Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA)

The Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) supports over 25,000 disabled children and adults through activities including riding, carriage driving, and equine assisted programmes such as Quiet Corners and Tea with a Pony. They are pioneers in the therapeutic use of horses, leaders in disability sport, and the only major UK charity focused specifically on the health and wellbeing benefits of bringing people and horses together.

Their innovative programmes improve mobility, boost physical health and mental wellbeing, build confidence, and teach new skills. This is all made possible by over 13,700 volunteers, 1,700 qualified coaches, 2,800 equines, and more than 450 RDA centres.

The Brief

The RDA approached us to modernise the RDA eLearning site and bring it in line with new branding which was rolling out across the RDA family of websites.

Our challenge was to improve the look and feel of the RDA eLearning website, specifically ensuring good accessibility and to improve the core functionality of the LearnDash learner experience.

We also wanted to ensure the improvements were implemented in such a way as to support the future merging of RDA websites into one WordPress instance, while managing initial expenditure.

Our Approach

Cost effectiveness was a top concern for the RDA. We ensured each key step of the project had this firmly in mind.

We started by reviewing the new designs to be launched on the main RDA website and created a new set of designs for the eLearning site which would compliment the new designs while working within the existing website theme, saving the expense of replacing the theme entirely.

We then implemented a set of functionality enhancements for the LearnDash experience, using official LearnDash add-ons to improve the learner experience.

We rounded off the project by delivering some training to key staff at RDA to ensure they could self manage the website and LearnDash content on the site, further improving the return on investment for the project.

Website and LearnDash redesign

With new designs for the main RDA website in progress, we wanted to ensure the new set of designs for the eLearning site would compliment the new designs while working within the existing website theme. This approach saved the expense of a full re-theme to maximise the project value.

We customised the existing theme to get as close as possible to the main site design, while ensuring accessibility standards were high, which is of course critical to an organisation like the RDA.

Finally, we applied the same branding and colour palette to the LearnDash eLearning pages and student experience to ensure a fully on-brand experience throughout all journeys and a significant improvement in both user experience and brand presentation.

eLearning site functionality improvements

We recommended a set of official LearnDash add-ons which would bring the most value to the RDA and the learner experience.

LearnDash ProPanel Analytics: Assessing course performance and make data driven decisions.
LearnDash Notes: Improved tutor / learner communication.
LearnDash Certificate Builder: Create certificates to award to learners
LearnDash Achievements: Create goals and achievements for learners to earn as they study.
LearnDash Ratings, Reviews & Feedback: Improve student feedback systems.

WordPress and LearnDash training

With all projects, our primary goal is to help your business grow. A key part of that is helping you make the most of the WordPress and LearnDash platforms, so that you don’t need to use us for every request, and to help you get more from the platforms over time.

We delivered some training to the RDA team to help them better understand what they could add, edit and control themselves on the site and eLearning platform. And of course how to use and get the most from the new LearnDash functionality we added.

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