborative learning for many years to come.

Building Schools for the Future

BSF is the most exciting UK schools project for a generation and U Interactive are lucky enough to be at the heart of it. We have been partnering with Sun Microsystems to design the managed learning environment, which will be transforming learning in over 20 schools.

Award-winning student learning environment

We helped design and build the award-winning All About U simulation system. www.allaboutu.org is an immersive online learning platform for sixth-form students looking at how to avoid problematic debt.

This groundbreaking programme won three awards in 2007:

• A National Training Award: Regional Award for ‘All about U', UNIAID
• A World of Learning Award: Learning Innovation of the Year for ‘All about U', UNIAID
• An E-learning Age Award: “Best e-learning project securing widespread adoption”

Corporate LMS customisation

We carried out an audit of Legal and General’s unsuccessful learning management system implementation, simplifying and redesigning it around people and what they really wanted to do, transforming the learning experience in the process.

As usual with redesign projects, especially redesign of advanced technical systems, the task was one of removing myriad advanced user functions and greatly simplifying process steps, getting users to book courses and start learning. We provide before and after shots below:

You can see the full set of before and after screens here: http://www.u-interactive.co.uk/images/stories/Legal_and_general_before_and_after.pdf 

UI’s collaborative learning system

We have designed a collaborative learning platform that we think brings together the perfect blend of social networking and group dynamics, combined with formal curriculum-based structured learning. We have developed this system in collaboration with experts from Capita Learning and Development and also with a team of virtual training specialists.

We have called the system Connect, and have built a prototype in MS SharePoint specifically to support blended learning and learning paths. We are currently in negotiation with a number of parties to roll out this system throughout their multinational organisations. We provide a schematic example below:

Moodle services

We have designed and hosted a number of Moodle implementations for our clients. This great open source product allows the trainer to get access to myriad course administration and cohort management features for free which is quite a change from the million pound price tag of previous LMS systems. Obviously with this perfect price, there are some drawbacks and one of them is that it provides poor support for social interaction between learners. We believe that this product is designed around the trainer’s needs rather than the leaner’s needs. Never the less you get a huge amount out of the box and a great deal more from available plugins. So use this is you can live with the user experience.