EdTech UK University Virtual Learning Environment — Multi-Campus

LMS scale requirements

42,000 students, 8,400 staff, 280 degree programmes, 4,200 course shells per year.

Peak load

exam season (May–June) — 28,000 concurrent users.

Architecture

• ECS Fargate (Next.js frontend + Node.js API — auto-scaling, 5 tasks minimum → 60 tasks peak), ElastiCache Redis (session management + course content caching — LCP &lt
• 2s even at peak), RDS Aurora PostgreSQL Multi-AZ (high availability — no planned maintenance windows).

Content delivery

CloudFront (lecture recordings, PDF course materials, interactive content — global CDN, on-campus students download from UK edge).

Zero maintenance window

• blue-green deployment (ECS service update with zero downtime — new task set started before old stopped).
• Canvas-Style Course Management and LTI 1.3

Ecosystem

• Canvas-equivalent course management: (1) course creation (degree programme → module → course shell), (2) content authoring (rich text, file upload, embedded video — lecture recordings via Panopto API), (3) assignment submission (student uploads via web — virus scan via ClamAV before storage), (4) Turnitin integration (LTI 1.3 — plagiarism detection for all written assignments), (5) grading (inline feedback, SpeedGrader equivalent), (6) gradebook (weighted grade calculation — module credit weightings, degree classification).
• LTI 1.3 ecosystem: Turnitin (plagiarism), ExLibris Leganto (reading list), Panopto (lecture capture), Zoom (virtual classes), Microsoft Teams (collaboration), Kahoot (formative assessment).
• All 6 via LTI 1.3 — no additional login for students.

UCAS Integration and Student Portal

UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service): application data for incoming students.

Integration

• 1UCAS course list (REST API — available degree programmes, UCAS codes, module options),
• 2applicant data (accepted offer → student record created in LMS — name, applicant ID, course, campus),
• 3pre-arrival access (incoming students access orientation materials before enrolment).

Student portal

personalised dashboard — today's timetable, outstanding assignments (due date countdown), recent grades, reading list, announcements.

UCAS data protection

UCAS applicant data is personal data — Article 30 ROPA entry for UCAS → LMS data flow.

Erasure

when applicant withdraws application → UCAS triggers erasure webhook → applicant record deleted.

PSBAR Accessibility and AADC Compliance

PSBAR (Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations): all UK university digital services must be WCAG 2.1 AA compliant.

LMS accessibility

• 1every interactive component keyboard-navigable (Tab, Enter, Esc — GOV.UK Design System accessibility patterns adapted for HE context),
• 2NVDA screen reader tested (every submission form, gradebook, course content),
• 3auto-generated captions on all lecture recordings (AWS Transcribe — 94.2% accuracy, manual review for technical content),
• 4accessible PDF generation (course materials uploaded as PDFs → AWS Textract accessibility check → flag non-tagged PDFs for remediation). AADC (foundation year students under 18): age-verified at registration — AADC controls applied (no behavioural profiling, social features off by default, parental consent workflow).