Overview

The California Policy Collaborative (CPC) enlisted LPA’s support to design and develop a customized website with a fully integrated Learning Management System (LMS) that provides legislative staff an e-learning course on the fundamentals of California education policy, along with the opportunity to build connections and essential skills to help them effectively shape state policy in their roles, all while earning a course certificate and optional college credits at the University of California, Davis.

“LPA’s strategic guidance, technical expertise, adaptability and attention detail have been foundational to our organization’s success! The team’s creative and digital strategists developed a sustainable online learning platform that is core to CPC’s strategy and the team’s ability to effectively tell our story through content and creative design has been phenomenal. I am confident that the e-learning tool they have created will support legislative staff members in gaining essential policy knowledge for years to come, all for the benefit of California’s children and communities.”

Samantha Tran
Founder & Executive Director, California Policy Collaborative

Goals of the Campaign

The project goals were defined as follows:

• Establish the CPC brand—including the development of a logo, visual identity and messaging strategy.
• Develop a custom website to introduce CPC and an integrated LMS to host an online course that provides a pleasant user experience, maximizes engagement, and aligns with e-learning best practices.
• Develop a fully operational prototype that can be tested by a pilot cohort of early-career staff, funders and evaluators.

Strategic Approach

After establishing the CPC brand and doing initial research—our team developed a user-centered blueprint for the new website with actionable steps for the design and development team. This strategy carefully considered target audiences and employed our team’s deep understanding of public affairs and knowledge of the California state legislature, in order to plan effective user journeys that account for various stakeholders and their unique experiences. In addition, we worked closely with CPC staff to utilize best practices and optimize the course curriculum for online learning.

Team LPA executed this project on budget and on time—combining various website software to create a custom solution to fit our client and user needs while delivering technical, design and written elements to complete a fully operational prototype.

Results

LPA deployed the customized capolicycollaborative.org complete with a seamlessly integrated learning management system. With nearly 40 users in the pilot cohort, the site supports a 5-section education policy course that includes interactive and visual features like quizzes, surveys, response questions and a range of multimedia and downloadable resources.

Building on the success of the pilot, CPC is expanding the LMS in 2023 to include an updated TK-12 policy course and a new early learning policy course. This work is being supported by numerous philanthropic partners in California, including the Stuart Foundation, Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, Sobrato Philanthropies, Silver Giving and Heising Simons Foundation.