Buttercups and Orange Bus create online learning platform for pharmacy students

The training is delivered through an e-learning management system learning network (ELMSLN) for NVQ Level 2 and NVQ Level 3 qualifications in pharmacy services. The open source platform from Drupal combines content management and learner reporting tools to allow the easy creation of engaging, social and interactive content for learners to access from any device.

The project was launched after Buttercups discovered Pennsylvania State University had developed a new approach to building e-learning platforms. Experts at the university have spent years developing a feature-rich system that can be extended and adapted to any user need, and Buttercups needed a dedicated agency with the right experience to design, test and deliver a bespoke version of the ELMSLN platform.

Rick Humphries, head of digital strategy at Buttercups, said: “Technology and new ideas about online education are being developed faster than ever. We needed a platform that had an in-built flexibility to build courses the way we wanted to and later, easily adapt to new innovations in learning technology - therefore continuing to meet the growing expectations of students. Orange Bus delivered on both counts and now we have an interactive training package that engages students and truly enriches their learning experience.”

Bryan Ollendyke, Pennsylvania State University, said: “The ELMSLN community built the core of its platform on Drupal for engagements like this to become possible. By abstracting away from traditional educational technology use-cases and instead leveraging a powerful CMS community and applying our philosophy to it, we’ve been able to open doors to collaboration with any Drupal vendor. Orange Bus has proven to be expert facilitators in this role. Because the platform is entirely open source, this is a win both for our growing community as well as the larger Drupal community.”

Chris Scudder, technical director at Orange Bus, said: “We’re proud to have played a major role in a project that will inspire hundreds of learners and develop the next generation of pharmacy talent - and to have collaborated remotely to make it happen is a great achievement.”

Orange Bus’s clients include HMRC, HP, Barbour, Philips, and the NHS.