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North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College (NWSLC)

Phoenix Software delivers a ground-breaking AI course for North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College (NWSLC).

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North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College (NWSLC) supports around 8,000 students in full and part time study in apprenticeships, T Levels, higher education, adult education, and professional development (CPD).

With strong ties to local employers and a strong emphasis on practical skills, NWSLC offers a diverse range of courses, including digital, health and social care, vocational and practical courses, motorsport, and engineering.  The college serves its students from seven campuses in Nuneaton, Hinckley, and Wigston, in addition to offering distance learning.

Key facts

Users:

8,000 learners

Seven campuses

across the West and East Midlands

Solutions:

PowerPoint presentations, voiceovers and supporting materials for use within Moodle LMS, the college’s SCORM-compliant E-Learning platform

Sector:

Further education

Inspired by a government agenda to enhance digital education, NWSLC was successful in an application for funding to develop a new AI course. However, due to the significant time-constraints placed on the funding, combined with the college’s desire for the course to reflect the latest, real-life use cases for AI, the college sought to partner with an IT services company with direct experience of AI implementations to help develop the course.

Phoenix has been supporting NWSLC in its IT and software needs since 2013, specifically around its Microsoft and Adobe software solutions. Due to this longstanding and trusted relationship, Phoenix was invited to pitch for the development of the AI course.

Phoenix worked in partnership with NWSLC to develop a comprehensive AI course for the college. The course consisted of eight modules in total, including “Responsibility and Ethics for AI”, “Prompts”, “Copilot”, and “Applications of AI”.

The project began with an initial pitch in January 2024, followed by the development of a course framework in February. Weekly check-ins were held initially, extending to bi-weekly as the project progressed. The course was completed in July 2024, with Phoenix delivering handover training sessions to NWSLC’s staff in August 2024, ensuring the full programme could be delivered in time for the new academic year.

The course was developed for both online and offline learners. The E-Learning component was delivered as a SCORM-compliant course for NWSLC’s Learning Management System (LMS), Moodle, while the offline component was able to delivered through PowerPoint presentations that can be delivered in-person as well. Due to the way the course is structured, a learner can easily move from the E-Learning setting and in-person setting with little loss to their education journey, maintaining consistency across both mediums. The course features interactive questions and content across its eight modules.

Working with Phoenix on this course was a really positive experience for us. The team at Phoenix were very flexible and worked around our hectic schedule. They stayed in constant contact throughout and kept driving the project forward, so we always felt we were in good hands.”

Blake Deeming, Learning and Skills Manager, North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College (NWSLC)

Benefits and outcomes:

The course was designed to cover both practical applications and theoretical aspects of AI, ensuring learners gain a well-rounded understanding of the subject. The course was delivered on time and has been well received by the college and its students. Additional benefits for the college include:

Module materials were created in PowerPoint format, with extensive slide notes for staff to ensure they had everything they needed to deliver the course in-person, remotely, or via the Moodle platform

Phoenix recorded voiceovers for presentation materials to offer an additional learning option, and to help those with additional learning needs access the course

Additional handouts were created for academic staff to enhance learning and provide extra support

Phoenix ensured all materials were accessibility checked, including alt-text for images and dyslexic-friendly text

Given how fast the field of AI is evolving, Phoenix provided the raw files to NWSLC to enable its staff to make amendments to the course themselves

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I would just like to say thank you to Michael, the delivery was well received, and overall feedback was good from the team. Keep up the good work.”

Blake Deeming, Learning and Skills Manager, North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College (NWSLC)

Phoenix conducted training sessions for the staff that would be delivering the course, in addition to a separate training session on responsible and ethical AI

While the course was initially designed for businesses, it can  also be offered to the college’s full and part-time students

Despite the tight timeline for delivery, the course was rolled out in September, meeting the timeline set by the government funding

NWSLC is continuing to work with Phoenix on other projects, including the deployment of a dedicated AI server for students to develop their own AI applications

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Our specialists are here to help solve your challenges

AI is fast becoming an integral component of the modern workplace, but with the pace at which AI solutions are evolving it can be difficult to keep up. By engaging with our AI and innovation services, we can help you to navigate the noise and leverage the very latest AI solutions.

Whether you are looking to automate tasks, improve user experiences, extract maximum value from your data, or just learn more about this subject, speak to one of our AI Specialists today.

Alternatively, email us at [email protected] or call 01904 562200 and one of our specialists will be in touch to discuss your requirements.