The Tech Partnership Case Study

About The Tech Partnership

The Tech Partnership is the network of employers collaborating to create the skills for the UK digital economy.

Its ambition is to deliver the skills required for a million digital jobs by 2025. As no one organisation can achieve this alone, employers are working together, acting for the good of all.

The Tech Partnership works in 3 critical areas to reach its goal:

• Inspiring new and diverse talent into digital careers working in schools, colleges and universities across the UK
• Raising the quality of digital skills training and education by setting apprenticeship standards and developing degree and degree apprenticeship programmes to meet employers’ needs
• Enabling everyone to gain the basic digital skills they need by promoting a common digital skills framework and championing basic digital skills initiatives

The Challenge

Shaping the desired outcomes from a collaborative venture

The Tech Partnership needed a way to underpin their face to face delivery with a range of online resources to support the Digital Business Certificate at Level 3.

Virtual College, as experts in developing online resources that map into qualifications, responded to an open tender to develop these resources in collaboration with the Tech Partnership, their appointed training providers and employers. This pilot project was a collaborative venture between a number of stakeholders within central government, IT/Digital Skills employers and the further education sector.

The overall objectives were to enable:

• Training providers who do not currently have the ability to deliver online learning in this area to quickly and cost-effectively get to market with a blended-learning-based course
• Learners to benefit from the opportunity to learn and apply the learning away from the training providers’ facilities
• Employers and learners to be confident in the high quality of the online training because it has been developed by an industry leader, with input from training providers, learners and employers.

/n/n### The Solution

Through the Tech Partnership, employers collaborated to set standards and accredit high-quality training aimed at small businesses with limited digital skills or online presence. Following a successful bid, Virtual College was contracted to create custom, competency-based online resources supporting the Level 3 Digital Business Certificate.

Given the involvement of central government funders and other stakeholders, it was essential to develop a product that met varied needs. To guide development, Virtual College delivered a fast-tracked prototype module. Mark Heholt, Project Manager at the Tech Partnership, noted this early version helped refine the specification and demonstrated Virtual College’s ability to move quickly.

To meet tight deadlines and ensure industry relevance, a qualified local subject matter expert was brought in to support daily development. The agile approach allowed for ongoing collaboration and rapid iteration based on feedback. Sarah Baker, Content Development Manager at Virtual College, highlighted the importance of this responsiveness. Mark Heholt confirmed the value of their adaptability in refining draft modules.

To ensure content aligned with classroom delivery, instructional designers attended in-person training sessions. Lead designer John Hinchliffe emphasized how this insight helped tailor the digital materials to complement face-to-face sessions and better address learner needs.

The training adopted a scenario-based, practical approach, designed to accommodate a diverse learner demographic. Modules, such as An Introduction to Twitter for Business, placed learners in realistic roles—e.g., an employee at an outdoor centre using Twitter to boost business. Video content, including real-world case studies and ‘talking-head’ segments, reinforced learning objectives.

These pilot programs delivered fast-paced, flexible, modular training that catered to different learning styles and helped learners build practical digital skills quickly.

The Results

Virtual College delivered 27 interactive online resources using Storyline—25 initial modules and 2 more in-depth follow-ups—used both as knowledge content and formative assessment tools. The resources effectively combine interactivity, video, and animation to bring vocational content to life.

Mark Heholt from the Tech Partnership praised their collaborative approach, noting that Virtual College offered innovative, practical solutions even when project requirements were unclear:

Following the project’s success, Virtual College was commissioned to explore commercial opportunities and monetisation strategies for the Digital Skills Certificate materials. With digital skills now required in all new apprenticeship frameworks, the resources are well-positioned for broader adoption.

The course is already being adopted by public and private training providers and is expected to play a key role in upskilling learners in digital marketing for years to come.