Designing student-centred digital learning for belonging, engagement and employability: a case study of the University of Limerick’s transformative digital ecosystem Open Access

Embracing digital platforms for learning encourages a shift towards a more inclusive and effective educational system that better serves students, staff, employers and society. Digital transformation is a sociotechnical rather than purely a technical change (Selwyn, 2016; Weller, 2020).

A recent review discusses how, within the rapidly evolving digital landscape, higher education institutions (HEIs) face critical challenges in addressing different stakeholders’ requirements (Singun, 2025). To effectively leverage the potential of digital tools, academic leaders need to create a unified vision. Adoption of digital tools for the sake of implementing new systems further drives disengagement. HEIs must shift their focus from internal processes to a more collaborative, stakeholder-centred approach that prioritises user experience (Henderson et al., 2017). Successful digital transformation is further driven through the implementation of strong frameworks that encourage continuous innovation. (Singun, 2025).

Gkrimpizi et al. (2023) outlines how institutions should require that their digital infrastructure meets the required IT security standards to safeguard sensitive data and prevent unauthorised access. Universities operate many legacy systems that are outdated and not compatible with newer technologies. These legacy systems render it difficult to incorporate new technologies, leading to inefficient functions, complex and time-consuming processes, and ultimately reduced productivity. The VLE has repeatedly re-emerged as a stabilising layer within institutional digital ecosystems. It adapts to new pedagogical approaches while continuing to provide a coherent framework for IT management, data protection and governance. This case study demonstrates how effectively leveraging well-established technologies in combination with emerging third-party tools enables innovation across all areas of students’ academic life and beyond. These insights may inform similar initiatives in comparable contexts.

In contrast, theories of student belonging and engagement highlight the importance of connection, integration and identity in shaping persistence within higher education. This is particularly important at the intersection of institutional structures, digital platforms and students’ lived learning experiences (Kahu and Nelson, 2018; Thomas, 2012). Tinto argues that persistence is best understood not only through traditional models of academic and social integration, but also by recognising the emotional dimensions of student experience (Tinto, 2023, 2024). Tinto reframes persistence through the lens of students’ lived experiences, emphasising that belonging is fostered when institutions design learning environments that actively support agency, peer interaction and equitable participation. This perspective situates belonging as both a personal and institutional construct, requiring structural supports, inclusive pedagogy and opportunities for meaningful engagement (Tinto, 2023; O’Keeffe, 2013).

In the context of student-centred e-learning design, a theoretical framing underscores the need to embed belonging into digital infrastructures and ICT systems (Thomas et al., 2017). Within this case, initiatives such as the roll-out of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), VLE analytics, peer collaboration tools and co-designed digital resources exemplify how technological ecosystems can operationalise belonging and engagement as drivers of persistence and success.

COVID-19 resulted in a rapid paradigm shift. The abrupt shift to online learning highlighted inadequacies of clunky digital technologies within this HEI and across the globe. Towards the end of 2019, the Irish government launched the Human Capital Initiative (HCI). HCI invested €300 M of the National Training Fund (NTF) to increase capacity in higher education. HCI aimed to provide skills-focused programmes designed to meet priority skills needs and future-proof graduates with industry-relevant skills for emerging technologies. The initiative focused on innovation and reform in programme provision and a response to digitalisation and the future world of work.

This paper contributes to learning sciences and digital education research in three ways. Firstly, it conceptualises institutional VLE transformation as a learning design problem rather than a purely technical or procurement exercise, foregrounding belonging, engagement and employability as design outcomes. Secondly, it illustrates how these constructs can be operationalised across a whole-institution digital ecosystem through coordinated curricular, co-curricular and workplace-integrated initiatives. Thirdly, it derives transferable design and governance principles from a large-scale institutional case, offering a framework to guide student-centred digital transformation in other higher education contexts.

This study extends existing literature by integrating theories of online engagement and belonging (Kahu and Nelson, 2018; Thomas, 2012; Tinto, 2023), digital transformation (Selwyn, 2016; Weller, 2020) and employability (Jackson, 2016; Eynon et al., 2014) within a whole-institution digital transformation case with a VLE adoption foundation, combining learning analytics, stakeholder data and design-led intervention at scale.

The study adopts a qualitative-dominant institutional case study design (Yin, 2018), drawing on multiple data sources from a single institution to examine digital transformation in context, providing an opportunity to investigate the questions in depth (Flyvbjerg, 2006).

This study aims to:

1. Examine how a large-scale VLE transformation was designed and implemented to support student-centred outcomes.

2. Analyse how belonging, engagement and employability were operationalised through digital learning initiatives.

3. Derive transferable design and governance insights from an institutional case.

In this study, belonging, engagement and employability are treated as analytically distinct but interrelated constructs. Belonging is operationalised through students’ perceived accessibility, inclusion and navigability of digital learning environments, as evidenced through survey responses, qualitative feedback and patterns of sustained platform use. Engagement is operationalised through behavioural indicators (VLE log-ins, completion of activities, uptake of embedded tools), alongside self-reported perceptions of relevance and motivation. Employability is operationalised through participation in curricular and co-curricular digital skills initiatives, completion of work-integrated learning preparation activities, and evidence of skills articulation and reflection supported by ePortfolio and assessment artefacts.

Data sources included VLE usage analytics, institutional surveys, pulse surveys, documentary artefacts and employer feedback collected through cooperative education processes. All data were drawn from institutional evaluation processes and anonymised before analysis. Considerations relating to data protection and responsible use of learning analytics were addressed in line with institutional policy and established guidance (Slade and Prinsloo, 2013).

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the HEI did not have an adequate VLE to meet the evolving needs of students and staff. Two distinct VLEs were in use: one centrally supported and widely adopted across faculties, and another that was not centrally managed. This fragmentation hindered consistency, scalability and integration with institutional systems.

As outlined in Hall et al. (2022), the impetus for change and innovation relating to digital education technology was brought about by the pandemic, combined with large-scale funding from the Irish government via HCI Pillar 3. The HCI-funded UL@Work project provided an opportunity for this HEI to shift from multiple VLEs to a future-ready singular VLE. The institution embarked on a transformational digital change project aimed at creating a student-centred, integrated and future-ready VLE. A VLE that would support a pedagogically robust educational experience, bolster institutional competitiveness, and foster cross-disciplinary collaboration.

The project’s core objectives were: to ensure that the new VLE was functionally fit for purpose, legally and procurement-compliant, integrated with existing university systems, designed for an enhanced user experience, and adequately resourced for successful adoption and future growth.

Following a structured process, the new VLE was selected. The transition, completed between 2022 and 2024, laid the foundation for enhanced teaching, learning and institutional agility.

UL adopted a carefully planned four-phase approach as outlined in Figure 1, which reduced risk, ensured alignment with strategic goals, and supported stakeholder engagement at every stage.

UL conducted a comprehensive audit of existing VLE usage, mapped against global sector trends and user requirements. This phase established a clear understanding of fragmentation and user challenges, and informed the functional, compliance and usability criteria for procurement.

Insights from the review were used to drive a procurement process under the HEAnet VLE Framework (HEAnet, 2023), ensuring sector alignment and institutional fit. Funding from UL@Work via the HCI supported software and staff costs. After a formal review of vendor proposals and alignment with strategic objectives, the chosen VLE emerged as the best-fit solution, balancing pedagogy, technical robustness and long-term sustainability.

Between 2022 and 2024, the HEI implemented the vendor partners’ methodology:

• Kick-Off: Defined scope, timelines, governance.

• Discover and Design: Consulted with stakeholders to configure a fit-for-purpose environment.

• Train and Coach: Delivered staff and administrator training, alongside guided and certificate-based learning.

• Prepare for Launch: Phased roll-out with pilot testing, onboarding and support mechanisms in place.

Technical deliverables included production and test environments, SSO authentication, integration with the student information system, and course conversion support. Roll-out milestones:

• September 2022: Pilot launch.

• February 2023: Additional onboarding.

• September 2023: Full institutional launch.

Post-launch, the HEI focused on building capacity, embedding user support and establishing governance. This included:

• The definition, approval and implementation of a governance mechanism for the VLE and its integrated third-party tools, with cross-institutional representation and reporting mechanisms to management.

• A knowledge base supporting over 1.4 million visits by the end of 2024 and a training introduction course in the new VLE with 848 active users, which accounts for more than 14,000 visits to date.

• Pedagogical innovation events like Show and TEL.

• A dedicated Helpdesk and regular technical updates, including LTI deployments and security improvements.

• Ongoing usage analytics, surveys and community engagement to inform continuous enhancements.

The formal implementation phase concluded late in 2024. However, interim governance structures remained active through April 2025, overseeing functionality, training, communications and support continuity.

Effective transition hinged on extensive stakeholder engagement across institutional functions.

• Governance and Working Groups: Established working groups focused on functional changes, training and communication and technical operations, chaired by senior staff to ensure representation, rapid escalation and resolution of issues.

• Training and Capacity Building: Offered guided and certificate training via D2L, supported by campus-wide resources and training events. A core VLE introduction course attracted over 2,000 accesses, reinforcing digital literacy and cultural change.

• Communication and Transparency: A robust communication strategy, including newsletters, workshops and milestone-sharing, built confidence and trust across the university community.

• Risk Mitigation: Fragility due to legacy fragmentation and misalignment with the new VLE’s roadmap requirements was mitigated through active consultation and engagement with D2L, and the adoption of several third-party tools to complement functional requirements, including PeerScholar (peer review tool), Ally (Accessibility checker and support), Leganto (reading lists), Panopto (video recording and hosting), Turnitin (originality checker), Vevox (class engagement), and, more recently, a new ePortfolio tool (Portflow).

By 2024, the institution had successfully transitioned to a modern, integrated VLE. The platform was intended to enhance teaching, learning and collaboration; promote student belonging and engagement; broaden educational and employability opportunities; and align with institutional goals for growth and competitiveness. Results from the ITD survey in September 2025 revealed satisfaction with the new VLE amongst academic staff is high (71% out of 141 respondents).  

Critically, recent analytics indicate that student engagement has peaked to an average of over 55 log-ins per student per month during key academic periods, demonstrating the platform’s deep integration into learning practices and the high level of student activity on the new VLE.

The institution has also observed a strong trend towards mobile technology usage, enabled by the VLE’s mobile app ecosystem, providing greater flexibility and accessibility for students to engage with learning anytime, anywhere.

Consistent with established learning analytics perspectives, such engagement metrics are understood as proxies for participation rather than learning outcomes. Therefore, they are interpreted in conjunction with complementary data sources to provide contextualised insight into students’ use of the digital learning environment (Siemens and Long, 2011; Ferguson, 2012).

The HEI has identified three strategic objectives to guide its VLE strategy:

1. Support Core Delivery: Ensure the VLE remains a dependable and resilient platform underpinning the delivery of all academic programmes.

2. Enhance Adoption and Digital Teaching Innovation: Increase user adoption and pedagogical creativity through wider deployment of integrated third-party tools (e.g. Vevox, PeerScholar, Ally) to enrich teaching, learning and assessment.

3. Develop Governance Mechanisms for the Way Forward: Establish a permanent governance framework to oversee VLE strategy, align with institutional priorities, and ensure long-term platform sustainability.

UL’s single VLE now supports over 18,000 students across more than 200 undergraduate and postgraduate programmes from engineering and business to creative arts and health sciences. The VLE transition at this HEI illustrates how a university can leverage crisis conditions, national funding opportunities and institutional ambition to deliver a substantial institutional transformation. It represents not only a technical upgrade but a cultural shift towards a student-centred, digitally enabled model of higher education. Findings from this case study suggest that a student-centred VLE, when embedded within a broader ecosystem of learning design, skills development and governance, can support the development and articulation of transferable skills associated with employability.

The transition to a single modern VLE is a key enabling technology for institution-wide consistency and scalability. The VLE is the central hub to support the development of key skills for students’ degrees, future careers and life, such as digital skills, information literacy, academic integrity and career skills.

The UL@Work project is a 5-year €16 M project from the HCI that aimed to bring the workplace into the classroom and the classroom into the workplace. In addition to supporting the digital transformation via the VLE project, UL@Work developed 19 flexible, online and part-time programmes for undergraduate, graduate and work-based learners. These include professional diplomas, top-up degrees and challenge-based engineering degrees, all designed in collaboration with industry to ensure relevance and applicability. The flagship programme was developed in consultation with alumni and industry and is a unique Master’s degree, where students can build personalised learning pathways across disciplines and institutions that align with their professional goals.

Another HCI project is the MicroCreds project, led by the Irish Universities Association (IUA), which is a five-year, €12.3 million initiative involving seven Irish universities, which includes UL. It aims to establish a coherent national framework for quality-assured, accredited micro-credentials that are responsive to the needs of learners and enterprise.

The pilot phase of the VLE roll-out programmes and modules from UL@Work and the MicroCreds projects were the first to adopt the new platform. Many of these programmes engaged UL’s Inclusive Learning Design Framework, which is based on UDL. UDL recognises that students are diverse in the way they take in information, engage with learning activities, and convey what they have learned (Rose and Meyer, 2002; CAST, 2018). This innovation was driven by the availability of supported digital infrastructure.

Innovative online learning can help universities contribute to the global public good by achieving high-quality learning at scale. Co-designed, transformative digital education is key to scaling up professional development in areas where expertise is urgently required (Kennedy and Laurillard, 2023). Varkey et al. (2023) highlight that asynchronous access is often the only viable option for completing modules while maintaining shift work and family obligations. The findings from Varkey et al. (2023) on part-time and professional learners are further reinforced in this case study with full-time undergraduate students engaging in the Ready-Steady-Co-Op module described below.

The Digital Skills Hub (DSH) is the HEI’s central hub designed to help build students’ digital skills, knowledge and confidence through self-study resources, self-assessments and supportive learning tools. It is completely housed within the VLE. The DSH is informed by established international digital competence frameworks, the EU’s DigComp (Cosgrove and Cachia, 2025) and Jisc’s Digital Capabilities (Jisc, 2022). These two complementary frameworks aid the DSH in solving different problems.

DigComp provides a recognised, transferable map grounded in five areas of general citizen-oriented digital competence. Jisc’s framework more adequately addresses learners’ and staff’s practices, the language of graduate readiness, and examples that sit naturally within academic work. A single framework would not have met all needs; however, drawing on both lets the DSH shine a light on practices that span citizenship, learning in an academic setting, and the workplace. This is significant as students will not only have future influence in industry and enterprise, but they will also impact the present and future society as active citizens (Hall et al., 2024).

The DSH team within the Centre for Transformative Learning is collaborating with the Transferable Skills Unit (TSU) in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) to consolidate learnings into the development of a local digital competence framework, providing a common basis for understanding competence development and tracking it over time, with discipline-specific examples that students will recognise.

Pre-pandemic, the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning coordinated the Irish National Digital Experience (INDEx) Survey across 32 institutions. This HEI’s roll-out, led by the Centre for Transformative Learning, asked students and staff who teach an open-ended question, “What one thing should the institution do - or do better - to improve your experience of digital teaching and learning?” Students called for more resources, more consistent use of the VLE, and a stronger institutional emphasis on digital skills and literacies within programmes. Staff echoed this, seeking better platforms and specialist software, dedicated support and professional development, and recognition of the time required to design high-quality digital learning.

DSH is an institutionally available VLE site that helps students and the staff who teach them to build confident, current and literate digital practices. It combines (1) an introduction to digital skills informed by recognised EU DigComp (Cosgrove and Cachia, 2025) and Jisc Digital Capabilities (Jisc, 2022) competence frameworks; (2) a self-assessment tool (Jisc Discovery Tool); (3) a programme of live workshops; and (4) a ‘Digital Essentials’ series of short online self-study resources.

The DSH embeds digital transformation in higher education by pairing personalised diagnostics with self-study opportunities that can be lifted whole into modules to form assessable coursework. It is both open to the university community for self-directed learning and intentionally designed to be embeddable into academic curricula supporting co-curricular and curricular learning. Staff can embed DSH resources in three ways: collaborate with the digital skills team to create a custom embed for their academic context; paste links to specific resources into their own VLE sites; or direct students to self-enrol for independent exploration. Digital competence is, therefore, embedded into everyday learning, enhancing academic outcomes and preparing students for workplace success and future careers.

Curricular integration matters because self-discovery only reaches the most motivated individuals. Embedding the DSH within modules makes competence development part of the core academic experience and gives students purposeful practice with contemporary topics such as generative AI, effective prompting and digital accessibility.

Working with academic leads, the digital skills team aligns Hub elements to module outcomes and assessment, exposing students to essential academic and workplace skills and literacies. The first full integrations were in undergraduate academic modules HP4001 Preparing for Academic Success (BA Arts) and NM4121 Foundations for Engaged Learning (intakes across four BSc Nursing and Midwifery programmes), as illustrated in Figure 2. Students engaged with an introductory digital skills lecture, self-study resources and self-assessments of their digital proficiency, completing a digital skills quiz and submitting self-assessment reports accounting for 20% of their grade. Most elements are automatically graded on the VLE, requiring little intervention by academic staff, minimising their workload. Evaluations (n = 183) of the HP4001 module embed indicated high perceived relevance (90%), transferability (93%), and positive impacts on confidence and capability (90%), with 93% reporting value for future employability. In this context, employability is operationalised as students’ perceived capacity to transfer assessed digital practices - information literacy, AI awareness, reflective skills - beyond the module into future academic and professional contexts.

At the time of writing, curricular integrations have expanded to fourteen undergraduate and postgraduate modules. In parallel, the open self-enrol route continues to serve those who want to avail of self-directed learning.

In 2023, this HEI’s Library hired a permanent educational technologist. This was a strategic response to the shift to digital learning and the introduction of the new VLE at the University. The Library created an Assignment Toolkit on the VLE. The HEI’s Assignment Toolkit supports students through the process of completing written assignments and is a self-paced learning resource with e-tivities and engaging interactive materials to teach students the key information literacy skills of finding and critically evaluating information and referencing scholarly sources. The toolkit is used in teaching, in partnership with teaching staff, allowing skills development to be tailored to discipline needs. The careful design approach that the Library staff brought to the resource supports students in getting expert assistance, delivered digitally, with assignment preparation. During its initial roll-out year, 2,861 students accessed the Toolkit on the VLE. Students of all experience levels can access the Toolkit on the VLE and the Pulse App when they need it. Feedback from a first-year student said, “the clarity and detail of the information provided was exactly what I needed to help me approach my assignments”.

The deployment of the new student-centred technology in the new VLE allowed for the design of this new self-directed online learning resource, which forms part of the library’s objective to innovate in its offerings to the teaching community, enhance its provision of digital services, and scale up its digital information skills programme at key stages of the student lifecycle.

The Library has a Reading List management tool on the VLE that makes the library’s scholarly resources readily accessible to all teaching staff and students. By integrating with the university’s online learning system, the VLE, Leganto helps students find all their required readings in one convenient place. For students, this means they can spend less time searching for books and articles and more time focusing on their studies.

This service is especially helpful for new students who are adjusting to university life and might not be used to finding academic resources on their own, thereby enhancing a sense of belonging. It ensures that students, regardless of their background, have easy and immediate access to the materials they need for their courses.

The use of e-learning tools such as the Library’s Assignment Toolkit allows students to learn critical information and digital skills that cannot be assumed for those starting university. These tools offer huge value for students in their transition to independent learning, which is a significant change for most students entering university from the Leaving Certificate mode of studying, and for students returning to education after some time away. The Leaving Certificate is the final exam of the Irish secondary school system and the university matriculation examination. Such tools and supports are important parts towards developing an ethos of student inclusion and retention in college to build the confidence and resilience to engage and thrive in college life, and beyond.

In 2024, the HEI rolled out a set of Generative Artificial Intelligence Principles. These principles, inspired by the European Commission: Living guidelines on the responsible use of generative AI in research (European Commission, 2025), are intended to be dynamic guiding principles that strive to provide a roadmap to all stakeholders within the HEI to navigate both current and emerging challenges and opportunities associated with Generative AI. The role of educational technology for training in this important area for both staff and students has been instrumental in supporting AI literacy learning, one of the HEI GenAI Principles. A cross-disciplinary team across the DSH, Glucksman Library, the Academic Integrity Unit, and HR supports the development of online modules such as the “Let’s Talk Gen AI” module developed for staff and students.

Let’s Talk GenAI was an important initiative in May 2024 that aimed to enhance staff AI literacy across the institution. Developed to address the emergence of GenAI, which presented both challenges and opportunities to all colleagues. The VLE was an obvious place to facilitate delivery of this content. Specific functions were critical to the success of the course, such as the live discussion fora. These modules aim to enhance awareness of academic integrity and academic misconduct. Each of the modules addresses the safe and appropriate use of GenAI for teaching, learning and assessment activities in UL.

The Academic Integrity Unit uses the VLE to deliver academic integrity content in a structured and accessible way. These can be described as follows:

• An induction module aimed at all University students, which provides a general overview of academic integrity and creates an awareness of activities that constitute academic misconduct. Several lecturers within the University require students to undertake this module in their first year.

• The online module directed at staff includes a decision-making tool that supports decision-making on the integration of AI into the modules or programmes they oversee.

• A third module is directed at students against whom there has been a finding of academic misconduct. This module requires the student to engage extensively with information on academic integrity and has numerous points of assessment, which are overseen by the Academic Integrity Unit.

Finally, the GenAI principles are dynamic principles that are relevant to all University stakeholders (UL Academic Integrity Unit, 2024) and are outlined in all content on the VLE where AI is referenced (by Library, Digital Skills and Academic Integrity) to ensure that there is a single framework that is consistent in all content. In other words, the VLE is an important conduit of information for these values, raising important considerations regarding data ethics, transparency and institutional responsibility (Slade and Prinsloo, 2013).

HCI Initiative Pillar 3 set out to ensure that there is a greater focus across the whole spectrum of higher education course provision on promoting and embedding transversal skills. In 2020, two important projects were funded to achieve this objective: the Designing Futures project at the University of Galway, which aims to transform the student learning experience at university, including empowering students to design personalised skills development pathways and to ensure graduates’ transversal skills achievements are recognised alongside their degree. (Hall et al., 2024) and the DCU Futures project that has developed a Transversal Skills Competence Framework, ensuring that these skills are embedded, assessed and rigorously and transparently evidenced across programmes at Dublin City University (DCU).

In 2023, the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences founded the Transferable Skills Unit to support students in developing skills, abilities and attributes to enable them to address complex and interrelated problems that confront societies and workplaces. The TSU engaged with national leaders in this area at the University of Galway and DCU.

When students acquire transferable/transversal skills, the challenge of evidencing them remains. ePortfolios in higher education are tools for authentic summative assessment, formative learning experiences, and rehearsal of demonstration of life-long learning and professional identity (Carter, 2021). ePortfolios have been recognised as a digital technology that has the capacity to support student growth and development. Using an ePortfolio, a student can create a well-organised, visually appealing record of their academic and professional knowledge, skills and attributes as well as practical achievements. (White, 2019). The visibility of student learning and ePortfolio initiatives support reflection, social pedagogy and deep learning and ePortfolio initiatives catalyse learning-centred institutional change (Eynon et al., 2014).

Within this case study, ePortfolio activity is not treated as a direct measure of employability outcomes but as a mechanism for supporting skills recognition, reflection and evidence-building. ePortfolios are a good vehicle for encouraging the transferability of employability skills. The level of student engagement and active learning offered by this tool not only allows cognitive learning to take place but also provides an easily accessible platform on which students can plan and showcase their own career development (Simatele, 2015). One of the key features of the model of capturing transferable skills developed by the TSU is having an ePortfolio tool that is fully integrated with the VLE to record, evidence and showcase student skills. Students are able to import, use and customise a base template and create and curate evidence relevant to their skill goals. Students can easily create and share a snapshot of all or part of their portfolio.

In 2024, after reviewing a variety of available options, the TSU led a one-year pilot of Portflow to explore its potential as a platform to record, evidence and showcase student skills. This tool was selected as it: fully integrates into the VLE, faculty feedback is easily provided, and alumni access is a further key factor so students can create showcases of their skills as they enter the world of work.

The TSU aims to empower students with skills for lifelong success and to enable students to actively, consciously and confidently develop, recognise and record their transferable skills and be rewarded for doing so. Students gain skills in multiple ways and in many different places. The TSU model currently recognises five Transferable Skill domains:

Curricular:

1. academic sources and activities;

2. cooperative education.

Extra-curricular:

3. volunteering with the President Volunteer Award (PVA);

4. engagement with Student bodies, UG and PG; and

5. other off-campus activities.

The challenge is to bring all of these aspects together. To do this, the TSU is focusing on a 6 + 1 approach, as described in Figure 3.

Five-stage operating model:

“Develop” – students are exposed to a range of skill development opportunities across five TSDs.

“Recognise” – they are encouraged to see, embrace and confidently befriend their skills.

“Record” – they can use an ePortfolio to gather evidence about their different skills.

“Reward” – they can showcase their skills and gain UL-approved digital badges for their different transferable skills (under development).

The “Impact” stage, students graduate, not just with a degree but also with a way of showing off their unique combination of knowledge and skills to potential employers.

The TSU’s implementation of ePortfolio functionality illustrates how this is a critical enhancement for the HEI that can strengthen student engagement, showcase learning achievements, and build employability outcomes. Success will require training, consistent templates, and integration with programme-level strategies.

UL’s Cooperative Education Programme (Co-Op) is the largest undergraduate work placement programme in Europe. The traditional preparatory programme was delivered in person and manually due to system constraints. Given the changing worlds of work and higher education, and significant expansion in student numbers (from an initial 100 per year to over 3000 annually), the programme was not meeting the needs of the HEI’s students. When the new VLE was introduced, it provided an opportunity for the Co-Operative Education Division within the HEI to rethink the content and delivery. The reimagined preparatory model presented in this study is more student-centred, agile, engaging and sustainable.

In the context of cooperative education, employability is operationalised through students’ demonstrated preparedness for placement, including the articulation of skills, quality of application materials, and engagement with authentic workplace-aligned learning activities.

The design approach was collaborative and evidence-based, beginning with an analysis of established practices and assumptions. Data and insights from students, employer partners and HEI colleagues (faculty, IT, Teaching and Learning) were gathered. This data was further supported by an analysis of data from 4,000 co-op employers across five years. Pulse surveys and focus groups with 380 + students were also undertaken. How information is shared with students by content, channel, frequency, tone and language was examined. Thousands of student queries were analysed by theme to understand the flow of information, the effectiveness of messaging, the learning bottlenecks, repetition and pain points.

Due to the constraints of the previous VLE system, the traditional model of preparing for co-op was in class sessions and workshops. While students reported variously that these in-person sessions were “ok”, many reported that they did not fit in with their schedules, “too long”, “boring”, “too much stuff”, “one-way” and “a bit overwhelming”. Employers reported that students’ CVs were “skimpy”, “not personalised enough” and “very generic”. Many employers commented that students struggle to speak with confidence about their skills/experience during their co-op interviews.

Using this feedback to shape the learning model, it was built around the following features and principles:

• Anytime, Anywhere: students can learn at their own time and pace.

• Accountability and Motivation: students have a clear role in developing their co-op readiness.

• Practical: focus on the demands of the real world of work.

• Gamification: fun - interactive learning with quizzes and rewards to incentivise progression through stages.

• Time Release: modules are released sequentially to prevent overload.

• Accessible: inclusive and accessible on any device.

The design of this innovation supports the enhancement of students’ social integration that complements their formal educational engagement.

This was the starting point of the “Ready-Steady-Co-Op” model, an interactive, learner-led, games-based platform to support students in their placement readiness.

The reimagination of Cooperative Education represents a 12-month collaboration between placement specialists and educational technologists. Placement preparation – in terms of its design, content and delivery mode – has been completely redesigned to take account of the demands of the new world of work and the principles of instructional design. Students work through each section in a gamer-like way, testing their learning via quizzes, and earning badges to progress to the next level. The design pivots on interactive content, diverse activities and challenges, images, infographics and online quizzes. This modular learning approach supports students with time constraints and reduces cognitive overload (Mostrady et al., 2025). Consistent and incremental progress allows students to achieve “quick wins” that sustain motivation (Kapp and Defelice, 2019; Sweller et al., 2011).

Over four units (Co-op Framework, Co-Pp CV, Co-Op Assessment and Submission), the VLE module guides and supports students in:

Reflecting on, identifying and rating their current skill levels across eight domains.

1. Developing, writing and submitting a detailed CV, based on the STAR model (situation, task, action and result).

2. Practising and developing their key employability skills, e.g. time management, communication, problem-solving, use of initiative, teamwork.

3. Preparing and developing responses to competency-based interview questions.

4. Understanding the expectations of the real world of work.

5. Understanding the skills and knowledge that employers will expect of them.

6. Writing and submitting their final Co-op reflections and report.

A target of 40% of 3,000 undergraduates was initially set for the pilot. The goal was vastly exceeded, with participation rates trending at just over 70% within four weeks of logging into the student system. In a HE context, where student engagement is a widely acknowledged challenge, this represents significant uptake. This high uptake also reflects the effectiveness of the learning model’s gamified, intuitive, accessible and relatable design.

Other metrics include the quizzes, which are designed to be challenging. The analytics show a pass rate of 85% on students’ first attempt, with 65% of students scoring 100% on subsequent tries. This suggests a deeper understanding of key content than had been expected. An unforeseen measure has been a 15% increase in CV submissions before the due date, enabling co-op to circulate CVs earlier to employer partners. Since the launch of Ready-Steady-Co-Op, placement officers report that students are more focused and better informed, allowing for richer, more nuanced discussions with students regarding their co-op journey – to the benefit of all stakeholders.

To gauge its impact, the team worked with both student and employer stakeholders. There were over 700 responses to the student pulse survey, with 87% of students rating the platform as excellent or very good. The following is a selection of their comments.

At an employer-led CV Clinic, Co-Op employers reported a clear year-on-year improvement in the quality of students’ CVs. This finding is reinforced by the Co-Op team’s experience, with a 50% reduction in the number of CVs being rejected by the placement officer team (and returned to students for revision). This has released capacity for more meaningful, 1–1 student interventions, e.g. mock interviews. This was an unforeseen outcome, but one that represents value add potential for the Higher Education sector.

This method supports not confining the concept of graduate employability to just a skills-based approach and provides a valuable opportunity for students to develop a better understanding of the requirements, expectations and ideology of their intended profession (Jackson, 2016).

Further innovation in workplace-based learning enabled by technology is a 13-month industry placement programme within the BE/ME in Digital Mechatronic Engineering. Students get an immersive experience in industry on an integrated BE/ME degree programme that combines mechanical engineering, electronic and computer engineering and software design to create intelligent machines, such as ‘intelligent’ robots and safer cars.

This unique extended student-centred cooperative placement, co-designed with industry, is only possible through the design and deployment of e-learning modules. Students engage in online learning, studying modules specifically designed for online learning and that are highly relevant to their engineering careers, including problem solving for engineers, lean thinking, quality management and machine learning. Following on from the pilot mentioned above, this programme uses an ePortfolio tool to allow students demonstrate a portfolio of work that illustrates how they have tackled their workplace-based problem by reflecting on their problem-solving technique, identifying gaps in their skills and knowledge in collaboration with their industry and academic mentors.

Across multiple initiatives, digital skills development, assessed curricular integration, cooperative education preparation and reflective ePortfolio use, this case study illustrates how a student-centred VLE can support practices associated with employability. These outcomes are evidenced not through employment metrics, but through students’ engagement with authentic, skills-oriented learning activities embedded within academic programmes.

The transition to the new VLE at this HEI illustrates both the opportunities and challenges inherent in large-scale digital transformation in higher education. This paper bridges theory and practice by using learning sciences frameworks to interpret institutional data and, in turn, by deriving transferable design principles that can inform both research and practice in higher education digital transformation.

Within this HEI case, belonging is not inferred from attitudinal claims alone but emerges through a convergence of design intent and usage patterns. Consistent VLE structures, embedded support resources (DSH, Assignment Toolkit) and mobile-accessible learning pathways reduced navigational friction and increased students’ sense of institutional presence. Qualitative feedback highlighting reliability, clarity and ease of access, combined with sustained usage across academic periods, provides evidence of belonging as a digitally mediated experience of inclusion and support.

While the implementation enabled significant consolidation and integration of digital learning practice, challenges arose in the subsequent embedding of governance structures required to ensure sustainability and long-term impact. The importance of national and HEI-specific governance and policy strategy has been highlighted by the OECD (Broberg and Golden, 2023).

One of the most significant challenges was the legacy environment itself. This HEI had been operating two distinct VLEs, supported by different teams, processes and practices. This created complexity in consolidating workflows, migrating courses and aligning staff expectations. Many academic staff were deeply invested in existing platforms, making the shift to the new VLE a substantial cultural as well as technical change. The HEI project team devoted extensive effort to managing this transition, but the scale of behavioural and pedagogical adjustment required meant that change management continued well beyond the project’s official end.

A second set of challenges related to decision-making processes. The new VLE governance structure, formally approved in May 2025, introduced multiple layers of oversight. While this structure provides coherence and accountability, it also requires careful coordination.

Moreover, the volume and diversity of issues raised, ranging from technical fixes to strategic questions of investment, created pressure on working groups and governance committees to handle matters efficiently while maintaining transparency and inclusivity. This risked delays in decision-making, especially when disagreements or divergent faculty perspectives arose.

Another challenge has been striking the right balance between supporting reliable core delivery of teaching and fostering innovation. While the VLE enables new pedagogical approaches and integration of third-party tools, staff adoption rates varied. Some faculties embraced tools such as Vevox and PeerScholar quickly, while others were slower to experiment. Ensuring that innovation does not compromise the robustness of everyday teaching, particularly during peak assessment periods, has been an ongoing balancing act.

With increased engagement comes heightened expectations around reliability, mobile accessibility and support. Students and staff alike expect rapid response times, continuous platform improvement, and clear communication about updates and changes. Meeting these expectations while managing limited institutional resources has been challenging.

Several limitations of this study should be acknowledged. Firstly, as a single-institution case study, the findings are contextually situated and are not intended to be statistically generalisable. However, the value of the study lies in the analytic and conceptual insights derived from the case, rather than in replication of specific institutional structures or technologies. Secondly, while the study draws on multiple data sources, including platform analytics, surveys and stakeholder feedback, these data primarily provide indicators of participation, perceptions and institutional practices rather than direct measures of learning outcomes. Engagement and belonging are complex constructs that cannot be fully captured through usage metrics alone. Thirdly, employability is operationalised in this study through curricular integration, skills development and opportunities for articulation, rather than through graduate employment outcomes, which fall beyond the scope of the available data. Finally, although ethical considerations informed the use of usage analytics, the analysis remains constrained by the types of data routinely collected at an institutional level. Future research could build on this work through longitudinal designs, cross-institutional comparisons, and a more fine-grained qualitative investigation of student experiences.

The successful deployment of the VLE tool represents a notable achievement within this institutional context. Yet, the transition is only the foundation for a broader strategic journey in digital education. As the institution looks forward, several implications emerge for how the HEI should continue to shape its VLE environment, governance and wider digital strategy.

While this is a single case study limited to a single institution, some lessons and practices can be applied elsewhere and are analytically valuable for understanding complex institutional change processes (Flyvbjerg, 2006). In the immediate term, institutions undergoing digital transformation must support the governance and decision-making mechanisms on an ongoing basis. At the same time, consolidation and sustainability must be prioritised in a context of constrained resources. Any institution will need to ensure that the VLE supports transformational change, and it continues to support high-quality teaching delivery while balancing budgets and staff capacity. To support this, analytics should be harnessed more systematically, not just for monitoring student engagement but also for informing teaching practices, identifying curriculum needs, and guiding targeted interventions.

In the medium term, a key challenge will be reducing reliance on third-party tools by aligning the VLE more closely with internal needs. While these integrations have driven innovation, they also pose risks around cost, sustainability and support. Any institution must review its digital ecosystem regularly, rationalise tool usage, and focus investment where it adds the greatest value, guided by a governance process that balances innovation with long-term sustainability. This process will allow institutions to maintain agility while avoiding fragmentation.

In the longer term, the implication of digital transformation extends beyond a platform and digital tools. Twenty-first-century institutions must situate the VLE within a broader institutional digital strategy, aligning core functionality with the HEI’s mission and educational goals. This will mean not only refining teaching and learning practices but also embedding the VLE as a strategic enabler of curriculum design, student engagement and institutional competitiveness. Ultimately, this initiative should be seen as a springboard for the HEI’s long-term digital transformation, ensuring that the institution continues to innovate, adapt and deliver world-class education in an increasingly digital world.

This paper has examined the transition to a single institutional VLE as a student-centred process of digital transformation rather than a purely technical implementation. Through a large-scale institutional case, the study demonstrates how digital infrastructure, governance and learning design can be aligned to support conditions for student belonging, engagement and employability. By integrating platform analytics, survey data and stakeholder perspectives, the paper provides a nuanced account of how a VLE can function as connective infrastructure across curricular, co-curricular and workplace-integrated learning contexts.

Synthesising the findings across the study, Figure 4 presents a student-centred digital transformation framework that abstracts transferable design and governance principles from this case. This study proposes a student-centred digital transformation framework in which the VLE functions as a stable digital core, surrounded by pedagogically aligned capability layers (digital skills, assessment literacy, employability and workplace learning), all enabled by adaptive governance structures. Rather than treating digital transformation as a sequence of tool adoptions, the framework emphasises coherence, integration and learning design alignment across institutional systems. This framework is intended to be transferable across HEIs seeking to balance reliability, innovation and student-centred outcomes in large-scale digital transformation.

The transferable lessons that have emerged can guide other institutions in designing and deploying student-centred e-learning, information and communication systems and technologies to support transformational change in HE.

The VLE is the key enabling technology at the centre of digital transformation, but it is through its connections to the wider university community, such as cooperative education, the DSH, the library and academics, that the true innovation emerges and a cultural shift and transformation occur.

Maintain a stable digital core (VLE) while selectively integrating third-party tools to enrich learning without overwhelming staff or students and maximise value without fragmenting the digital ecosystem.

Adopt phased implementation with clear governance to balance innovation with reliability. Combine engagement analytics with continuous feedback loops to iteratively improve tools and practices.

This framework is intended to be transferable across HEIs seeking to balance reliability, innovation and student-centred outcomes in large-scale digital transformation.

This paper bridges theory and practice by using learning sciences frameworks to interpret institutional data and, in turn, by deriving transferable design principles that can inform both research and practice in higher education digital transformation. The analytic insights and design principles derived from this case offer value for other higher education settings seeking to balance reliability, innovation and student-centred outcomes.

Future research could extend this work through comparative and longitudinal studies, deeper qualitative exploration of student experiences, and further examination of ethical and pedagogical uses of learning analytics. As HEIs continue to navigate rapid digital change, this study underscores the importance of coherent, inclusive and strategically governed digital ecosystems in supporting meaningful learning experiences.

The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of Dr Darina Slattery for her role within the VLE project. The authors would like to acknowledge the funding for this work via HEA Human Capital Initiative Pillar 3.