The TEFL Academy (TTA)

October 2021 – February 2022

About The TEFL Academy (TTA)

The TEFL Academy (TTA) specialises in teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) courses. Their accredited, industry leading, TEFL courses can be studied online and via their global campuses at both Level 3 and Level 5. TTA’s expert trainers are themselves qualified and experienced EFL (English as a foreign language) professionals. This enables them to pass their working knowledge on to TEFL course students, with the aim of ensuring they leave the academy with a sound understanding of teaching English and a clearer picture of the TEFL industry as a whole. TTA is committed to offering the best value TEFL course and has won the GoOverseas and GoAbroad Top TEFL Course Awards in 2019, 2020 and 2021. 

Project brief

Oppida was commissioned to assist the TTA team with two phased delivery projects. PHASE 1 was to create a brand new Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Level 3 course, from specification through to design and build. PHASE 2 was to update and enhance the existing Level 5 course.

Project challenge 

TTA planned to expand its product offering by introducing a new Level 3 course. At the same time, they identified the requirement to update their existing Level 5 course to ensure the provision of up-to-date, engaging, and high-quality learning experiences for both Level 3 and Level 5 students.

TTA has an international team of leading TEFL professional trainers who were instrumental, as subject-matter experts, in the content development for these projects. A challenge in both projects was to effectively collaborate with this team across multiple time zones worldwide to ensure that everyone was aligned with the vision and approach. 

In addition, TTA’s trainers needed to be part of the design and development process to own this and take it forward in the future. With this in mind, it was evident that collaboration and knowledge sharing of Oppida’s contemporary approach to learning design would be critical to the success of these projects.

Oppida’s customised solution 

PHASE 1

Oppida liaised with TTA senior trainers and Qualifi – the accrediting Awarding Body – to develop a new Level 3 qualification specification. The new specification informed the content to be included in the course and the assessment criteria underpinning how the qualification would be assessed. Oppida worked with TTA senior trainers to design assessments in the form of written assignments marked by TTA's team of assessors and automatically graded tests within the Moodle platform. Assessment handbooks were developed for students and assessors to ensure accurate communication of assessment criteria and marking guidelines.

Oppida ran a series of online learning design workshops to build the foundations for effective collaboration with TTA's international trainers to share their contemporary approach to learning design. This enabled Oppida to split the team into smaller groups to focus on individual modules while working collaboratively across time zones. 

The new Level 3 course was built in Moodle, using a range of 'call to action' blocks and interactive H5P activities to support active learning. A course map was introduced to aid navigation, and style sheets were updated to match TTA's branding. Knowledge sharing of everyday Moodle admin tasks helped TTA's trainers take on responsibility for dealing with frequently asked questions and queries from students – improving their skills and supporting a positive student experience by quickly turning around responses.

PHASE 2

The existing Level 5 course was updated and enhanced to match the style and structure of the new Level 3 course, both built-in Moodle. The Level 5 content was extracted from Moodle and returned to the storyboarding stage. Oppida collaborated with TTA senior trainers to flag any content that required updates and explore opportunities to improve the learner experience by incorporating active learning. The course's style and navigation were improved; this included taking large sections of text and breaking these down into a more straightforward and effective structure.

Project management and positive working relationships were integral to the successful outcome of both projects. For example, weekly check-ins with TTA co-founders enabled Oppida and TTA to align their vision and successfully navigate launch date milestones closely. In addition, Oppida's learning design team was on hand each day to support the collaborative process with TTA trainers and to quickly turn around feedback.

Testimonial

We are extremely pleased that we chose to partner with Oppida for the development and redevelopment of our courses. Oppida have a deep understanding of the e-learning space and produce industry leading courses. Their ability to successfully project manage the entire process, from the initial specification stage to the final build, has been eye-opening and something we have learned a great deal from. We will not hesitate to partner with Oppida on future projects.

- Rhyan O’Sullivan, Managing Director, TTA