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Frequently asked questions

1. What is SIMS .net Learning Platform?

SIMS .net Learning Platform is a managed learning environment (MLE) for developing, managing and delivering learning activities and online communities. It is an innovative, internet based curriculum solution which empowers teachers in delivering learning anytime and anywhere online.

Produced in association with Granada Learning and their Learnwise software (known as the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)), SIMS .net Learning Platform contributes to raising and improving attainment and standards, increasing retention, supporting inclusion, enabling differentiation and reducing teacher workload within schools.

SIMS .net Learning Platform is provided to schools under a subscription service, together with professional development and teacher support services, a content partnership and content authoring software.

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2. Why are schools using SIMS.net Learning Platform?

Schools choose SIMS .net Learning Platform to support a range of projects and initiatives, including:

To develop of out-of-hours eLearning
To make effective use of existing ICT infrastructure, data and digital resources
To help raise achievement
To manage differentiated access to digital curriculum
To support Assessment for learning initiatives though on-line learning
To support independent exam revision
To start a collaborative 6th Form
To explore new ways of teaching & learning

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3. What are the Key Capabilities of SIMS .net Learning Platform (our MLE)?

Integration with SIMS enabling learner progress/achievement information to be returned to SIMS Assessment Manager, thereby avoiding unnecessary data re-entry
Develops, manages and deploys eLearning curriculum courses from a multitude of existing digital content (e.g. MS PowerPoint, web-resources and purchased commercial digital content).
Provides discussion forums, digital course delivery, diarised events, on-line tutoring and mentoring and on-line assessment and work submission with automated marking, tracking and reporting.

Students Can:

Access online learning 'Anywhere - Anytime'
Access course materials developed and packaged by the school specifically to meet school/student needs
Carry out on-line assessments - in many cases marked automatically with instant feedback
Monitor their own progress through courses and assignments
Receive automatic warnings when assignments and task are due to be submitted
Work with other students through email, discussion groups and chat

Teachers Can:

Plan and develop eLearning courses simply and quickly
Use existing course resources prepared in Word, PowerPoint, HTML and other common formats
Use any digital resources they have purchased for whole school use
Monitor the progress of individual students and classes automatically
Set assignments and tasks, many of them to be automatically marked
Purchase an ever increasing range of Curriculum Online (COL) compliant courses from a range of suppliers with eLearning Credits

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4. We have a Portal (or Intranet), so why would I need SIMS .net Learning Platform?

Intranets and portals generally do not have the capability for teachers to actually 'manage learning output' from on-line learning activity as they lack on-line assessment with tracking and reporting, eLearning course structures, and integration with MIS. In contrast SIMS .net Learning Platform has all these.

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5. Is SIMS .net Learning Platform Suitable for all Age Groups?

The current version is most appropriate for age 9+ learners (approximately) and variants are under development for KS1 and 2. The teaching and learning interface of the new upgrade has been developed for screen readers and meets international accessibility standards. It also has foreign language skins.

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6. How many schools are using SIMS .net Learning Platform?

Over 2,000 schools are licenced to use Learnwise, the major component within SIMS .net Learning Platform.

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7. Why Provide SIMS .net Learning Platform as a Managed Service?

CES removes, from the school, the technical responsibility and considerable expense of implementing and maintaining web-servers, firewalls and 24x7 back-up & recovery services that often inhibit schools from successfully sustaining eLearning programmes. This is achieved by CES offering SIMS .net Learning Platform as a fully managed service from a data centre.

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8. What is Special About SIMS .net Learning Platform?

Enables schools to start small and to grow e.g. single department content-based learning platform to a pan-school eLearning initiative using the wider capabilities
Provides highly advanced features and capabilities required for holistic eLearning experience.
Supports a 'learning activity' approach in which courses are created
Integrated with SIMS.
Can incorporate Testwise, the leading on-line test engine, to create assessments and run plug-in test such as CAT3, Suffolk Reading Scale, QCA question-banks etc.
Scaleable solution - supporting single school and collaborative school projects (inc multiple SIMS integration into a single account)
Implemented with an eLearning professional development programme for teachers
Includes teacher support for the duration of usage
Provided and supported via a Managed Service from CES, the leading MIS provider in the UK, in association with Granada Learning, a leading curriculum software provider.

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9. What are the Digital Learning Content Options with SIMS .net Learning Platform?

SIMS .net Learning Platform is compliant with open digital standards, including those being adopted by COL. This enables schools to use almost any digital content that is designed for web-delivery. Teacher created resources, such as MS Word documents and MS Powerpoint presentations, any freely accessible web-resource (e.g BBC Bitesize) as well as SCORM and IMS packaged COL commercial content can be accessed. Capita can provide leading content authoring software – Learnwise Publisher and CourseGenie - as options for content production. Schools either develop their own or choose from a range of digital content from CES and partners.

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10. Does Capita Provide Digital Content?

CES is a COL registered supplier - offering a growing range of digital content as site licences from content partners. These include on-line GCSE / AS / A2 Revision Guides, KS3 / KS4 learning content, Key Skills learning content, CAT 3 Tests and Suffolk Reading Scale Tests.

A separate 'Learnwise Content Partnership' brochure provides information and pricing on the full range of digital content that can be purchased from CES.

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11. What is Special about SIMS Integration?

Uses data that has already been entered into SIMS to set-up and maintain the currency of user enrolments in the VLE
Extracts Student and Teachers data in SIMS together with all their academic class relationships.
Creates user names and password for all students and teachers
Creates documentation used for authentication, communications and to enable teachers to assign work using the same class codes from SIMS.
Reflects Data changes made in SIMS (eg students moving class, year roll-over etc)while retaining previous learning log information.
Captures summary data in Assessment Manager (and other analysis and reporting applications)
Provides flexibility to export data as a .csv files for students, classes and/or courses.

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12. What are the On-line Testing Capabilities in SIMS .net Learning Platform?

Preparation of multiple-choice/multiple answer, fill-the-blank and model answer assessments
Automated marking and recording of test results in SIMS .net Learning Platform for individual and group performance monitoring.
Allow home-work to be submitted on-line
Includes the ability to upgrade to include Testwise, the leading on-line testing engine, for running off-the-shelf QCA question banks, CAT3 tests and Suffolk Reading Scale Tests etc.

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13. What Services Does Capita Provide to Support Implementation in a School?

Professional Development: CES provides a comprehensive implementation package comprising technical and educational, consultancy, training and support to assist schools initiate successful projects. On-going training, consultancy and support services are also offered. Services can be customised however a typical programme for a single school implementation, is as follows:

Day 1: Planning with SMT and/or Project Co-ordinator(s), defining short and longer-term training and usage objectives, uploading MIS data and verifying completeness of data set, uploading of the school’s digital content for training purposes.
Day 2/3: Professional Development – teacher eLearning, software and application training.
Day 4: Advanced or refresher software and application training.

On-going User Support: User Communities are provided with face-to-face meetings and web-forums to share best practice. Teachers are also provided with a telephone, email and web helpdesk for guidance and support on the use of SIMS .net Learning Platform.

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14. What Computer do I need to access SIMS .net Learning Platform?

Any standard PC or MAC capable of running an Internet browser (IE5.5+, Netscape Navigator 6.2+, Mozilla 7.0).
Learning Platform relies on an Internet connection to work. The software itself requires very little bandwidth - 33.6kbps modem connection. However, courses that contain large photographs, audio or video that are not compressed appropriately will require a much larger bandwidth.

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