Sharepoint VLE

[nathan]

Just looking into VLE options for our schools and wondered if anyone uses Sharepoint (from 365)?

 

I understand that it's missing some features of a traditional VLE, such as goal setting etc but i dont any of our primary schools use it. It would represent a massive saving for us so i'm certainly interested in looking into this more.

 

If anyone has any feedback that would be great.

[afc123]

Microsoft have abandoned public sharepoint sites so unless you already joined up you're out of luck!

[ForgotMyPassword]

I'd seriously urge against caution if you've already got access to it.

 

What you'll find from speaking to people is that SOMEONE somewhere, loves ALL the VLEs, and there's plenty of schools that have got one of the big players to 'work' for them. However, I'd go back to basics and work out what you're trying to accomplish and what you'll need to get there? Sharepoint is not the easiest to get to use, so what you 'save' vs another solution may well get burnt up in time spent training (and remember that it's the middle ground of ability you want to focus on, not the high flying tech-wizzes....!)

 

Again it goes back to 'what are you trying to do' - if you're trying to find a neat way of creating classes, sharing and communicating then ClassDojo may have you covered, or even Edmodo.

 

If you want to go super-snazzy then there are still some premium VLEs out there (Frog et al) but in a lot of cases these are overkill if you don't use all the bells and whistles and they can be quite prescriptive in HOW you work, which you may not dig.

 

Lastly, I'd suggest the decision forms part of the overall strategy for where you see your ICT Strategy going - for example if you're mad about Chromebooks then a move to GAfE and perhaps classroom is worth looking at. If you're doing huge amounts with iPads then iTunes U is great for older ones but not as suitable IMO for Primary so my pick there would be Class Dojo. If you're hedging your bets and/or haven't fully committed to one particular manufacturer then Edmodo could do a lot of what you need for the setup of classes and the transit of work between teachers and students. That being said, for Primary level I'd even look at something like Padlet for the teachers - it may hang on how much the students will be active creators and curators of content but class blogs, showcasing of exemplar work and a basic communication system could easily be done using other free (non-techy) tools.

 

Sorry, I don't feel I've given you a very clear answer here but in my experience I would think really carefully before pushing Sharepoint...

 

Cheers,

James

[nathan]

Microsoft have abandoned public sharepoint sites so unless you already joined up you're out of luck!

 

I'm not sure i understand what you mean?

 

I'd seriously urge against caution if you've already got access to it.

 

What you'll find from speaking to people is that SOMEONE somewhere, loves ALL the VLEs, and there's plenty of schools that have got one of the big players to 'work' for them. However, I'd go back to basics and work out what you're trying to accomplish and what you'll need to get there? Sharepoint is not the easiest to get to use, so what you 'save' vs another solution may well get burnt up in time spent training (and remember that it's the middle ground of ability you want to focus on, not the high flying tech-wizzes....!)

 

Again it goes back to 'what are you trying to do' - if you're trying to find a neat way of creating classes, sharing and communicating then ClassDojo may have you covered, or even Edmodo.

 

If you want to go super-snazzy then there are still some premium VLEs out there (Frog et al) but in a lot of cases these are overkill if you don't use all the bells and whistles and they can be quite prescriptive in HOW you work, which you may not dig.

 

Lastly, I'd suggest the decision forms part of the overall strategy for where you see your ICT Strategy going - for example if you're mad about Chromebooks then a move to GAfE and perhaps classroom is worth looking at. If you're doing huge amounts with iPads then iTunes U is great for older ones but not as suitable IMO for Primary so my pick there would be Class Dojo. If you're hedging your bets and/or haven't fully committed to one particular manufacturer then Edmodo could do a lot of what you need for the setup of classes and the transit of work between teachers and students. That being said, for Primary level I'd even look at something like Padlet for the teachers - it may hang on how much the students will be active creators and curators of content but class blogs, showcasing of exemplar work and a basic communication system could easily be done using other free (non-techy) tools.

 

Sorry, I don't feel I've given you a very clear answer here but in my experience I would think really carefully before pushing Sharepoint...

 

Cheers,

James

 

Thanks for the reply. Training wise, we have to train our staff anyway regardless of platform we use. We will mainly use it for collaboration and communication between staff members between our schools. Students will use it but certainly not extensively.

[afc123]

Microsoft confirms it is dropping Public Website feature from SharePoint Online | ZDNet

[psydii]

But a VLE isn't a public website? It is membership based, and with schools so are classes...

[TechMonkey]

We use Sharepoint as a Parent Portal. It works, just, but it is a pain up the backside. I'm sure if we had a fully qualifying Sharepoint person it would be fine but we are self taught and muddle through. Silly things like any changes of groups in AD takes overnight to update due to a task. Sometimes forcing the task to run works, sometimes it doesn't. There seems to be lots of password issues, more than I would expect from just user error. Also tablet access can be interesting.

 

It is such as shame as it should "Just Work"™. I think the issue is possibly having external users, so not users we can easily control

 

Overall I would suggest getting a proper VLE in that will have taken these kind of considerations into mind and have someone you can yell at if things go funny rather than it all being on your head.

[nathan]

We wouldnt be running it on site but rather than hosted on 365, i presume you run it on site?

 

I'm comparing it against others and will pit it's pros/cons against the others.

[GrumbleDook]

(partly at @TechMonkey)

SharePoint can very easily be a 'proper' VLE ... in the same way that Moodle can just be a dumping ground for files.*

 

All platforms can be done well or badly, you just have to work out what you really want.

 

Think of the core tool sets of VLEs.

 

Wikis, Discussions, Blogs, Media Galleries (pictures, videos, audio), file repositories, assigning work (files, learning objects or full SCORM objects), calendars, document creation tools (office style applications?)

 

Then look at what can be done and how easily / complex.

 

Do you want to manage it to segregate particular areas? Only allow staff to do certain tasks, etc?

 

SharePoint tends to work best when pre-built for you with add-ons, aimed at working in particular ways (in the same way Moodle is based around Course Management). If you don't want to do that, then look at what is needed. If you find that there is nothing out there that is free (i.e. it doesn't cost for licences and the time spent is negligible) then you may want to consider where your investment goes ... in training staff, employing staff or buying a product and solution in ... whether it is SharePoint based or otherwise.

 

------------------

*Declaration of Interest - I work for a SharePoint-based provider

[edutech4schools]

From a Google perspective they offer Google classroom for free and Google Sites is also free

 

Watch this very short video about classroom.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K26iyyQMp_g

[TechMonkey]

@GrumbleDook

Sorry, I wasn't clear. Yes it can, wouldn't disagree. But we have found that trying to roll our own is not conducive to fun times, even after having a company so the heavy lifting setting up. Paying a provider would greatly decrease the probability of fun times but I got the impression that the OP wanted to go it alone, using O365 and I would not recommend that unless they had a Sharepoint trained bod or intended to hire one/have one on hand.

[mrhcarlin]

This thread has cropped up at a conveniently great time for us. We adopted and rolled out MyBigCampus in September, but Monday night they announced they were withdrawing the product. Great...all that time and effort spent for basically nothing in the end! :|

 

Recently we've looking at Google Classroom and SharePoint, decided they were pointless due to having a bells-and-whistles VLE, but have had to pick it up again because we need a solution before MBC becomes completely defunct at the end of the summer term.

 

I need to know if a SharePoint site can be set up to function fundamentally the same as a traditional VLE: MIS integration, classes/groups, multiple teachers per class/group, and assignments and submissions. The inability to do any one of these things is a huge blow - Google Classroom, for instance, has shoddy MIS integration at best and does not support multiple teachers per class/group.

 

Any insight on these things would be appreciated.

[Michael]

This may be worth a look for O365 SharePoint users. I haven't tested this, so take it 'as is'

[mrhcarlin]

Teacher Dashboard sounds decent, but it is its own thing unless I've misunderstood? It's like an add-on for your O365? If so it could be a good way to avoid the faff with SharePoint while staying within the Microsoft ecosystem because, as has been pointed out in this thread, SharePoint will require considerably more know-how and tailoring to get right.

[JayDog]

Hi, I joined this forum to discuss SharePoint and the VLE as I've been having some issues with it. Aesthetically it's ace, it looks really slick and some of the apps you can add are really good, we used to use Open Hive which was OK but looks very 'clunky' and quite old fashioned. The issue I have with SharePoint is that you can embed javascript coding into it and although the page works fine when viewed through Internet Explorer from my hard drive, once it's uploaded it's almost as if SharePoint chucks out some of the coding. I'm looking into a multiple choice quiz type thing that can be used to test pupils, so far we've only got a situation where it's more of a survey, ie, 'What is your favourite colour?' which doesn't have a right or wrong answer facility in it, it just collates the data using Excel online. I want something with 'What colour is grass?' type thing with green obviously being the right answer, (this is just an example) and then it tells the pupils if they've got it right or wrong. Phew... does that make sense as I've been racking my brain over this problem all week! There are quite a few online quiz maker sites but they usually have adverts on them which may not be appropriate for our pupils. I've tried looking into the apps you can download but believe it or not I've not managed to find a decent (free) app suitable for me to write multiple choice quizzes with. If anyone does know how to do that or can recommend an app, that'd really be appreciate and would save me a lot of time, (and the school a lot of money!) I was recently quoted LOT of money for an app that I felt could easily be done in SharePoint but not found out how yet.

[GrumbleDook]

Use SharePoint Learning Kit and build the questions into a SCORM file using something like Udutu

[JayDog]

Is there a way to upload an HTML file, and to then create an IFRAME within another page to see the html page?

 

I've tried it but the PC just asks me every time if I want to download the HTML file?

 

We did do something like this last year on our old external website which was done in WordPress and WP doesn't like javascript so I'd create an IFRAME within a page that'd show a document I'd uploaded via the FTP.

[rpwillis]

Hi, I joined this forum to discuss SharePoint and the VLE as I've been having some issues with it. Aesthetically it's ace, it looks really slick and some of the apps you can add are really good, we used to use Open Hive which was OK but looks very 'clunky' and quite old fashioned. The issue I have with SharePoint is that you can embed javascript coding into it and although the page works fine when viewed through Internet Explorer from my hard drive, once it's uploaded it's almost as if SharePoint chucks out some of the coding.

 

If you are using the Content Editor Web Part to embed html and javascript, then it does do some modification of the code. Usually the best way is to put any JavaScript in a separate .js file uploaded to SharePoint and use your script tag to reference it.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Is there a way to upload an HTML file, and to then create an IFRAME within another page to see the html page?

 

I've tried it but the PC just asks me every time if I want to download the HTML file?

SharePoint will force html to download as uploaded html is a security risk.

Edited March 27, 2015 by rpwillis
Make second quote clearer.

[rpwillis]

Use SharePoint Learning Kit and build the questions into a SCORM file using something like Udutu

 

I'd second SLK, but then I would

 

Another option would be to use Office Mix. If you're not aware of it, it's an add-in for PowerPoint which allows you to publish online interactive videos based on your slides. It includes some simple quiz components by default, plus you can add additional apps to it. The Mixes are hosted at mix.office.com, but you can easily embed them in any we page - there's a button to get the embed code. Just this week I've added support for them to SharePoint Learning Kit (and Sway for that matter).

 

An example Mix with a couple of quiz questions at the end is https://mix.office.com/watch/37gcrbrmsqg1. There's an overview of Mix at https://mix.office.com/watch/14iqkll3cdyv.

 

In addition to being able to distribute your content, Mix also includes analytics about how many times each slide has been viewed etc.

[JayDog]

Will look into that, it does seem to be possibly the simplest option. Thanks.

[wiseoldowl]

Apologies for joining this discussion a little late and being slightly off topic but I think the following is very relevant if you are considering a VLE and online learning. I just wanted to correct the perception that Moodle is based around Course Management. It certainly was during Moodle 1.x days and I have seen many Moodle 2.x installs hanging onto that approach but this misses the flexibility that Cohorts bring to the party. Good Moodle 2.x management focusses on enrolments through Cohorts and the use of Groups and Groupings to manage access to content. This approach allows for far greater flexibility of management enabling, for example, Key Stage courses across year groups. This is especially useful for exam-based courses and managing access to content though cohorts, groups, groupings with the additional flexibility provided through activity completion and activity access restrictions. In Moodle 2.x a course is merely a container for content.

 

Moodle now enables a more sophisticated approach to how teaching and learning can be managed enabling far more to be done for learners than envisaged even a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, there is a gap between understanding what can be achieved when teaching/learning online with a focus on tools and formats rather than actual teaching and learning. As the potential of Moodle is less realised the gap widens - something to address urgently for all learning platforms.

[JayDog]

Does anyone else get frustrated with lack of response from teachers when they ask for resources? As an ex-teacher myself, I can appreciate that time is always an issue but there are times when I've emailed and emailed and emailed and still no replies... Sorry, just in one of those moods...