VIRTUAL LEARNING PLATFORMS

What a VLE might provide…

WHAT IS A VLE?

Definition of a VLE: A Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is a software system

designed to support teaching and learning in an educational setting, as distinct from a Managed Learning Environment (MLE) where the focus is on management.

A VLE will normally work over the Internet and provide a collection of tools such as those for assessment (particularly of types that can be marked automatically, such as multiple choice), communication, uploading of content, return of students' work, peer assessment, administration of student groups, collecting and organizing student grades, questionnaires, tracking tools, etc. New features in these systems include wikis, blogs, RSS and 3D virtual learning spaces.

While originally created for distance education, VLEs are now most often used to supplement traditional face to face classroom activities, commonly known as Blended Learning.

Wikipedia

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!?

The definitions of VLEs/VLPs/MLEs are complicated and difficult to understand…

The important thing is not the technology itself, but what it might enable us to do at within our School…

What is our vision?

THE VISION

The ultimate vision for a learning platform is a non-invasive, but pervasive system which

extends students’ learning from being tied to the classroom environment to provide

opportunities to continue their learning as and when they are ready…

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

Non-invasive but pervasive: The VLE should be a part of everything we do

but never the focus of what we do. It should (in time) become as natural a part

of our teaching and students’ learning as the printed worksheet or textbook currently is…

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

Extending Students’ Learning: The VLE should provide students with access

to a learning environment (not just a collection of resources!) where they can ask questions, explore resources and ideas, and engage in tasks which will enable them to further their understanding…

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

Learning as and when they are ready: The VLE should (in time) provide students

with access to the learning environment from any location, at any time, through a range of possible devices…

This ties in closely with the aim for increasing independent learning within the school…

WHAT MIGHT THIS LOOK LIKE?

For the Student: Access to homework diary & grades Access to an individual calendar (including only events relevant to

them) Access to a personalised notice-board (including only notices relevant

to them) Access to relevant curriculum revision resources Access to class notes (saved from SmartBoard) Access to worked video examples of questions Access to multi-media resources outside of lessons Access to discussion forums (for academic, clubs, sports, events &

activities) Access to collaborative tools which enable students to work together

on projects outside of the classroom Access to online tests which provide instant feedback Access to further resources, links and information

WHAT MIGHT THIS LOOK LIKE?

For the Teacher: Access to an individual calendar (including only events relevant to them) Ability to set homework when it is convenient (eg. queue up work in

advance, or set it 5mins after the lesson) Access to a central gradebook (see how they are doing in other subjects?) Ability to save class teaching time (eg. rather than reviewing the whole

exam paper, provide worked solutions online and then go over any problems)

Ability to set self-marking assignments Ability to offer resources which go beyond the curriculum Ability to enable students who are absent to catch up on relevant work Provide revision resources without significantly impacting photocopy

budgets! Provide easy access to past-papers, mark-schemes and worked examples Provide an effective way to share information and resources within

departments

WHAT MIGHT THIS LOOK LIKE?

For the Tutor (Head of House & Year Head): Ability to monitor work set to their students Ability to monitor homework grades of their students Ability to monitor the various time commitments of students (via

calendars) Ability to send notices to a group Ability to communicate with tutees in a private forum Central resource for information relating to their students:

Timetables, Contact Details, Reports, Assessments, Exam Entries, Homework, SEN, Grades, …

Ability to create a virtual file for their students which would enable teachers to post notes about how they are doing, or about contact with home.

Ability to quickly contact teachers of a particular student without having to ‘bother’ those for whom it is not relevant.

WHAT MIGHT THIS LOOK LIKE?

For the Parent: Ability to access Assessments and Reports Ability to access timetables for their children Ability to access School calendar Ability to communicate with class teachers Ability to see lesson attendance Ability to see behavioral issues (detentions set, commendations

received, etc.) Ability to see homework set & grades of their children Ability to see what activities their children are involved in at school Ability to see letters & communications sent home Ability to book appointments for Parents’ Meetings Ability to pay ‘bill’ online Provide parents with enough information to enable them to talk to their

children more usefully about what they do in school!

WHAT MIGHT THIS LOOK LIKE?

For the School Community: Transition Portal to ease transition between sections of the school

Could include Forums where new students could ask existing students questions Could include video tours of parts of the school Could include ‘day in the life’ stories from existing students (or video diaries) etc…

Student Voice An environment within which students can discuss issues relating to the school Could supplement a student council, giving a voice to a greater proportion of the school Could act as an online presence for Prefects

School Media A YouTube-esq environment within which students can share videos and photographs Allows for peer-review

Governors’ Portal Could form a secure repository for minutes of meetings and other related files Could include discussion forums for working groups to use between meetings etc…

IDEAS…

These are just some ideas for the kind of thing we could do with a VLE, some may not be appropriate for us, some may not be appropriate for now, and there will be lots of other uses I haven’t even thought of!

THE WHOLE SCHOOL…

We are a large and broad school taking students from 2-18+ and we will all have different ideas about what we want to achieve and how this might fit with what we do on a daily basis…

We will not all use the same features in the same way, and we must not strive for uniformity but instead provide structures which support and encourage our individuality…

KEY FOCUS

The key focus in our consideration of a VLE must always remain:

Will this better enable me

to help my students learn?

Where it does, it should be embraced…… and where it doesn’t, it should be ignored!

THE FUTURE…

Society is changing rapidly, our students are ‘digital natives’ having grown up surrounded by technology. They are already engaged in many online social groups (through facebook, myspace, bebo, online forums etc).

We have the opportunity to engage some of our students in a way that is not possible in the traditional classroom setting, encouraging them to share in the ownership of their learning.

WILL THIS MEAN A LOT OF WORK?

Understandably some people will be concerned about whether this will mean more work…

The short answer is ‘probably’ for some people in the short-term.

There will be a some time initially required to upload resources for students to access, establish structures and learn to use the system…

However the long-term aim is to encourage students to build online learning communities where they (and we) can provide support for each other…

LEARNING COMMUNITIES

How might students contribute to a learning community?: Creating and sharing revision resources Writing a presentation and making it available to

the whole class Asking questions on online forums Answering other students’ questions on forums Recording videos of best-practice and sharing them

(eg. How to do a drop kick) Sharing examples of their best work Taking part in peer-review of other students’ work Sharing podcasts of presentations, language orals,

etc. Sharing links to good websites And many other ways I can only begin to imagine…

POTENTIAL

I hope this gives you some idea of the potential for a VLE to enhance what we do at School,

and how it might support our desire to encourage our students to become more

independent learners