Foyle Kumon
Company background:
The Foyle Kumon Centre offers individualised maths and English study programmes to children of all ages and abilities including transfer test, GCSE and beyond. They also offer remote learning support as well as physical classes to suit your needs.
Challenge:
The company wanted to engage in a digital transformation, removing their reliance on a paper-based system. They wanted to move to online sign up forms which are automatically submitted and stored online as well as implementing the use of the Genius One product which allows for better contact with parents and tracks student attendance more accurately.
Solution:
To assist with the development of their concept, Foyle Kumon was supported by North West Regional College (NWRC) Business Support Centre (BSC) through the InnovateUs programme which is funded by the Department for the Economy to implement Genius One technology that allows Educational Institutes to facilitate operations, manage student data and class attendance, communication and lots more.
NWRC ICT/Software Development Technical Consultant, Sarah Gillespie, provided 60 hours of upskilling support in investigating the Genius One product, planning & preparation of training sessions, 2x sessions on setting up student/parent details, 2x sessions on creating/sending and storing digital forms, 2x sessions on setting up new timeslots and adding students as well as assistance in installing and setting up hardware for the new system.
Impact:
On completion of the project the company was able to undergo a digital transformation which removed their reliance on a paper-based system, instead allowing them to implement the Genius One product which allows for better contact with parents and tracks student attendance more accurately.
Sumeeta Gupta, Instructor at Foyle Kumon described the benefits of working with NWRC’s Business Support Centre via the InnovateUs programme:
‘’I’m extremely proud of my team in the way we adapted to the situation that was created due to the pandemic crisis. As an educational setting, our service is a class- based system. In 2020 we found ourselves in a critical situation when we had to shut our classes during lockdown. We had to quickly implement ways to ensure smooth running of our service as education had already suffered due to school closures.
‘’Apart from Zoom, I wanted to develop systems in place where I could reach my Kumon families remotely. Although, I consider myself a technically sound person, I had no knowledge of digital forms and what way I could run my class smoothly within the government guidelines and delivering the same high-quality service. I only had a plan in mind but had no idea how to implement it.
‘’It was like my prayers answered when I heard about the Innovate Us programme as Sarah was extremely helpful and knew exactly what I needed. She not only developed the forms and worked on the App but also trained me and my staff to use them. The result is such that now my staff and I feel quite confident in using the software which parents absolutely love as with the check in/out system they know exactly when their child entered or is ready to be collected from the class with many other features.
‘’The digital forms help me store all data in one place for me to access it anytime I need them, and the students’ folders are now not as bulky with too many forms, reducing my paper work dramatically. Technology is good but to be able to customize it for our service is even better and that’s what this programme did for us.’’
