Customer Story
Oxford University Press (Kerboodle)
An inspiring online learning platform for more than 6 million learners and teachers, provided by Oxford University Press using Avallain Author and our Avallain Unity architecture.
About the client
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world, and the second oldest. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the vice-chancellor known as the delegates of the press.
Project highlights
The goal
Avallain were requested to design, deliver and maintain Kerboodle, a vibrant, robust and flexible online learning platform to complement Oxford University Press secondary school courses in a wide range of UK subjects.
Thousands of interactive resources created
Oxford University Press team has created thousands of interactive resources in Avallain Author, with hundreds of staff and freelancers using our online authoring tool.
More than 60 courses delivered
Using Avallain Author and our Avallain Unity architecture, Oxford University Press has created and delivered more than 60 courses to students worldwide.
More than 6 million subscribed students and teachers
Oxford University Press and their Kerboodle platform have reached over 6 million subscribed students and teachers monthly.
Highlights
Initial situation
Oxford University Press courses were supplemented by a range of digital resources, from CD-ROMs to stand-alone supplementary websites and platforms.
Tools to allow teachers to monitor and assess students varied or were not yet developed. Due to the rapidly evolving nature of the programme, digital content had been generated to different formats and standards, using a variety of production processes.
Highlights
Customer requirements
Oxford University Press wished to complement all UK secondary courses with a consistent and engaging digital learning and teaching experience.
Additionally, they wanted to offer teachers robust tools to deliver an effective blend of in-class and learned-led activities and to monitor and assess student progress. All digital content was to be processed efficiently and consistently, in compliance with Oxford University Press’s demanding editorial and technical standards. Finally, all this had to be achieved using a clever, yet simple system architecture.
Highlights
Challenges
Working closely with Oxford University Press, we had to create an engaging and coherent user experience that would suit all levels and subject areas.
We needed to migrate user data and content from multiple environments and media and provide a single, harmonised alternative to existing editorial workflows and production processes. While doing this, we needed to simplify existing software and hardware arrangements.
Highlights
Solutions
Following extensive consultation with Oxford University Press stakeholders, Avallain’s education designers devised a unifying user experience for Kerboodle, based on Avallain Unity.
Kerboodle made use of the robust, coherent architecture of Avallain Unity, and its established features such as user management, progress monitoring and course building. To ensure consistency and efficiency of the editorial process, Avallain Author was introduced as the online authoring tool for Kerboodle, to be used in all relevant Oxford University Press editorial and production workflows.
Highlights
Outcomes
Kerboodle now provides online learning and teaching for more than 60 Oxford University Press courses in the UK.
Avallain Author has been used by Oxford University Press authors and editors to create tens of thousands of interactive exercises for Kerboodle, while the Avallain Unity architecture delivers a reliable and engaging learning and teaching experience for Kerboodle’s over 6 million users. This dual solution of Avallain Author and the Avallain Unity technology allows Oxford University Press to focus on their world-leading authorship and product design, which in turn has brought Kerboodle great commercial success.
Words from our clients
Testimonial
"Our long-term partnership with Avallain has given us the tools to provide teachers and learners with highly effective and enjoyable interactive software. Being among the 2018 Bett Awards finalists is the most recent achievement in a long success story of award-winning Oxford University Press products created with Avallain Author and the Avallain Unity architecture."
Simon Tanner-Tremaine
Director Digital and Home/School Services
Oxford University Press
