OpenRoad + Mod7
Two pioneering organizations, together at last.
OpenRoad is pleased to announce the acquisition of creative agency Mod7.
Read the letter from our PrincipalCommunity-driven learning through technology.
The Law Society of British Columbia regulates more than 10,000 lawyers in the province of British Columbia, setting and enforcing standards of professional conduct. Their Online Learning Centre offers courses in professional development for their members, helping to ensure that the public is served by honourable and competent practitioners.
Challenges
The Online Learning Centre had initially been built in 2007 using an off-the-shelf Learning Management System (LMS). The LMS chosen had worked well for a time, but eventually fell behind as technology, user expectations, and the vision of the organization progressed. The system was inflexible, users were having a hard time finding content and even completing courses, and the number of help-desk calls were growing to an unacceptable level.
Process
The Law Society came to Mod7 to rebuild the Online Learning Centre site, with the aim of creating a flexible, robust, and extensible system that "just worked". But more than that, they needed something that could adapt to their long-term vision of a user-driven community. The process began with a user-centred design phase which included interviews of key users, development of representative personas, and identification of critical user tasks. Once the iterative wireframing process was complete, we were able to recommend an appropriate technology solution: Drupal. With some solid user insight in place, Mod7's small-but-efficient team was able to design, build, migrate, and test the large site within a very short timeline.
Results
The new Online Learning Centre designed by Mod7 is the first step in a long-term, visionary roadmap. Its clean and elegant design hides a powerful backend that can grow and adapt to the organization's changing needs. Using Drupal's flexible module system, Mod7 was able to create a customized solution that met the project objectives, including the development of a "wiki-style" user-generated content tool. Subsequently, calls to the help center have dropped and users are reporting a more favourable learning experience thanks to a streamlined interface based on proven user experience tactics.
