MINISTRY DIVISION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND
Invitation to tender: development of the Common Awards Virtual Learning Environment
Part 2: tender requirements
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Ministry Division of the Church of England
Contents
Business requirements
3
System functional requirements
4
System technical requirements
12
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Ministry Division of the Church of England
Business requirements
Note: OBLIGATION = Mandatory, Recommended, Optional
ID
Requirement
Description
Obligation
B01
Service delivery
To serve as a trusted partner to the Ministry
Division of the Church of England in the
development and continuing maintenance and
support of the Common Awards VLE.
M
B02
Project team
The supplier will make available to the project
a dedicated project team with named contacts
and responsibilities, one of which will be the
lead contact for the account.
M
B03
Client communications
The supplier will provide regular project
updates by e-mail and telephone, and will be
available for face-to-face meetings as directed
by the client.
M
B04
Reporting
The supplier will provide to the client monthly
project progress reports, including operational
status summary and project progress against
delivery and financial milestones.
M
B05
User support
The supplier will provide a user helpdesk
service providing telephone and e-mail based
user technical support.
M
The tender bid should include helpdesk service levels and
a costing framework, based on office business hours/out
of hours support, ticketing systems and response times.
B06
Training and roll-out
As part of the tender bid, the supplier will
provide a framework and timescale for the
roll-out of the VLE system to the constituent
communities/Theological Education
Institutions (TEIs).
M
The tender bid should include proposals for the provision
of user training on an ongoing basis, which should be
focused on ‘teacher’ users only.
B07
Documentation
Full system technical documentation will be
provided to the client no later than 3 months
after delivery and sign-off of the live VLE
system.
M
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Notes and references
Ministry Division of the Church of England
System functional requirements
ID
Requirement
Description
Obligation
Notes and references
F01
System architecture
The VLE will be a centrally hosted system
accessible to constituent TEIs via web browser.
M
A suggested system architecture is provided in Annex A.
Web browser and platform compatibility is detailed in T09
and T10 below.
System architecture will comprise TEI 'portals',
through which TEI tutors and students will
access the courses and learning resources
specific to their institution.
TEI portal's design will be fully customisable
by TEI system administrators.
F02
System administration
System administrators at TEI level should be
able to monitor, customize and control their
portal from a standard web browser. Facilities
should include:
• adding and removing system users;
• controlling access by setting
appropriate security permissions;
• reporting staff, student and course
statistics;
• setting storage quotas for individual
courses;
• contacting users about system
maintenance;
• regular, unattended, incremental
backups of the system.
M
Web browser compatibility is detailed in T09 and T10 below.
F03
Course administration
The system should provide a structured means
for tutors to create course outlines giving an
overview of the course structure and dates for
tutorials, assignments, assessments, lectures,
video conferences and so on.
M
The pedagogic strategy for the delivery of the Common
Awards is centred on a ‘blended learning’ approach,
combining face-to-face (peer to peer, teacher to student,
student in the workplace and site visits) with technology
supported learning and assessment.
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Ministry Division of the Church of England
The course outline should provide access to the
course pages and content directly.
Whilst some of the following modes of teaching, learning
and assessment will largely take place outside of the VLE,
the holistic formulation of each module of study and
assessment should be recognised and accommodated for
within the VLE solution.
Each course module could combine a mix of some the
following teaching and learning modes:
Lectures
Seminars
Guided
reading
Context
placements
based
learning and
supervision
Supervision
Small group
learning
Tutorials
Programmed
online
learning
Supervision /
Spiritual
direction
Virtual discussion
forums
Practical classes
Placements or
Work Based
Learning
Independent
research
Visits
Action Learning
Sets
Case studies
Note that there are small variations in the lists of
recommended teaching and learning modes for each of the
awards.
F04
Enrolment of learners
The VLE will facilitate the enrolment of
learners at TEI level by system administrators
against specific course/award criteria.
Enrolment data may exist separately and be
imported into the CA VLE.
M
A common entry requirement to all awards is a language
proficiency qualification (IELTS) where the prospective
student does not have English as a first language.
The VLE must facilitate the storage and export
of this data in a standardised format.
F05
Assessment
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Tutors must be able to monitor student
readiness and progress by setting formative and
Each of the nine awards has recommended entry
requirements, such as formal educational qualifications or
work experience.
M
Each module contains both formative and summative
assessment. For the former, students will be expected to
Ministry Division of the Church of England
demonstrate engagement with the subject matter and the
learning outcomes throughout the module by suitable
formative assessments that encourage integrative and
reflective skills.
summative assessments.
It should be possible to both mark assessments
online and submit documents electronically to
the tutor for marking.
Formative assessments will not be formally marked, whereas
summative assessments are, with achievements contributing
towards award.
The TEI may upload marks/transcripts to the
hub based on manual entry by tutors.
Module summative assessments, which are formally marked
and contribute to an award, will take one of the following
formats, as selected by teachers:
Assessments should be password protected.
Written
assignment
Portfolio
Presentation
Creative
resources for
others
Reflective
journal
Project report
Written
examination
Theological
reflection
Book review
Language tests
Performing
practical skills
Practical skills
assessment
Group project
Project-based
task / output
Placement or
visit report
Time-limited
tests
Literature
review
Note that there are variations in the percentile composition of
marks leading towards each of the different (nine) awards,
and these are likely to vary from TEI to TEI. It is likely,
however, that for the BA, as an example, they will fall in the
following range:
% derived from formal examinations 0 - 20
% derived from summatively assessed coursework 80 - 90
% derived from dissertation or project 0 - 20
F06
Electronic submission of
coursework by students
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The VLE will facilitate the electronic
submission of coursework by students, using
M
Once coursework has been fully assessed and moderated,
marks are made available to the student.
Ministry Division of the Church of England
anti-plagiarism software such as Turnitin (see
F16 below).
F07
Access by external
examiners
The VLE will provide managed/restricted
access for third party external examiners to
selected coursework.
O
Restricted access by third parties such as external examiners
will be subject to identity validation and password protection
and managed by TEI system administrators.
F08
Submission of marks to
validating body
The VLE will facilitate the electronic
submission of assessed coursework and marks
to the registry of the validating body (Durham
University).
M
In the initial period of implementation, it is likely the
validating body will require only a summary of marks at
module level in data format.
When teachers assign grades, these should not be
visible/published until moderated. Only then are grades made
visible to students and made available to the central VLE and
validator/exam board.
F09
Personalisation and student
accounts
Students should be able to access their own
course details and performance information,
subject to appropriate password control.
R
They should also be able to access details of
their enrolment options, class lists, student
home pages, a calendar, address books and
directory services. The VLE must provide
easy-to-use navigational tools and allow
students to add bookmarks to record their
progress.
•
•
•
•
E-portfolios
The VLE will provide all learners with the
ability to create a personal learning space/eportfolio, to store relevant coursework, awards
and certificates.
student clubs and organizations;
college facilities, policies and procedures;
financial aid, student accounts;
marketing information on courses for existing and
potential students.
The VLE will require users to periodically update/change
passwords and provide the facility for users to manage their
usernames, passwords and other registered details.
Such access will be subject to data protection
legislation (DPA 2002).
F10
The system could provide access to a wide range of
information about the TEI, ideally tailored to the needs of
individual students via a ‘portal’. Examples of services to be
provided include:
R
The e-portfolio will allow the export of data in a
standardised format.
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Ministry Division of the Church of England
F11
Learner management and
tracking
The system should provide tutors and
administrators with an overview of individual
student progress from course enrolment to
course completion/graduation.
R
The programme is credit based, with each module
representing 10, 20, 40 or 60 credits towards achievement of
the full award.
Unusually for HE degree work, the Common Awards contain
and accommodate for a significant element of work-based
learning and placement, with a strong emphasis on personal
skills development.
Learner tracking should enable the recording
and reporting of data comprising, for example,
marks/grades, total module credits gained, dates
and outcomes of external placements.
All modules contain an element of ‘Programmed Online
Learning’, comprising materials designed to guide students
through the knowledge content, its wider framework and
different approaches to its application.
F12
Management systems
integration: learner data and
authentication
The VLE should be able to demonstrate the
potential to use standardised
means/technologies to share/exchange data with
institutional management systems.
O
The survey of TEIs (summary report is contained in Annex
B) reveals that a variety of Management Information
Systems are used, including Access (3), Excel (3), Content
Management System (1), AMP Educator (1), SharePoint
N(1), web databases (2), document store systems (1), and a
combination of databases (1). These are variously hosted on
Microsoft and/or (My)SQL compatible platforms.
O
May include data associated with learners enrolled on
courses outside the Common Awards syllabus, or not
registered with the Common Awards validating body
(University of Durham).
The TEIs currently use a variety of means to
manage student data, from spreadsheets, to
proprietary databases to vendor specific
platforms.
Suppliers may include as part of their bid, a
schedule and framework of costs for working
with individual TEIs at local level to integrate
user authentication and learner data with local
management information systems.
F13
Integration with existing
local VLE systems
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A proportion of TEIs have expressed a desire to
maintain existing VLEs alongside the new CA
VLE. Suppliers may demonstrate how, through
standardised data exchange or other
mechanisms, the system can allow data and
content to be exchanged between local systems.
Ministry Division of the Church of England
F14
Communications
The system will provide communications
mechanisms to allow the interaction of :
•
•
•
M
Tutors:tutors
Tutors: students
Students:students
using 1:1 and 1:many models.
Teachers must have the ability to manage email
addresses of their students, to create groups and
mailing lists.
F15
Synchronous
communications
Synchronous communications channels will
facilitate the delivery of online seminars and
lectures and live tutor-to-student
communications. These may comprise:
•
•
•
F16
Asynchronous
communications
F17
Anti-plagiarism services
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The VLE should enable system administrators to post live
service updates to all users in the event of, for example,
planned system updates or interruptions of service.
R
NOTE: it may be a requirement for integrated e-mail to
synchronise with existing college/TEI-based e-mail
addresses.
Video conferencing
Webinars
Chat
Asynchronous communications channels will
facilitate the exchange of knowledge and
information, assignments, content and
resources. These may comprise:
•
•
•
•
R
Discussion groups, forums and online communities should
support topic based, threaded discussions, with sufficient
security protocols in place to protect individual privacy and
to mitigate against abuse.
Integrated e-mail
SMS
Discussion groups
Forums and communities
The VLE will provide anti-plagiarism
functionality.
M
As TurnitIn is the most widely used anti-plagiarism solution
in Higher Education institutions, it is advisable to base any
proposals around this particular package. Note that not all
assessment submissions will be submitted electronically, and
consequently the use of any anti-plagiarism software needs to
Ministry Division of the Church of England
be optional. However, this position may alter in the future.
F18
Design, branding and
presentation
The user-experience of the Common Awards
VLE should align with the culture and ethos of
the Ministry Division of the Church of England.
M
Suppliers will demonstrate how they intend to
design the presentation of the user interface of
the VLE to ensure a positive and engaging
experience for students and teachers alike.
The successful supplier will be expected to work with
Ministry Division and a TEI 'Champions group' to agree an
overall design and branding approach, based on existing
guidelines.
TEIs should be able to localise/tailor their
portals/pages/courses to their own needs.
F19
Search
The VLE will provide an effective means for
users to search for courses, content, resources,
support, guidance and peers.
Beyond awareness raising and user-training programmes, the
Ministry Division of the Church of England expects the
Common Awards VLE to 'sell itself' to users, through
innovative functionality, dynamic design and - above all intuitive navigation.
R
See T06 - Information Architecture below.
It is expected that most searches will be
focussed on the local TEI portal.
F20
Content management
The VLE will provide the means for tutors to
store and access content and resources, both
within their local system (TEI portal) and
through the global system.
M
The approach to content creation, storage,
search and access will be subject to the
requirements laid out in System Technical
Requirements T04 and T06 below.
F21
Access to third party digital
repositories/libraries/resour
ce networks
The VLE will facilitate access to third party
federated resource repositories through
standardised SAML-based protocols, such as
the Shibboleth Identity Service.
In particular, CA tutors and students may need
authenticated access to collections in the
University of Durham digital library, subject to
agreement.
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M
Shibboleth SSO:
http://shibboleth.net
Standards-based federated access to digital content may need
to be facilitated by membership of a trusted provider
network, such as The UK Access Federation:
http://www.ukfederation.org.uk/
Ministry Division of the Church of England
F22
Statistics, analytics and
reporting
System administrators should be able to harvest,
interrogate and report as a minimum:
•
•
•
•
•
•
M
Enrolments
Retention data
Copyright usage
Subscribed/paid courses
Anonymised portal usage data
Course outcomes, success rates,
marks/grades
•
•
•
•
F23
Curriculum support
All TEIs will require centralised access to
information, support and guidance on the
Common Awards curriculum.
M
F24
Future developments
Tenderers are invited to submit proposals in
respect of VLE development over time to
accommodate upgrades and new functionality,
and improvements to user experience.
R
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Tenderers may also consider offering reporting functions
covering:
lists of students with photos and backgrounds for
each class; individual student records (eg results)
class email lists
marking schedule (name / date)
results by student and modules
.
Ministry Division of the Church of England
System technical requirements
ID
Requirement
Description
Obligation
Notes and references
T01
Hosting
The supplier will provide an independent and
dedicated hosting environment for the CA
VLE.
M
As part of the tender bid, the supplier will provide a
fully detailed hosting specification, covering server
specification, load balancing, disaster recovery, data
back-up, server mirroring, system
security/firewalling.
The hosting environment/datacentre will conform to
a minimum Tier 3 level:
•
•
•
•
•
Single non-redundant distribution path serving
the IT equipment
Non-redundant capacity components
Multiple independent distribution paths serving
the IT equipment
All IT equipment must be dual-powered
Concurrently maintainable site infrastructure
with expected availability of 99.982%
As part of the hosting specification, the supplier will
make clear the Data Protection implications should
hosting facilities be based outside the European
Economic Area (EEA).
T02
Data centre access/inspection
The supplier will make available the
datacentre for inspection by the
client/representatives of the client at any
mutually agreed date.
O
T03
Technical support and
maintenance
The supplier will provide a technical
helpdesk/ticketing service and a framework of
costs for technical support, maintenance and
further development of the VLE system.
M
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The technical support service will include fault and
bug fixing at no additional cost to the client.
As part of the service level, the supplier will provide
a dispute resolution procedure.
Ministry Division of the Church of England
T04
Managed storage
Hosting infrastructure will include fully
redundant managed storage servers, either
single array/direct, or network (SAN) to
support the media handling, archiving and
database requirements of the system.
M
Short term storage requirements are likely to be less
than 2TB in total.
The supplier should provide a schedule of costs for
future storage capacity growth.
T05
Media handling
The system will support the embedding of
video, image, audio and text media types
within course content.
M
As part of the tender bid, the supplier will provide an
overview of all compatible media types.
T06
Information architecture
Annex A demonstrates expected system
architecture: with a centrally hosted VLE
system accessible via multiple client TEI
portals.
R
It is possible that content and resources could be
stored at a number of levels:
•
•
•
It is anticipated that content and resources will
be referenced via a system of structured
metadata that could be stored centrally in a
metadata repository (see T07).
T07
Taxonomy and metadata
To ensure content and resources are
efficiently stored and retrieved, sharable and
reusable, the supplier will create a standardsbased descriptive data model, using accepted
schema.(A suggested model may be
IMS/IEEE Learning Object Metadata
(LOM)).
local level (TEI portal),
global level (VLE hub),
external TEI systems/existing VLEs.
Using centrally stored metadata records, it should be
possible to track content and resources in multiple
locations.
R
The data model must incorporate the elements
needed to:
•
•
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Record Student ID/unique ID
Acknowledge and identify
intellectual property rights
Ministry Division of the Church of England
•
•
Reference/'tag' materials against the
Common Awards curriculum
Indicate cost and/or subscription
requirements
T08
Data security
The supplier will ensure, and be able to
demonstrate that data is protected from both
accidental and malicious exposure.
Procedures should cover both hardware and
software, and include disk encryption, full
back-up /data loss/disaster recovery
procedures, data masking,
physical/environmental security and access
control.
M
T09
Mobile access and crossplatform browser support
The VLE will support access across the
following browsers:
R
Reference: BS ISO/IEC 27002 - 2005
Internet Explorer 8 +
Google Chrome
Mozilla Firefox
Opera 10 +
T10
Mobile access and crossplatform browser support
The VLE will support access across the
following devices:
•
•
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R
IOS based mobile devices
Android OS based mobile devices
Ministry Division of the Church of England