The Challenge

Both the MLU and the University of Melbourne at large identified the importance of developing an overarching online learning platform for healthcare professionals. Following the global outbreak of COVID-19, the MLU was also mandated by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the medical faculty to deliver pre-approved COVID-19 response courses to frontline healthcare professionals. It became increasingly clear that a platform for all online learning was critical to keep healthcare workers informed, both of the country’s response to the pandemic and other healthcare-related research, and the MLU was more than motivated to rise to the challenge. They envisioned a platform that would provide access to the latest research discoveries, innovative treatments, and updated findings from academics in one centralised database, but were unsure of the best course of action in developing it.

Luckily, taking a leap into the unknown is right in Mav3rik’s wheelhouse: inspired by the team’s passion to keep frontline workers prepared, we set about designing and creating the platform, allowing unprecedented ease of access to essential information in an intuitive and simple fashion.

The Mav3rik Mark

United by a vision to improve the very nature of the university’s learnings, Mav3rik worked in close collaboration with the MLU team to best conceptualise an innovative solution together. An easy-to-use platform was developed that integrated seamlessly with the current Salesforce Student Management System, facilitating Case Management and other backend processes through Heroku Connect. As ever, it was essential for Mav3rik that the existing system wasn’t completely redesigned, but rather, enhanced to fit their growing priorities.

Utilising independent Heroku-hosted applications, the end-to-end learning platform consists of both a Learning and Assessment Portal for students and healthcare professionals, and a Content Builder for educators. Built on React JS, Node JS and GraphQL, the platform was designed to be accessible on both desktop and mobile, supporting a variety of content types that include HTML, images, videos, interactive JavaScript content, and assessable questions.

The Learning and Assessment Portal delivers online training courses and material for all subjects in a convenient way, including critical COVID-19 courses such as ‘Lung and Cardiac Ultrasound’, ‘Critical Care Essentials for Nurses’, ‘Communicating COVID-19’, ‘Resilience Tools for Clinicians During COVID-19’, ‘Compassion Fatigue: The Cost of Caring’, and ‘Clinical Ethics and COVID-19’.

The Content Builder allows future research and courses to be designed efficiently by educators, facilitating a dramatic decrease in time and effort in authoring, reviewing and publishing online course content. In doing so, Mav3rik ensured not only that existing material was effortlessly input, but all future material could easily be converted into modules.

“The Mav3rik team are a pleasure to work with, and believe me, I cannot say that about other developers we have worked with. They are an exception: they are consultative, professional, incredibly skilled, and provided us with the knowledge we need to make better development decisions.”

Edwina Coller

Business manager

University of Melbourne

results

Assisting in the realisation of their ultimate business goals, Mav3rik was more than thrilled to aid the changemakers of the MLU. Keeping to the overall goals of the platform, our unique culture of collaboration and bespoke approach ensured that the end product ultimately helped healthcare professionals work and educate better.

12,000+

Delivered Enrollments

Across 40 courses delivered to healthcare professionals in the new system.

-80%

Time to Create A Course

An incredible time savings in creating a new course compared to previous system.

-95%

Time to Publish A Course

An incredible time savings in publishing a new course compared to previous system.

Client

The University of Melbourne is the second-oldest university in the country, and is uniquely research-focused to respond to major social, economic, and environmental challenges. The Melbourne Learning Unit (MLU) was established by the University of Melbourne, with an aim to connect academics and researchers with healthcare professionals through the delivery of online medical courses.