Position Title: E-Learning Platform Website Design and Development Consultant

Job type: short-term consultant Open date: May 10th, 2024 Closed date: May 15th 2024

Shaqodoon is a local NGO founded in 2011 to create innovative and long-lasting solutions to Somalia/land’s youth employment challenges. Shaqodoon organization designs, delivers and evaluates innovative programs to address some of the local community’s most urgent challenges in livelihood skill training, education, civic education, justice and health. Shaqodoon is a national platform whose goal is to prioritize youth employment and education on the development agenda and to exchange knowledge on effective policies and programs to improve employment and education opportunities for youth, prioritizing at risk youth, marginalized groups, and people who have lost hope and are thus often jailed for local crimes. Therefore, Shaqodoon organization want to develop modern and well designing e-learning platform called “koorso.org”.

Background of koorso platform:

Koorso is an online learning platform that was first developed in 2020.It was a response to covid 19 for the students of HargaBits Digital Academy in Hargeisa, Somaliland to continue their studies online as physical training was halted. The idea and design of Koorso platform was a collaborative effort between Shaqodoon Organization and HargaBits Digital Academy under Oxfam’s Work in Progress Project.

The platform was to be unique from other online learning resources by not only offering quality in the courses but also being contextual to the community and Demographic of the people it would support. To do this it meant that the instructions and course content had to be offered in both English and Somali. Being that it was the lockdown period and a number of challenges came up and unfortunately the development and implementation of Koorso was impacted and it was discontinued.

In 2023 we made the decision to revamp the platform as part of HargaBits Digital Academy’s sustainability strategy. The vision is to make the platform more user friendly with up-to-date digital skills courses that both HargaBits’ students and anyone from the general public would access at a fee. We would leverage the expertise of the trainers in collaboration with a technical consultant to get the platform up and running.

To ensure the platform is ready to adequately meet the quality we hope for, we conducted a pilot test over a period of 10 days with a few topics of our “Basics of computer” course to better understand the user experience.

Job Description:

We are currently seeking a consultant (individual or company) to redesign and improve Shaqodoon’s Koorso E-Learning. In this role, the consultant will be responsible for both the design and development aspects of our e-learning platform's website. The consultant will play a crucial role in creating an engaging and user-friendly interface while also ensuring the technical implementation meets high standards of performance and functionality of the modern e-learning website like Coursera, and Udemy.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Reviewing koorso platform

Platform Assessment:

• Evaluate the current state of the Koorso e-learning platform, including its features, functionalities, user interface, and user experience and identify its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis) of the platform assessing how well the platform aligns with the organization's intended training goals and objectives.

• Gather feedback from current users of the Koorso platform through surveys, interviews, and user testing, to identify common user preferences, and areas for improvement.

• Assess the effectiveness of the instructional design, multimedia elements, and interactivity of the content.

• Conduct interviews with key stakeholders within the organization, including executives, managers, instructors, and IT personnel.

• Review the technology infrastructure supporting the Koorso platform, including servers, databases, and security measures and identify any technical issues or limitations that may affect performance, scalability, or security.

• Identify industry best practices and innovative features that could be incorporated into the platform for improvement.

• Document findings, recommendations, and action plans in a comprehensive report and present findings and recommendations to relevant stakeholders in a design workshop

2. Redesigning of the e-learning Platform Website:

• Lead the design process for the e-learning platform's website, focusing on creating visually appealing and intuitive user interfaces .

• Create user personas representing different types of learners who will use the platform.

• Define the structure and organization of content on the platform, including navigation menus, categories, and subcategories.

• Create a sitemap outlining the hierarchy of pages and content areas.

• Develop wireframes and low-fidelity prototypes to visualize the layout and functionality of the e-learning platform.

• Iterate on the design based on feedback from stakeholders to refine the user experience.

• Ensure that the platform layout adheres to accessibility standards, making it usable for all users, including those with disabilities.

• Explore different visual design styles, color schemes, typography, and imagery options for the platform layout.

• Design the layout to be responsive, ensuring optimal viewing and interaction experiences across various devices and screen sizes.

• Collaborate with the development team or future implementers to ensure that the design specifications are technically feasible and align with development best practices.

• Provide design documentation, style guides, and assets to support the implementation phase.

• Present design concepts to stakeholders for feedback and iteration.

• Incorporate feedback and make revisions to the layout design as necessary to ensure alignment with stakeholder requirements and user needs.

• Provide comprehensive documentation and support to facilitate a smooth handover for the next step of the platform development

. E-learning platform website developer:

• Implement frontend components and features using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, with a focus on responsiveness and interactivity.

• Utilize frontend frameworks/libraries such as React.js or Vue.js to streamline development and enhance user experience.

• Collaborate with designers to translate design mockups into functional frontend code, ensuring pixel-perfect implementation.

• Develop backend services, APIs, and database structures to support the website's functionality and content management.

• Utilize backend technologies such as Node.js, Django, or Flask to build scalable and maintainable backend systems.

• Implement user authentication, authorization, and other security measures to protect user data and ensure compliance with privacy regulations.

• Integrate frontend and backend components to create a seamless user experience and ensure smooth data flow between the client and server.

• Conduct thorough testing and debugging to identify and resolve issues, ensuring the website meets high standards of performance, usability, and security.

• Document design decisions, technical specifications, and development processes to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing within the team.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including designers, developers, and project managers, to ensure alignment with project goals and timelines.