University of British Columbia, Integrated Learning

The CMS supporting the university's website was near end-of-life. Its lack of a modern digital toolset became a noticeable impediment to learning success.

50,000+

Professional learners

600+

External collaborators

30+

Staff contributors

Need to Know

As its content management system aged, the University of British Columbia became increasingly aware that it lacked critical digital tools.
The university wanted to provide its healthcare learners with a modern digital experience, simplify the management of its website, and provide a solution that would scale.
Northern developed an intuitive digital experience, allowing learners to register, complete coursework, and track their progress in one integrated platform.

The Brief

The University of British Columbia, Faculty of Medicine, Division of Continuing Professional Development (UBC CPD) offers courses, programs, resources, and support for over 50,000 healthcare professionals, helping it optimize its clinical practices and improve its patient care.

UBC CPD partnered with Northern to rebuild its website, creating a more personalized digital experience better tailored to its learner’s preferences while keeping it compliant, intuitive, and scalable. And staff can now more effectively manage it.

The Challenge

Over 50,000 healthcare professionals regularly rely on UBC CPD's website to update their professional development. However, UBC CPD's legacy content management system (CMS) lacked the latest toolset necessary to keep up with learner's growing expectations.

UBC CPD faced several challenges as its CMS reached end-of-life. A rebuild involved complex integrations between the new CMS, its existing eLearning platform and training management system - all necessary to provide a fluid and intuitive experience for its learners.

The Strategy

Northern conducted research to learn where UBC CPD’s needs were most significant and to validate and prioritize the rollout of new features and integrations, focusing on the most impactful changes. We looked for win-win opportunities where features would enhance the learning experience and improve the staff’s ability to manage their website.

Our research recognized that the UBC CPD staff preferred to maintain Drupal as their CMS. And the latest version of Drupal came with most of the features staff needed, right out of the box. We’re confident that Drupal’s continuous innovation model and contributions from its open-source community worldwide will ensure that UBC CPD will keep abreast with the latest technical innovations.

The Results

While Northern continues to work with UBC CPD to release new features and functionality, the immediate results are impressive.