Building a Custom Learning Platform for a UK University

For most universities, Moodle customisation is cheaper in the short term and more expensive in the long run. Each plugin creates a dependency that complicates upgrades, increases maintenance cost, and creates security risk. A custom platform has higher upfront cost but gives you full control, predictable scaling costs, and no dependency on a third-party plugin ecosystem. The decision depends on how differentiated your learning experience needs to be — if you're happy with standard LMS features, Moodle is fine. If you need custom pedagogical tools, a custom build is often the better investment.

We design the migration to run in parallel with the existing system, not as a cutover. Course content is migrated module by module, validated, and signed off before the legacy system is decommissioned for that content. During the transition, both systems can operate simultaneously. This avoids any academic year disruption and gives academics time to familiarise themselves with the new platform.

Yes — with the right infrastructure design. We use auto-scaling Kubernetes node groups on AWS that scale out automatically during peak periods and scale in during quiet periods to control costs. We load-test the platform before every major peak (induction week, exam season) to validate capacity. We also design assessments with graceful degradation — if a service is under extreme load, students get clear feedback rather than silent failures.

Most UK SIS platforms (Banner, SITS, Unit-e, SITS:Vision) have APIs or data export capabilities. We build a synchronisation layer that keeps student enrolments, module registrations, and grade records in sync between the LMS and SIS. The exact integration depends on your SIS version and IT team's access policies — we scope this carefully in the discovery phase.

You do, entirely. All source code is delivered to your institution's version control, fully documented. You can host it on your own infrastructure or a university-contracted cloud provider. We provide full handover including runbooks, architecture documentation, and training for your internal IT team. There is no vendor lock-in.

WCAG 2.1 AA covers keyboard navigation, screen reader compatibility, colour contrast, captioning of video content, and form accessibility. For an LMS, the most complex areas are rich text editors, video players, and interactive assessment types. We build with accessibility as a design constraint from the first wireframe — retrofitting it is significantly more expensive and less reliable.