About the project

The NLN Learning Materials Delivery Project (LMDP) was a collaboration between MIMAS and EDINA, and the NLN Materials Development Team. Other parties involved in the project were the JISC-funded Regional Support Centres (RSCs) and Granada Learning (GL).

The Project Manager, based at EDINA, reported to the JISC Services Group. The LMDP ran in parallel with the Becta NLN Material Team's content development project, which reported to the NLN Programme Board.

Aim of the Learning Materials Delivery Project

To provide an effective and efficient delivery service of the NLN Learning Materials to Further Education in the UK.

Project Objectives

• To support access to, and delivery of, the NLN materials by institutions.
• To provide online information sources of help for college staff and RSCs.
• To provide helpdesk support for RSCs.
• To provide feedback to the JISC on the delivery project, and via NLN Materials Team by provision of statistics, to the NLN Programme Board funding the development of the materials.

Project Deliverables

1. Technical implementation at MIMAS of the CAT and Phase 1 learning materials.
2. Identification of amendments required to the CAT software.
3. Installation of later versions of the CAT at MIMAS.
4. Dual hosting of the CAT and materials at EDINA.
5. Delivery of Phase 2 learning materials.
6. User support through EDINA helpdesk, support documentation and project website.

The Project allowed a period of time under which the Data Centres jointly hosted the NLN materials and the project team worked out support requirements for a full service. The NLN Materials Development Team supported colleges in terms of the materials content, while the JISC Regional Support Centres (RSCs), along with EDINA and MIMAS, supported colleges in terms of using the service. The project allowed time to identify issues that needed attention to ensure that the Data Centres and RSCs set up the service correctly in terms of staffing and resources.

The full service from the Data Centres, with underpinning service level agreement between the Data Centres and JISC, was launched in August 2003.