Teachers at Suomen Diakoniaopisto decided
what their new learning material would look like

The qualification requirements for the vocational qualification in social and health care were renewed on 1 August 2026, so the competence area needed new learning material in any case. SDO had three options: teachers producing it themselves, buying a ready-made package, or co-development with a partner. Producing it in house was considered for a long time.

Simuna learning environments were already in use in the basic studies and in the competence area of care and rehabilitation for older adults, and the new competence area had to fit into the same whole.

"Building consistent pedagogy across our online campus was one decisive reason why we chose co-development. SDO's teachers brought strong subject expertise in mental health and substance abuse work, and 3DBear brought the online pedagogical and technical expertise", says Education Manager Heli Simonen, whose responsibilities include the online campus and apprenticeship services.

In practice, co-development means that 3DBear is responsible for producing the learning material. The theory base was written with AI assistance, and simulations, avatar conversations and exercises were built around it. The whole came together as six modules in Simuna. The writing was done by Laura Laakkonen, a pedagogical specialist who works at Suomen Diakoniaopisto and carried out this production for 3DBear.

SDO's subject specialists Irina Köntti and Maria Viljamaa went through the material and adjusted it to match the work of a practical nurse. They knew both the qualification requirements and what a practical nurse does independently, what they do alongside another professional, and where the responsibility passes to someone else. The level at which each topic is taught, at each stage of the studies, makes an enormous difference.

The workload on the college stayed where it had been agreed. "The schedule has held up really well, and the time I have spent on co-development has stayed within what was planned," Heli says.

In the simulations, students encounter an aggressive client, an acute psychosis and a situation where self-harm has to be raised in conversation. These situations are difficult to practise in advance, even though they will come up sooner or later at work. In the avatar conversations, students practise the encounter safely, as many times as they want.

The first group started on the new material in August, and comments came in straight away. At SDO, Simuna is known as Nalle. "What's good about Nalle is that you can easily read and revise the key things we've covered," one student notes.

Students say that topics progress sensibly and that every subject comes with a revision exercise. One of them summed up the level like this: "There are easy and simple things, but demanding ones too." That is exactly what Irina and Maria were after when they went through the content from the perspective of a practical nurse's work.

One comment was also a development suggestion. Students found the group exercises good, but many had done them alone and wanted instructions for working through them independently as well.

Alongside the finished material, SDO gained expertise.

The second thing is influence over the content. That is what Heli emphasises when asked what she would say to another education manager. "With co-development, you have a great deal of influence on the content that goes into a qualification module. Being able to influence the level the material is set at has also been important."

The material also keeps developing. The first user feedback from teachers and students guides the next round, and the second qualification module in the competence area will be ready in spring 2027, produced the same way.

Laura recommends the model to colleagues at other colleges: "It's absolutely worth getting involved."

Co-development is how we produce new Simuna learning materials. If your material is due for renewal, let's look together at what that would mean in your case.