Home > Case studies > Lowdham Grange In-Cell Training Project
What we achieved:
Walkgrove originally worked with Lowdham Grange to design and pilot a bespoke Moodle Learning Management System populated with accredited e-learning products for 25 cells.
The three products developed by Walkgrove, ie Health and Safety, Healthy Living and Environmental Sustainability can be formally accredited by Ascentis. In addition each student, on successful completion of the course, can print out a named certificate proving their percentage pass mark.
The pilot was a great success running for a year and winning a Butler Award for promoting the innovative use of IT in correctional settings (supported by the Indigo Trust).
Following this success, Lowdham Grange have expanded the model to include four new cell blocks making e-learning available to more learners, enabling them to study out of normal training hours. Lowdham have continued to use the thin client architecture which was installed by the prison as part of their new cell block developments.
Preventing access to the internet
For obvious reasons it was important to ensure that learners had no access to the internet and our SCORM compliant e-learning products and the Moodle LMS are both designed to function without the need to provide this access for updates etc. By running the LMS on a closed network, an additional benefit is that it is not necessary to incorporate sophisticated firewalls with potential subsequent update complications.
The project involved a three-way partnership between Walkgrove, Serco IT specialists and senior managers and experts from Lowdham Grange’s in-house learning and development team. The hardware for this project was provided by Sun Microsystems and when Walkgrove joined the team the infrastructure was already in place with a hub in one of the blocks connected to thin client computers in designated cells. Walkgrove designed and installed a Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) on the dedicated server.
Training Lowdham Grange Learning and Development Team
Walkgrove provided training for Lowdham Grange's Learning and Development team to ensure that, once the platform was installed and content made available for their learners, the continuation of this learning could be managed in-house. We ran practical face to face events to cover LMS management and administration and provided advice on the Ascentis accreditation process.
Learners can now study privately and in their own time with learner support being provided by a fully trained in-house team who also have access to the LMS and are able to monitor its use.
During one of the visits to Lowdham Grange, Walkgrove met students who had accessed the training from their in-cell computer connection. The learners had found the learning useful and informative and commented that being able to access the learning material at the time of their choosing rather than according to a timetable to accommodate access to the learning suites had been of great benefit. Walkgrove were delighted to see their learning products being put to such good use and are pleased to continue to support and be involved with the expansion of this pilot to the new cell blocks.
