Jisc
Case Study
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Driving digital transformation at Calderdale College

Calderdale College used our digital elevation tool to benchmark, prioritise and evidence its digital transformation

Calderdale College faced significant barriers to digital progress. Many processes were outdated and reliant on manual ways of working, while the digital infrastructure lacked the robustness needed to support innovation. At the same time, the rapid emergence of AI created both urgency and uncertainty.

Leadership recognised the need to modernise but required a clear, strategic approach. During the development of a College wide strategy, there was a need to define what good digital practice looked like and to align multiple cultures and priorities. The challenge was not only identifying what needed to change, but building momentum at the right pace — ensuring staff were supported, engaged and able to adopt new approaches effectively.

The solution

The college built a Digital Transformation and Innovation department, that created a digital strategy around four pillars: digital teaching and learning; digital automation and innovation; digital marketing; and digital infrastructure. The ethos of the team was simple: use digital to save time, reduce workload.

After an initial period of building internal capability and relationships, the team adopted our digital elevation tool to benchmark their position and prioritise. Alongside it, the digital discovery tool was used to develop staff and learners through appraisals, onboarding and personal development planning. Rather than applying the elevation tool rigidly, the team:

  • Broke it into manageable sections within departments through their Digital Transformation Plans
  • Embedded actions into existing processes implemented through quality improvement plans
  • Assigned ownership of objectives to specific teams and stakeholders
  • Set clear success metrics to define what good looked like

The discovery tool was operationalised in practice rather than left as a diagnostic: embedded into the college’s HR system, staff onboarding and appraisal; used to run a digital skills audit for governors; and rolled out to learners.

Results

The elevation and discovery tools moved the college from uncertainty to informed, evidenced action — and, critically, gave it the data to prove impact.

A measurable shift in digital maturity

The elevation tool set a clear July 2025 baseline — an overall Foundation position with 22% of validation statements signed off. Within twelve months the college had signed off 286 further objectives, lifting overall completion to 53% and moving decisively up the tiers: Foundation completion rose from 31% to 71%, Transform from 23% to 59%, and Elevate from 12% to 28%. Every theme advanced, led by staff experience (+47 percentage points) and curriculum development (+38).

Learners’ digital skills, driven by the discovery tool

Rolled out to learners within personal development programmes, the discovery tool helped drive completions of targeted digital skills programmes from around to over 3,100 digital modules on AI, essential digital skills and cybersecurity.

Teaching, learning and AI

Learner activity in the virtual learning environment rose from 46% to 66% year-on-year, with individual courses transformed (one group moved from 47% learners using the VLE to 100%). After a year of sustained AI CPD, the share of teaching staff working at the most advanced level of practice more than doubled — both in identifying and handling AI in learners’ work, and in sharing AI practice with colleagues.

Time and cost released through automation

The automation and innovation pillar automated manual workflows, while new capabilities, including performance dashboards, AI-assisted careers pathways, virtual campus maps and an AI service assistant for staff, were delivered against named Elevation-tool objectives.

Crucially, the approach shifted digital transformation from a standalone initiative to a continuous improvement journey — underpinned by clear metrics, stakeholder ownership and strategic alignment, with responsibility embedded across teams rather than sitting with a single function.

Jack Leng, head of digital transformation and innovation at Calderdale College, said:

“The elevation tool let us hand genuine objectives to genuine teams, so digital transformation was no longer siloed to one person or one department — it became something the whole College owns. That shift in ownership has done more for our progress than any single piece of technology.”

Next Steps

As the college enters the final year of its digital strategy, the focus shifts from building digital capability to embedding it as the everyday experience of staff and learners.

Teaching and learning

  • Build course virtual learning environments to enable a genuine flipped learning experience, with more courses creating structured online content learners work through independently before class
  • Use class time for active consolidation — applying and discussing content rather than first encountering it — supported by dedicated self-study sessions on the timetable

Automation and innovation

  • Establish data champions within pilot business-support departments to build custom dashboards and develop their data and Power BI skills
  • Use the discovery tool to create digital badges for every business support area, to create bespoke digital targets that are unique per department

Digital marketing

  • Develop the MyCalderdale app into a personalised experience that pushes course specific content to each learner, and tailored guidance for those with particular needs such as exam access arrangements
  • Develop predictive elements to the MyCalderdale app that ensure that learners are provided information to help support them and their learning

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