UZschool
School of Ultrasound Diagnostics
In 2019, Inessa Safonova, a doctor of medical sciences and ambassador for the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology, decided to found the international ultrasound school "UZSchool." We discuss the challenges she faced in organizing a distance learning system and why the "theCabinet" platform was the best fit for this purpose.
Challenge for business
The main challenge in creating a portal for the school was its multidisciplinary nature. UZSchool planned to offer online and in-person courses, webinars, offline lectures, an in-house knowledge base, and even a library. This diverse set of tools made developing a personal account for the school's website very expensive.
After brainstorming, the UZSchool team compiled a list of essential features for the future platform.
Events
Collecting applications for webinars and offline lectures, monitoring the maximum number of participants
Knowledge Base
For the publication of medical protocols - guidelines for diagnosis and treatment
Feedback
A way to clarify unclear points directly with the teacher
Courses
The ability to post lessons, combine them into a single program, and track participants' progress
Tests
Knowledge testing after each lesson and a final exam at the end of the course
Additional materials
Publishing presentations and links to relevant literature for quick access after course completion
Online payment
The ability to centrally accept payments for any school products—courses, events, webinar recordings, etc.
Shop
A tool for selling book series. Printed books should be available for order with worldwide delivery.
Gift certificate
Students of the school should have the opportunity to give a gift certificate for education in the form of a plastic card
Search for a solution
Initially, the UZSchool team tried to make do with a combination of ready-made solutions. Course registration took place through the school's website using the Tilda builder, video lessons were published on YouTube, quizzes were on Google Forms, and additional materials were stored on Google Drive.
| Task | Tool | Реализация | Недостатки |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration | Tilda | Клиенты оставляют заявку через форму на сайте | - |
| Payment | Tilda | Через подключенную к сайту платежную систему | - |
| Lessons | YouTube | Уроки курса опубликованы на хостинге с правом доступа по ссылке | Слабая защита от пиратства — бесплатного распространения ссылок на уроки |
| Tests | Google Формы | В описании видео-урока прикреплена ссылка на тест. После прохождения теста участник курса получает доступ к следующему уроку | Для каждого потока студентов необходимо создавать отдельный набор тестов и вручную менять все ссылки в описаниях видеоуроков |
| Knowledge base | Tilda | Опубликована на отдельной странице сайта | Чтобы опубликовать новый документ, необходимо заниматься обновлением верстки целой страницы |
| Обратная связь | Telegram | Ученики попадают в закрытый чат в мессенджере, где могут обсудить задания и задать вопросы преподавателю | - |
| Additional materials | Google Disk | Ученики получают ссылку на папку со всеми дополнительными материалами | Необходимость создавать отдельные папки для каждого курса и следить за тем, чтобы не запутаться в ссылках |
| Shop | Tilda | На отдельной странице сайта | Необходимость поддерживать отдельную страницу и следить за заявками |
The main drawback of the resulting system was the difficulty of maintenance and version control. All course components were scattered across various tools and interconnected, creating inconvenience. Changing one detail required traversing the entire chain. This system was also inconvenient for students, who had to constantly switch between different services. Furthermore, the lack of a single window for managing all course materials created the feeling of a hastily constructed system. As UZSchool grew, it added many more courses, lessons, and events. It became clear that maintaining the current system was impractical, and it was time to move to the next level.
Solution
The team's first idea was to create a custom website based on a WordPress template. However, developing and maintaining such a platform requires either a thorough understanding of technical details or an on-staff programmer. The school's current website, built on the Tilda website builder, performed well and was easy to maintain. The UZSchool team wanted something similar for their student personal account: they could learn how to use the service once, and then manage everything themselves. The final solution was the personal account builder "theCabinet." It enabled the UZSchool team to implement all the necessary tools and even receive several significant additional bonuses.
Courses
After payment on the school's website, students receive a login and password for their personal account. The course description, topics, and curriculum are displayed on the course card. A video from YouTube or another video hosting site is embedded in the lesson, along with a description and any additional materials.
Course participants can discuss the topic covered in the comments below the lesson or ask questions in private messages with the instructor—all within their personal account.
Tests and homework
To assess the material covered, the platform offers two functions: quizzes and homework. The quizzes have flexible settings, allowing you to set a passing score, the number of points awarded for advanced questions, the maximum number of attempts, and other parameters.
If necessary, access to the next lesson will be granted to the student only after successfully passing the test or checking homework.
Accepting payment
"TheCabinet" allows you to set up paid access for any content within your personal account. The platform supports six payment systems for card and POS terminal payments, including subscription-based payments.
A "Product" parameter is defined for a file, article, video, knowledge base, event, or course, allowing you to set a price and accept payments for it. The UZSchool team uses this tool to manage registration for paid webinars and events, as well as to sell their videos.
Shop
For physical goods, the administrator sets the stock balance and offers a choice of delivery methods. To place an order, the user adds one or more books to the cart and specifies payment and delivery methods.
Knowledge Base
The school's instructors have compiled all the additional materials needed to be readily available into a separate knowledge base. Only those who have completed the course have access to the library. For all website visitors, the UZSchool team has prepared an open database of medical protocols—diagnosis and treatment guidelines.
Multilingualism
As the school entered the international market, the platform's built-in multilingual support proved extremely useful.
Segmentation and funnel
The platform's basic tools allow you to segment your audience and display only relevant content for each specific user group in your personal account. Moreover, the content in your account can change as the client moves to the next stage of the funnel. Thus, "theCabinet" shields visitors from information noise, keeping the most important information in sight.
CRM
With the built-in CRM, managers can track each user's purchase history and correspondence history and manage students' bonus accounts.
Newsletters
Using theCabinet platform, the school team sends out newsletters to its client base. For example, to draw attention to the launch of a new course or the opening of registration for an event.
The designer allows you to create a beautiful letter and send it only to the audience for whom it will be relevant
Collecting data for certificates
At the end of the training, UZSchool issues certificates of completion to participants. To complete these, the team often requires up-to-date information, such as place of work, job title, mailing address, and so on.
The "theCabinet" platform allows you to collect this data in your student's personal account using the "Forms" tool. Visibility settings allow you to display the form only to those users who need to fill it out.
Results
Although the platform initially seemed quite complex, its implementation didn't take long. The "theCabinet" team conducted an hour-long briefing, identifying the school's key goals and analyzing the personal account's use cases.
Three business days later, the platform manager presented the school team with a prototype personal account that addressed all of UZSchool's key needs. The prototype was already connected to the school's main website and was fully operational.
It took a few more days to populate the dashboard with content, organize courses, and migrate data from the website. Since the school team had already connected the payment system to the website, integrating it into the dashboard took just a few clicks. Ultimately, the entire platform integration into UZSchool took just one week.
7 days
Developing a personal account and fully transferring data took time.
5 out of 5
Platform evaluation from UZSchool founder Inessa Safonova
5000
Doctors have become students of the school over the past 5 years.
The platform allowed us to quickly implement tools, optimize processes, and experiment with formats.
Inessa Safonova, Founder of UZS
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Solutions
Online school
A blended learning solution. Online courses, offline learning, quizzes, events, knowledge bases, and a subscription model.
Partner's account
Systematic work with a partner network, maintaining attention, motivation, training, and partner retention