Own learning platform with enrollment, payment and certification

The institute offered 38 courses, from 1-day trainings to 6-month programs with certification. Enrollment ran through a marketplace (20% commission, no learner data), learning through a separate LMS license, payment through invoices from Exact, and certificates through Word templates. 4 systems, 3 logins, and a back office losing 15 hours a week to retyping.

Some learners followed courses under an employer scheme with subsidy requirements: attendance, test results and certificate numbers had to be verifiable. And because the institute also serves learners with visual impairments, the platform had to meet WCAG 2.2 AA. The marketplace did neither.

We chose 1 platform on Next.js and NestJS with 3 faces: a catalog with enrollment and payment (Mollie, iDEAL and invoice-after for employers), a learning environment with video via Vimeo, assignments and tests, and a management environment for instructors and the back office. Existing SCORM modules from the previous LMS keep working through a SCORM and xAPI player.

The migration was the most nerve-racking part: 2,400 active learners with progress, results and certificates across 3 systems. We built an import script, ran it 4 times on a copy, and had 30 learners pilot for 2 weeks before the marketplace was switched off. Invoices and payments flow automatically to Exact Online; the back office only sees exceptions.

Accessibility was built into the design: every video with captions and a transcript, tests operable by keyboard and screen reader, and axe-core in the pipeline. We deliberately chose an installable web app over a native app. That saved 6 weeks and learners have nothing to install.

Learners pick a course, enroll and pay in 1 flow, or have the invoice sent to their employer. The learning environment is ready immediately afterwards: lessons, videos, assignments and a progress bar. Tests are graded automatically; on a pass, the certificate is generated with its own certificate number that employers can verify online.

Instructors manage their own courses, see who is falling behind and send messages from within the platform. The back office exports a subsidy overview per employer with attendance and results in 1 click. The marketplace is switched off; the institute's own catalog ranks 1 to 3 for its most important course names.