Daghøjskolen: “With iSpring, our teachers develop online courses and assignments without an IT background”

Daghøjskolen (Daghoejskolen) is a public adult education school in Randers, Denmark. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the school was forced to embrace the online learning format. 

Elise Greve, vice-principal at Daghøjskolen, shared how they started using iSpring to create effective online materials and launched their first course for 240 adult learners.

Elise Greve, vice-principal     at Daghøjskolen

Daghøjskolen’s Background

Daghøjskolen is a public educational institution for young adults and adults looking for community, inspiration, and professional and personal development. We offer a wide range of disciplines, including Danish, mathematics, and soft skills. 

Our learners are often unemployed individuals who come to us to gain skills required for job placement. In the process of learning, if they get a part-time job or a side job, they usually have to interrupt the course, which results in losing acquired knowledge and skills.

In addition, we also have learners with different psychological issues, like social anxiety or depression. It’s often uncomfortable for these people to learn in a classroom setting.

At one point, we realized that digital learning would be the best way to reach the students and keep them in the flow, so we started looking for an online solution.

The Challenge: Transferring Classroom Materials into an LMS-ready Format 

The COVID-19 pandemic began at the same time and we were forced into eLearning without proper preparation, expertise, or training. 

First, we started emailing materials and assignments back and forth, but it added a lot of work for our teachers. Besides, the process was very discouraging for our students, most of whom don’t even know how to upload a file. 

Then we started developing our Moodle platform. We were hoping to use our classroom materials for digital learning on the platform. However, it turned out that recreating our quizzes and assignments on Moodle was quite difficult. As teachers, we had neither IT skills nor time for mastering complex software, because we all have a lot of classes every day. 

I started looking for an authoring solution that would be more user-friendly than Moodle and came across iSpring Suite. The huge advantage of iSpring is that it’s based on PowerPoint. Our teachers may not be experts in digital authoring, but they are used to PowerPoint.

A sample course with audio narration by Daghøjskolen

iSpring Suite became the solution everyone understood and was comfortable working with. Now we are using the tool extensively to transfer our classroom materials and assignments into the LMS-ready format. 

Creating Danish and Math Courses with iSpring

We currently use iSpring Suite for our Danish and mathematics courses. There are four courses with 5-6 assignments in each, plus videos, explanations of grammar rules, etc. 

For assignments, we use iSpring QuizMaker. We can choose from multiple question types, like free-form essay, multiple-choice, and mix and match. For example, we use short answer questions for assignments where students should divide a word into sounds. 

Using iSpring quizzes in language courses

Another useful feature of iSpring that we use a lot is voice overs. For Danish language courses, we often use dictations as a type of assessment. Besides, we often read grammar explanations aloud because, for students who learn Danish as a second language, some words may be difficult to read. 

Multiple-choice assignment example from one of the courses

Results Achieved 

So far, we have launched one course for approximately 240 learners. They found it easy to access and work with. We’re currently working on launching all our Danish courses. 

We’re hoping to create more creative courses and assignments using the capabilities of iSpring Suite.