What do YOU want a VLE to do for you?

[vlegeek]

Evening all

I am researching VLEs at the mo, and while I know there are a few (!) out there, it occurs to me, having read some of the threads, it would be very useful to know what you do, at this time, want a VLE to do and also thinking into the future.

Please do respond with your thoughts; all info is great.

Thanks in advance

[Ceedee]

Hi, I am using Kaleidos VLE with Year 5 at the moment and have the unenviable task of getting all my school's teachers onboard! I think I want the LP to give children a motivating, enriching experience to encourage them to learn independently...thats the theory anyway!

[WithoutMotive]

With regard to our current VLE solution provided by RM and the LA, what I would like from it is for it to WORK! It's constantly slow, constantly being updated and constantly not working. I'm not sure how they expect it to be a main teaching tool when it's off.

[Ceedee]

I agree with you about the slowness....that is a real pain. I keep getting told that's because I have lots of multimedia on my areas but I thought that was one of the main points to it! I don't have much trouble with it not working however....my main trouble is getting other teachers in school to be as enthusiastic as me

[scgf]

We use It's Learning and I am very enthusiastic. A VLE is a way of engaging learners in lots of different ways. All sorts of resources can be provided and different ways of learner interaction can be established.

In my school, I introduced the VLE to the pupils first and got them messaging and blogging. Only then did I start introducing it to staff.

My aim was to eliminate the ICT support guys from the equation - I as a teacher set everything up and trained staff on how to do the various things they need to do. It was important to me that nobody had to run to a technician to ask him/her to upload something. My philosophy is that our ICT system should be led by teachers not technicians (sorry guys!). Tech support should just 'make it so'.

One good way of getting staff on board is to post important notices via the VLE and to get them to do all internal messaging through the VLE rather than email. Having some 'must have' resources is also very useful. We have just bought into Music Delta (Velkommen til Musicdelta) a superb Norwegian music product which slots into most VLEs. We have also upgraded to the VLE versions of all the Boarworks products which staff seem to like.

We have created a virtual staffroom where important documents are placed so staff get used to logging on to access them.

We have been using It's Learning for just over a year and there are a great many courses set up and staff will use a course as a vehicle for collaboration. Pupils can set up courses too - these are called projects and they invite other pupils to join rather than adding them as participants like a member of staff would do. Staff like the way pupils can hand in work through the VLE and how easy it is for the teacher to access it for assessment. It sure beats an intranet!

The testing feature is coming on well to and there are several interactive types of questioning possible.

I like to think of the VLE as a virtual classroom. During one of our recent closures due to bad weather it was interesting to see how many pupils had logged into It's Learning from home.

Interestingly, It's Learning doesn't seem particularly slow. The servers are in Norway, but are on the JANET backbone as are the UK educational boroadband providers.

[dhicks]

it would be very useful to know what you do, at this time, want a VLE to do and also thinking into the future.

A VLE should be a light-weight, open framework that allows as many people as possible (network administrators, software developers, teaching assistants, pupils, teachers) to add content and features. Large monolithic systems should be avoided.

--
David Hicks