Venture: A Digital Solution for the Intervener Certification Program

Amy was the Assistant Director at the National Center on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB), housed at Western Oregon University, where she led a small, dedicated team tasked with creating a national certification program for Interveners—specialized professionals who support children who are both deaf and blind.

From the start, Amy faced an enormous logistical problem. Each certification candidate was required to submit a portfolio demonstrating mastery of dozens of competencies. These portfolios arrived in binders, filled with paper, DVDs, and flash drives. Shipping costs mounted, tracking submissions was nearly impossible, and ensuring consistent scoring across states was a constant struggle.

Amy knew that if the certification program was going to succeed, it needed a digital solution—one that could bring together mentors, candidates, and reviewers from across the country in a single, organized, accessible space.

The certification process involved multiple stakeholders—candidates, mentors, and reviewers—each with unique workflows. The existing tools weren't up to the task. NCDB experimented with Mahara, an open-source e-portfolio platform for the Moodle LMS, but it required deep modification to handle the program's structure, security, and reporting needs.

They needed:

• A secure portal for candidates to upload videos and documentation.
• A workspace for mentors to review and coach candidates.
• A multi-reviewer scoring environment with built-in Inter-Observer Agreement (IOA) calculations to ensure fairness.
• A dashboard for administrators to monitor progress and program outcomes.

The challenge wasn't just technical, it was systemic. The process had to be equitable, accessible, and intuitive for users with a wide range of technical comfort levels.

Working from within Western Oregon University, UpStart developed Venture, a custom web-based e-portfolio platform designed specifically for the NCDB certification process. Over just three months, we translated the program's complex manual workflows into an intuitive digital experience.

Key Features:

• Secure candidate portfolios with structured evidence uploads.
• Real-time mentor feedback and collaboration.
• Integrated scoring rubrics and automated IOA algorithms.
• Administrative dashboards with progress and reviewer performance insights.

Our development approach was fast, collaborative, and deeply informed by Amy's on-the-ground understanding of what the program truly needed.

Within weeks of launch, Venture transformed NCDB's certification program:

• Time savings: Review cycles shortened from weeks to days.
• Consistency: IOA algorithms ensured reliable, standardized scoring.
• Access: Reviewers could work remotely, reducing travel and shipping costs.
• Transparency: Mentors and candidates could see feedback and track progress in real time.

What once required boxes of binders and days of coordination now happened securely in a browser window. Venture empowered the NCDB team to scale a complex certification system across multiple states without losing quality or accountability.

Every improvement in process leads to an improvement in impact. By digitizing the Intervener Certification process, NCDB could focus more on preparing professionals and less on managing paperwork.

Behind each certified Intervener is a child gaining access to the world through connection, communication, and care. A product like Venture demonstrates how thoughtful technology can bridge gaps between people, places, and possibilities.