The Degree Extension for Technicians (DEFT) programme addresses a particular niche in Irish engineering education by offering qualified technicians (currently working in Irish electronics industry) an opportunity to undertake, principally via the Internet, a flexible learning programme leading to a professional engineering degree. This paper addresses the various aspects that make such a mode of learning appropriate to the programme and also looks at the motivation behind the decision to develop a new virtual learning environment (VLE) in-house. The paper also documents the implementation of a challenging project schedule which brought the DEFT programme and VLE to fruition over a 10-month period. The current status of the project, together with experiences to date, conclude the paper.