Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Peter Mac) extends specialised cancer education and training program to national and international audiences

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Peter Mac) is a world leading cancer research, education and treatment centre and Australia’s only public health service solely dedicated to caring for people affected by cancer. We have 3,300 staff and students, including more than 750 laboratory and clinical researchers, all focused on providing better treatments, better care and potential cures for cancer.

The Challenge

Peter Mac is a world-class cancer centre, supporting the learning needs of staff and students through the development of contemporary education approaches.

Using Totara TXP Learn to provide blended learning programs, Peter Mac’s digital learning environment supports capability development for Peter Mac staff and students. The Peter Mac Totara Lear Learning Management System (LMS) known as ‘Learning Hub’ uses the Androgogic LMS Catalogue to present a curated collection of learning experiences to potential learners. The popularity of on-demand education resources aided in adoption of the ‘Learning Hub’ across the organisation and increased demand for highly valued specialist learning for wider and dispersed education audiences.

In 2021, Peter Mac developed a business case to incorporate an eCommerce solution into the ‘Learning Hub’ to provide fee-for-service training and professional development courses for external users, business partners and staff, and to support a growing demand for externally available face-to-face and virtual learning programmes.

The Solution

Peter Mac initiated a project to incorporate eCommerce into the Learning Hub through integrating the Androgogic catalogue with Androgogic’s existing Securepay integration to enable internal or external users to enrol in and purchase courses, or to enrol in free specialist cancer education.

The scope included requirements gathering and workshops, undertaking business analysis and document specifications covering configuration, invoice details, catalogue changes, theming, login page changes, self-registration, reports, public information pages, incorporation of enquiry forms or expression of interest in some programs.

A typical use case for Peter Mac required an LMS catalogue of learning to be publicly visible to users, with the option for purchase and self-registration for the creation of user accounts on the LMS:

• Current and potential users search/browse the catalogue to identify the product they wish to purchase, viewing catalogue entry details, including a description mode of delivery
• Visibility of catalogue entries can be defined for specific audiences (e.g. internal and/or external). Users can select their preferred option for viewing the catalogue entries
• The user selects items and adds them to the shopping cart
• The user proceeds to the order page.

– Existing LMS users log in and proceed to the order form to complete a purchase- New users are presented with a registration form to create a user account and collect a range of metadata used to target the user experience- The above conditions are also used for accessing free external programs

• The user is presented with a confirmation page containing details of the purchase and agrees to the terms and conditions for course purchase
• The user confirms the purchase and proceeds to the external payment page
• Successful payment initiates post-sale workflow for each product type:- Enrolment in the relevant program and receipt of course notifications, including a calendar entry when relevant

– Automatic enabling of multi-factor authentication- Immediate login and presentation of a simple dashboard to access courses, seminar bookings and learning records

The user experience is enhanced by an attractive and intuitive visual design with simple navigation and well described purchasing options.

Results

The successful delivery of this eCommerce project on time and on budget represents a major step forward for Peter Mac to provide professional learning and development initiatives for a broader market.

The implementation of eCommerce into an LMS is a significant undertaking and key Educational Technology Partner Androgogic worked with Peter Mac to identify a number of dependencies, risks and assumptions that Peter Mac should plan for. The Androgogic team have extensive experience in eCommerce projects and were strongly placed to help Peter Mac implement the solution.

Security and privacy for the user and Peter Mac is improved by ensuring all existing and new users are enrolled into two-factor authentication using an external authenticator app for site access.

The user experience aligns with the personalised ‘dashboards’ for logged in users while reflecting the different requirements for internal and external user groups. Totara Learn and the Androgogic Totara Edition suite of products provided all the features required to support the objectives.

A key requirement was to implement a flexible, scalable and efficient architecture. This has successfully enabled Peter Mac to leverage the sophisticated Totara Learning Platform developed by Androgogic to achieve and exceed the project goals.

“Totara is a very user-friendly Learning Management System that allows me as an educator to expand on my offline education content into modern and responsive online and blended learning content. This increases the reach and engagement of my target audiences, while removing significant administrative burden inherent with paper/offline formats.” 

– Quan Nguye, Medical Education Officer

 Key outcomes include:

• The catalogue payment system commenced in 2022 with the transfer of existing fee-paying education programs onto the catalogue, supporting 20 specialist nursing and medical education programs, including over 50 fee-paying sessions (face to face and virtual) with 452 participants. In 2023, 56 courses were set up for purchase, with addition programs added throughout the year
• The LMS capacity to provide a hybrid learning experience is highly beneficial, with users accessing reading materials and session recordings for review post-delivery. During COVID-19 restrictions, the LMS supported the transfer of training to the virtual environment while providing additional resources to support the learners
• The catalogue and payment system has significantly simplified booking process for learners and reduced staff operational time and the costs of managing registrations and payments for fee-paying programs
• Importantly, the catalogue program enables a broader audience to access free modules, such as the Cancer Fatigue program of 3-modules with 117 self-registered participants
• Development of innovative programs is increasing as educators recognise the capacity of the system to provide engaging programs incorporating novel education approaches.

The importance of improving access to specialist cancer education for internal and external audiences cannot be underestimated. Education supporting evidence-based care and updating health professional knowledge related to the rapidly changing cancer care environment is critical for improving the patient experience and patient outcomes.

“Androgogic have helped create an intuitive and layered system which has benefitted us and our users immensely. They are looking for ways to support innovative changes and provide excellent advice and guidance on exploring and utilising the capability of the Totara/Androgic system to support educational innovations and grow our learning system.”

– Sean Fallo, Education & Systems Lead