MacIntyre meets learning and reporting demands with Kallidus LMS
Learning and support care charity MacIntyre has turned to Kallidus LMS to deliver its blended learning and compliance programmes to 2000 field workers. The charity has opted to have the system set up as a remotely hosted and fully supported service. This will enable them to concentrate on providing and improving their own core services rather than extending its own technology infrastructure.
MacIntyre provides learning, support and care for children and adults with learning disabilities, at more than 120 MacIntyre centres across the UK. Its diverse range of services includes registered care homes, supported living schemes, accredited training schemes and lifelong learning services, as well as residential special schools and a further education college.
One of the major challenges facing the new LMS will be to satisfy the demands of the charity's regulatory authorities. Sheldon Carolan, Learning & Development Manager for MacIntyre, explained, "The ability of our operational staff to provide support services is closely regulated and monitored by both Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission. The different regulatory bodies demand different reporting data. This can also change going forward. We therefore needed an LMS which could meet these conditions and enable us to build and save our own reports to reduce ongoing activities. It's for this reason that Kallidus LMS, with its own Management Information System, came into its own."
Another attraction was the ability to create and manage 'gadgets' on the home page. Continued Sheldon, "We are keen to encourage users to visit the LMS as often as possible. By having the gadgets on the home page we are able to provide a more active, varied and interesting environment for the users. The look and feel is also very familiar and easy to grasp which is also important if you are expecting learners of all kinds to come and use the system effectively."
Commented e2train Business Development Director Martin Belton, "For obvious reasons, many charities are in the unusual position in having lots of support workers out in the field but only a few hard-working administrative and IT operatives in their head offices to manage. It therefore makes a huge amount of sense for them to go for a cost effective service that will enable them to meet regulatory demands and reduce costs and effort into the bargain."
The LMS will also enable MacIntyre to increase the number and breadth of its blended learning programmes. That includes making use of the system's chat and learning forum features and the learning pathways tools to enable learners to progress quickly with programmes tailored to their learning needs.