History & Achievements

CAPDM Ltd was incorporated on the 11th October 1996 by Martin Smith, Duncan Hothersall, Richard Kirby and Ken Currie. We are based in Edinburgh, UK.

The goal of the founders was to create a company that would apply the new international SGML/XML information standards, and internet and electronic publishing technologies, to improve the quality of materials provision in education.

The company name came from a generic model of information publishing, the CAPDM Model, that emerged in the late 1980s to address the technical manual publishing needs of aircraft companies and automotive manufacturers.

During its early years, the company was fortunate to be heavily involved in the development and growth of the highly successful distance learning MBA programme at Edinburgh Business School, which today is the largest non-tutored online distance learning MBA programme in the world.

A few of our company development highlights have been:

2024

Mac Keith Press
completed and launched an extensive and highly interactive new Child Development and Disability Essentials e-learning programme endorsed by the British Academy of Childhood Disability, with 18 modules and 50+ hours of study.

2023

Pearson
renewed support contract for a range of UK-based services for higher education, and added new Spanish language services to existing contract.

University of London Worldwide
continued to provide production systems to underpin the management of learning content across a range of major programmes.

2022

UK G-Cloud 13 Awards
awarded Crown Commercial Service Framework Contract for two services in Moodle Service Hosting and XML Course Production – Cloud Based

Mac Keith Press
provided ongoing delivery support for EACCME® accredited courses in Childhood Neurology serving 38 countries

University of West of Scotland
provided ongoing MBA program maintenance and online delivery support for Online World programme

2021

University of Aberdeen
helped university to develop and launch a new online Masters in Energy Economics and Finance

Erasmus+ R&D
“REACTI-VET” – completed EU partnership project contribution and work to provide effective and necessary training and support for Vocational Education Teachers in Europe

University of St Andrews
online hosting of “Introduction to Statistics” workshop for the Centre for Research into Ecological and Environmental Modelling

Mac Keith Press
launched two EACCME® accredited courses in Childhood Neurology

University of West of Scotland
provided ongoing MBA program maintenance and online delivery support for Online World programme and updated online courses for Health team

2020

University of St Andrews
development of online course for the Centre for Research into Ecological and Environmental Modelling

University of West of Scotland
development of new online CPD course delivery solution

2019

University of Aberdeen
helped university to launch new online Diploma in Petroleum Engineering, Economics and Finance

University of London International Programmes
new work to improve the generation of more accessible distance learning course materials

Mac Keith Press
the development of innovative online learning for highly specialist medical training courses

Simply Academy
developed new Diploma for Financial Advisers (DipFA®) course in Financial Services Regulation Ethics

Erasmus+ Agriteach 4.0 project
completed three year EU development partnership work for the Agriteach 4.0 project – Connecting VET Teachers to Agriculture

2018

Erasmus+ R&D
“REACTI-VET” – new EU partnership project approved for implementation over next 30 months

Simply Academy
Renewed CeMAP and CMACert programmes, developed new CeRER programme and migrated learning delivery platform to Moodle 3.5

University of Aberdeen
delivered first courses for proof-of-concept project in support of new online postgraduate programme delivery capability for the Business School to own and operate. Won public tender to develop 20 more online courses for the University

University of West of Scotland
renewed annual program maintenance and online delivery service agreement for MBA Online World programme and developed new leadership online course for Health team

2017

Erasmus+ vocational training project
new European project partnership “Connecting VET Teachers to Agriculture 4.0” accepted for funding with 98/100 content assessment

Simply Academy
renewed CeMAP and CMACert programmes

University of London International Programmes
setup new Courseworker application service for the team to use for course development. Co-development of new Queen-Mary MBA program and new PGCert program

University of Aberdeen
awarded public tender for a proof-of-concept project to host and support a new online postgraduate programme delivery platform for the Business School.

2016

University of London International Programmes
delivery of ground-breaking master’s program, that enables students to gain an MSc degree and ACCA professional accountancy qualification at the same time

University of West of Scotland
renewed program maintenance and online delivery service agreement for their online MBA Program

2015

University of London International Programmes
new online distance learning program development contract

Simply Academy
new online distance learning program development contract

Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors
new online distance learning program development contract

Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy
new online distance learning program development contract

OpenQAsS and Flip-IT!
began work on 3-year EU funded Erasmus+ projects

2014

British Council
won public tender for continued development/maintenance and environment delivery of successful Connecting Classrooms professional development environment. This work included single source mastering and management, and ongoing Moodle service support for courses being delivered to 15,000+ users worldwide in English, Bangala and Chinese.

University of West of Scotland
development of two new online MBA and Certificate in Higher Education programmes

Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors
new programme development

The Policy Practice
new programme development

StudyGroup
new production work

OpenQAsS Erasmus+ project
European project partnership

2013

British Council
production of 6 new courses in Bangala for the Connecting Classrooms international schools programme and XML course domain

University of Iceland
development of a swim-science MOOC

Brunel University
single-source published new online course

Dundee University
single-source published new online Masters course for Medical School

University West of Scotland
single-source published new online course in Health and Fitness

TENG-SPORTS
third European production partnership for a Leonardo da Vinci funded project

Opus Learning Ltd.
launch of our own online distance learning B2B College and approved Scottish Qualifications Authority Study Centre

2012

Courseworker
re-launch of our application service on Amazon EC2 Cloud platform

Edinburgh Napier University
launch of two new online global Masters programmes

2011

Liverpool John Moores University
delivery of three new Masters programmes

Edinburgh Napier University partnership to develop and market two more Masters level programs

EdICT Training
working to develop a new Diploma in ICT for Teachers

SME 2.0
second European production partnership for a Leonardo da Vinci funded project

2010

Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors UK
development of Advanced Diploma program for online delivery

British Council
online workshops for the Global Schools Partnership program

University of Edinburgh
three new online Certificate modules in Sports Science

2009

University College of Estate Management
licensed “Courseworker” XML production environment for course production

Liverpool John Moores University
won public tender for 150K contract to develop three new Masters programs

2008

The London Instiute of Banking and Finance (ifs University College)
licensed first Courseworker XML production environment

TIES (Iceland) and TENEGEN (Hungary)
European course production partnerships for the Leonardo da Vinci projects

2007

British Council
development of on-line workshop environment for Global Schools Partnership program using our Digital Workbook concept to implement a simple, flexible and highly-innovative, eportfolio solution for teachers around the World.

2006

£10 million
helped our customers achieve more than £10 million of global education business in one year

2005

UK Schools
developed and delivered a national program in finance for UK schools

2004

West Lothian Council
development of accredited eLearning course units for new Business Learning Network portal

2003

Interactive University
development of distance learning “Business English” program

2002

Award
Deloitte & Touche’s 5th fastest growing technology company in the UK, 30th fastest in Europe

2001

Pearson Education
substantial program development contract

New Head Office
move to central Edinburgh

2000

Development
series of innovative reusable learning objects and simulations in finance and mathematics for Heriot-Watt University

1999

Edinburgh Business School
new eMBA production contract

1998

Unext.com
produced learning materials in finance which helped the launch of Unext.com in Chicago

1997

City of Edinburgh
launched the city’s website EdWeb (bringing over 1 million web visitors to virtually visit the official guide to the city online)

1996

Incorporation
in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK