Uniservity

[elloyd69]

We are just in the discussion process regarding new VLE and think we are going with Uniservity (one of county's 3 recommendations and what feeder schools are using). Just curious as to whether anyone has any experience with it (good or bad )??? Thanks guys.

[matt40k]

(neally) every school in Suffolk is using it. Personally I prefer SLG2 or Moodle.

[Domino]

A quick forum search for the term uniservity should be pretty enlightening...

Personally I wasn't impressed - the system was pretty unintuitive, not majorly customizable and restrictive on storage (something which cripples VLE use IMO)

[cookie_monster]

We used Uniservity for a few years and It was ok, we're now with RM Kaleidos and I've yet to talk to a member of staff that likes it most of them loath it as far as I can tell. Both of them seem to be poor on storage and the students hate them both. They simply aren't designed to appeal to students, they really need to focus on features that will get students involved. I think a facebook style area with a private wall feature where they can put posts on requesting help from staff would be great and would provide a history of help that staff have provided that they can refer back too.

Anyway back on thread most of the staff here would like to go back to uniservity.

[lew_bob]

We use it,..

just don't though would be my recommendation. We are currently looking else were for a system that appeals to the teachers and students alike. We recently found one good point about uniservity and that is the quiz/survey system is quite good. Unfortunatly you still regulary get timeouts and during a recent survey I have had to deal with a number of users who are having to constently refresh due to 'uniservity has encountered an error please refresh'.

Using basic html and creativity with the custom and hidden folders you can create some nice looking pages but this is somewhat more for the advanced user and require some nice graphics, being a photoshop power user the graphics part was easy for myself. The general over simplification of the system as a whole however I've found is enough to drive not only me (techie) but the teachers insane.

As a basic, basic system its not too bad depending on what you wish to do. Just dont expect anything amazing and certainly dont expect it to be quick,.. with one class using it for revision I must have nearly cut off suffolk from the www as the schools connection dropped to pre 14.4 days

[Gibbo]

We switched to it from Digitalbrain. It seems to be a big improvement.

We just wanted something simple that we could leave the teachers with (we don't have the time or staff to maintain it like other schools do), and it seems to tick the boxes.

[matt40k]

We switched to it from Digitalbrain. It seems to be a big improvement.

Don't remind me of my days repairing staff DB mailboxs, thank god no-one used anything but the POP3 email. That was bad enough.

[lew_bob]

Oh I should comment that we are a high school for context. IMO uniservitity isnt suited well to high schools or larger lower schools.

[pmp4]

The majority of the schools in Brighton are using it.

We find it highly customisable, great tools and it is suitable for both Primary and Secondary schools. The teachers are able to use the site quickly compared to some others products they have worked with. The features are constantly updated and Univservity hold regional user forums which are free to attend. They have proved very useful, especially when you get to meet teachers from other schools who have some great ideas. The training and support has also been good. Most importantly the kids love it!

[Soulfish]

It's been rolled out here in East Sussex by our LEA a year ago. We still haven't got anyone using it properly, and found it to be a pain to administer, clunky and just not that great in general. Coupled with just how slow it can get and it just isn't a workable solution for us.

We're now in the process of thinking/planning a move back to a inhouse Moodle install

[tideway]

We have been using UniServity since last June (08) - used Fronter before that and think.com before that!

I have posted examples of the cross curricular work we have been doing at www.learningplatforms.info if that's of any help.

I must admit that when we were choosing a learning platform / vle in school the starting point was not so much the technology as 'what do you want to do in terms of learning and how will the technology support this'.

Jim

[mattboot]

I've been using the Uniservity Learning Platform for a couple of years in Warrington, both in school, and running training for other schools as an AST, and I love it. Have a look atGrappenhall Heys Primary School ** The Year 4 teacher's page is particularly good. Teachers here love it, as there is a massive range of stuff that can be done. The projects available from Uniservity are spot on (I've just met one of my performance management targets through their collaborative projects, as I was put in touch with a Hong Kong Uniservity school to work with, and our Y4 children are now working together), and they cover objectives from YR to KS4

Once you understand the way it works, the uses of the tools are endless - we have kids in Reception using forums, talking with fictional characters, and my Y5 class have just been creating an alien world wiki. http://http://www.school-portal.co.u...urceId=2129118, in 1 lesson.

I've seen schools using it a range of ways, from hosting useful material to use at home, to allowing children to explore their learning paths in real personalised learning. Teachers take to it quickly, because it is not massively technical. What works best is having a coule of keen people to forge ahead. Trot along to the Uniservity user events, and you;ll see load of good ideas for the way it can be used with the children.

[Philby]

Chosen Uniservity and just starting the process. 1st Consultancy meeting soon. So far so good in tewrms of service. We are a secondary scholl. we liked the way the VLE can sit behind our website, looking identical to it. Single sign on in Worcestershire too.

[CyberNerd]

We've had Uniservity for 3 yrs, but pulled out because of it's poor feature set and lack of usability for secondary. We chose Moodle because it has better integration with Sims.net, active directory integration, more features, better reliability with large files (not over WAN) and staff prefered it.

[matt40k]

I've been using the Uniservity Learning Platform for a couple of years in Warrington, both in school, and running training for other schools as an AST, and I love it. Have a look atGrappenhall Heys Primary School ** The Year 4 teacher's page is particularly good. Teachers here love it, as there is a massive range of stuff that can be done. The projects available from Uniservity are spot on (I've just met one of my performance management targets through their collaborative projects, as I was put in touch with a Hong Kong Uniservity school to work with, and our Y4 children are now working together), and they cover objectives from YR to KS4

Once you understand the way it works, the uses of the tools are endless - we have kids in Reception using forums, talking with fictional characters, and my Y5 class have just been creating an alien world wiki. http://http://www.school-portal.co.u...urceId=2129118, in 1 lesson.

I've seen schools using it a range of ways, from hosting useful material to use at home, to allowing children to explore their learning paths in real personalised learning. Teachers take to it quickly, because it is not massively technical. What works best is having a coule of keen people to forge ahead. Trot along to the Uniservity user events, and you;ll see load of good ideas for the way it can be used with the children.

No spam protection then.

[rant]
Also, may just be me, but I like something that actually reads the rule book and follows it, ie uses valid HTML. Surely it looks bad when you're teaching (ok only really applys for secondaries) web design and you say about valid code when your own website\VLE doesn't obey the rules.
[/rant]

[Invalid] Markup Validation of http://www.school-portal.co.uk/GroupHomePage.asp?GroupId=153269 - W3C Markup Validator