University College London

University College London’s (UCL) virtual learning environment (VLE) is at the heart of its digital education infrastructure and used by students physically located all around the world. Its VLE is built on the Moodle learning management system (LMS). Before migrating with Catalyst IT EU to Amazon Web Services (AWS), its system could handle 2,500 concurrent users. But when the pandemic drove schools and universities to predominantly online teaching, the UCL team wanted to scale to support six times this amount.

Challenge

To achieve the target number of users, the university needed to migrate the Moodle application to the cloud, in a tight 10-week timeframe before the new academic year in autumn 2020. Since its migration to AWS, delivered by Catalyst, UCL can now dynamically scale its environment to support any required concurrent user number, helping to support the 14,000 staff and 43,000 students from 150 different countries in generating 10,000+ transactions per minute during peak periods on its VLE.

Solution

To complete the migration in just 10 weeks, UCL worked with AWS Partner Catalyst. UCL’s primary goal was to get set up quickly, without any noticeable change in service from the perspective of students and staff. To achieve this, the team decided to focus solely on migrating the application as the first step of its AWS Cloud journey. “We saw this as an opportunity to deliver a seamless experience for our staff and students. Our primary goal was to be able to support the increase in traffic as students and staff were learning remotely due to the pandemic,” says Dr. Fiona Strawbridge, Director of Digital Education at UCL. “Now that we’ve migrated such a key system, we have further plans to move more services to the cloud and to create cloud-native apps and enhancements for learning and teaching.”

Catalyst rigorously load tested to see if its system could scale to anticipated traffic patterns. After completing its migration from on-premises servers to AWS, UCL increased its VLE’s performance and response times. What once took 15 seconds at max capacity could now be done in 350 milliseconds when running in AWS. “Reducing latency is critical to keeping students engaged. When they’re learning online, we want to ensure they’re able to engage seamlessly, without having to wait for the system to respond,” says Dr. Strawbridge.

With faster access for students and staff, less disruption, and approved agility within Moodle, UCL was confident its system would be able to handle traffic spikes throughout the coming academic year, and that confidence was borne out. “With COVID-19, higher education has seen a shift to asynchronous, connected learning online. Knowing we can deliver brings us peace of mind. We’re no longer focusing on whether or not our system can scale, we’re back to focusing on what we do best: teaching, learning, and innovating on behalf of students,” says Dr. Strawbridge.

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Results

On the heels of the successful Moodle migration, the university is looking to further its cloud journey. UCL’s Information Services Division (ISD) is mapping out its path to the cloud in the next year. Additionally, the university has smaller projects underway including backing up its business application data in AWS and migrating its public-facing websites to the cloud.

 

Recent case studies

Non-Profit LMS Transformation

A global non-profit organization focused on education and community development delivers training programs to volunteers, partners, and beneficiaries across multiple regions. Its existing learning setup was fragmented and difficult to manage, limiting the organization’s ability to scale programs and measure impact effectively.

Challenge

The non-profit faced several constraints:

  • Limited budget and technical resources

  • Manual user management and course delivery

  • Difficulty tracking learner progress and program outcomes

  • Inconsistent learning experiences across regions

The organization needed a cost-effective, scalable learning platform that could support diverse audiences while maintaining simplicity and accessibility.

Solution

The organization partnered with Wise Learning Solutions to transform its learning ecosystem using Moodle. The focus was on maximizing impact while minimizing operational complexity.

Key components of the solution included:

  • Centralized Moodle LMS with intuitive UI/UX

  • Automated enrollment for volunteers and partners

  • Custom learning paths tailored to programs and regions

  • Lightweight reporting to track participation and outcomes

  • Optimized performance for low-bandwidth environments

The platform was designed to be easy to manage by small teams while remaining scalable for future growth.

Results

  • Expanded reach to more learners across regions

  • Improved visibility into training impact and engagement

  • Reduced administrative overhead for program teams

  • Consistent and accessible learning experiences

With a modern and scalable LMS in place, the non-profit can now focus more resources on its mission—delivering education, building capacity, and creating meaningful community impact.

Healthcare Learning System

A large healthcare organization delivering patient care across multiple locations relied on continuous training to meet regulatory, clinical, and safety standards. Its existing learning system lacked flexibility, scalability, and centralized reporting, making it difficult to support diverse roles such as clinicians, nurses, administrative staff, and support teams.

Challenge

The organization needed a secure and compliant learning platform capable of:

  • Supporting mandatory clinical and compliance training

  • Managing role-based learning for diverse healthcare staff

  • Scaling during peak training and accreditation periods

  • Providing real-time visibility into training completion and certifications

Additionally, the system had to ensure data security, reliability, and minimal disruption to daily healthcare operations.

Solution

The organization partnered with Wise Learning Solutions to implement a robust Moodle-based healthcare learning system. The focus was on creating a streamlined, compliant, and scalable LMS tailored to healthcare workflows.

Key elements of the solution included:

  • Role-based learning paths for clinical and non-clinical staff

  • Automated compliance tracking and certification management

  • Secure access controls aligned with healthcare standards

  • Performance optimization for high concurrent users

  • Custom reporting dashboards for administrators and managers

Extensive testing ensured the system could handle organization-wide training rollouts without impacting critical operations.

Results

  • Improved compliance tracking and audit readiness

  • Higher staff engagement with structured learning paths

  • Reduced administrative workload through automation

  • Reliable system performance during peak training periods

With a centralized and scalable learning system in place, the healthcare organization can now focus on improving care quality and patient outcomes while ensuring continuous professional development across its workforce.

Corporate Training Automation

A multinational organization with a distributed workforce relied on manual and fragmented systems to deliver employee training. Its learning programs were hosted on a traditional LMS that struggled to support rapid onboarding, role-based learning paths, and large-scale compliance training across regions. As remote and hybrid work increased, the organization needed a more automated, scalable, and efficient training ecosystem.

Challenge

The organization faced several limitations with its existing setup:

  • Manual course enrollment and user management

  • No automation for onboarding, certifications, or compliance tracking

  • Limited scalability during peak training periods

  • Lack of real-time reporting for HR and L&D teams

The goal was to automate end-to-end training workflows while ensuring uninterrupted access for thousands of employees across time zones—all within a tight rollout schedule aligned with business growth plans.

Solution

The organization partnered with Wise Learning Solutions to transform its Moodle-based LMS into a fully automated corporate training platform. The solution focused on automation first, without disrupting ongoing training programs.

Key implementations included:

  • Automated user provisioning and role-based enrollment

  • Workflow automation for onboarding, certifications, and renewals

  • Integration with HRMS and enterprise systems

  • Performance optimization for high concurrent usage

  • Custom dashboards for managers and administrators

Rigorous load testing ensured the system could scale during global training launches and compliance deadlines.

Results

  • Significant reduction in manual administrative effort

  • Faster onboarding and training completion times

  • Reliable performance during peak usage across regions

  • Real-time visibility into training progress and compliance status

With a scalable and automated LMS in place, the organization shifted focus from managing systems to enhancing learning strategy and workforce development. The platform now supports continuous learning, rapid business expansion, and future-ready training initiatives.