Singapore Institute of Technology

Challenge

Upskilling IT professionals

Established in 2009, the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) is Singapore’s first University of Applied Learning. With vast experience of helping university students build bright careers through courses that integrate work and study, SIT knows that learning should not end in the classroom. Alongside its pre-employment university courses, SIT also runs a lifelong learning division—SITLEARN.

Keen to support the Singaporean SkillsFuture movement, a government initiative aiming to promote lifelong learning, SITLEARN has worked with industry partners to provide professional learning opportunities, with over 260 courses across five domains.

As SIT developed its professional learning offerings, it saw an opportunity to innovate further in the world of upskilling, especially within the IT industry. As new technologies such as artificial intelligence emerge, the skills required by IT companies are evolving rapidly, and it is more important than ever for IT professionals to develop new skills to advance their careers.

Businesses are also actively seeking to invest in employee development, but many lack the resources and educational expertise in-house to develop and administer specialized professional development programs. What’s more, taking employees away from core duties so they can attend traditional post-graduate programs is simply too expensive and disruptive for most businesses.

Recognizing these challenges and the huge appetite for professional development in the IT sector, SIT set out to build competency-based flexible courses that IT professionals could complete in their own time and alongside work duties. However, with most of its existing courses and pedagogical approaches geared towards full time degree programs, SIT sought guidance on designing the learner experience for the newly launched competency-based education (CBE) courses.

Solution

Partnering for success

Inspired by its positive experience of developing degree courses with D2L Brightspace, SIT approached D2L’s Implementation and Learning Services teams for help with its new CBE program. Over just three months, SIT and D2L worked together to build a new LMS experience for two courses based on CBE best practice: Digital Logic and Computing Foundations, and Computer Networking and Network Security.

Insight and guidance from D2L’s Learning Strategy team helped SIT learn how to build a new LMS experience that aligns with the needs of its unique audience and empowers adult learners to manage a meaningful learning journey. SIT settled on a stackable course pathway that offers learners the ability to earn a range of module-based micro-credentials. What’s more, to help learners enter courses at the level best suited to their abilities, D2L’s Learning Strategy consultants encouraged SIT to pair the short courses with a recognition of prior learning (RPL) framework.

Within the pathway, learners can study from a range of courses to be awarded professional certificates and micro-credentials, and even stack micro credentials together to earn a degree certified by SIT. Crucially, learners are free to complete the courses in a flexible timeframe, so they can upskill without taking time away from work.

Leveraging the Brightspace platform

After establishing a robust framework for its CBE pathway, SIT worked with D2L’s Learning Services team to turn its vision into reality. The Learning Services team provided course development and graphic design support, helping SIT instructors to leverage the Brightspace tools at their disposal effectively to support a successful launch of the courses.

For example, SIT instructors can now get near real-time information on learner progress via Performance Plus. This allows them to spot when learners might be falling behind and intervene as needed with individualized support.

Result

Becoming a CBE leader

With support from D2L, SIT has successfully transformed modules from its world-class degree programs into flexible, accessible and convenient courses for working professionals—empowering the university to help businesses upskill their workforce. “D2L has been invaluable in shaping the way our CBE programs are experienced by our learners and creating a comprehensive implementation framework,” says Karin Avnit.

Through SIT’s RPL framework and competency-focused assessments, even learners without industry-recognized credentials can enter courses if they have the core skills needed to meet module entry requirements. SIT anticipates that its new CBE program will ultimately help workers to pursue lifelong learning, even if they didn’t have access to higher education earlier in life—and the SIT team is now looking ahead to working with industries to co-create CBE courses on a wide range of disciplines, including railway engineering and cybersecurity.