VLEs - Are they needed?

[william_tropico]

Hello,

 

Just after some general feelings if VLEs are still a vital part of a successful school?

 

Couldn't you just have something like Home Access Plus so students/staff can access personal files and then a third party application such as SchoolComms for MIS data and reports?

 

I ask because at my current place the VLE has never been actively used. Just a file access system if I am honest even though I invested a great amount of time developing them.

 

Any thoughts?

 

William

[danbuntu]

that depends on if you just just a file access system or if you want quizs, assignment submission, grading , tracking, flip learning content, interactive content etc.

[unixman_again]

We wouldn't be without ours and SMT are looking to do more with it. Originally, it was used as a glorified file repository but a couple of years ago, students doing paperless courses had to submit their work via the VLE and some of it was automatically marked. For next year we are looking at going almost completely paperless (yeah right!) and there is going to be a bigger push for more use of the VLE, or rather VLEs as we have three. One for the "normal" students, one for HE students and a new one which is going to be used as an online conference facilty.

[maark]

we have moved away from its learning and find that google classroom does most of what we want for free.

[Mr_Jiminy]

Love hate relationship with all LEA VLE offerings, in that the LEA's tend to reinvent the wheel by offering cloud based email and heavily push their VLE email offering even in the event of a school already has an email system in place... Confuses the hell out of clients and leads to no end of questions.

 

If the VLE can be hosted in-house and developed in house, then I see no issue, plus it removes the LEA as a middleman.

[enjay]

Depends what you mean by VLE, I would say. If you mean, an online place for documents to be stored, homework to be set and submitted, I would say yes. That doesn't mean you need to invest in Frog or other such costed products, or even have a big SharePoint or Moodle site which can be fiddly to maintain. We use Google Apps, which is free, took very little time to setup, and after a bit of familiarisation training, staff were up and running; the keener ones also quickly started using Google Classroom, and we will be actively promoting that from next year.

[robjduk]

We are closing down our VLE for Google Classroom over the next 12 months. Twas a good day when I got that approved.

[danbuntu]

We are closing down our VLE for Google Classroom over the next 12 months. Twas a good day when I got that approved.

 

Although of course Google classroom is a VLE

[overnetdata_reeza]

A common concern with VLEs is that they will sit there, gathering digital dust in the same way that masses of technology does in classroom cupboards up and down the country. This isn’t a problem unique to VLEs but technology in generally, be it hardware, software or cloud based. When VLEs were first introduced to the school environment, they were hailed as game-changers, systems that would turn schools paperless and bring the whole learning community online. In reality a VLE simply provides a broad range of functionality under one roof that educators and learners can use, but if not adopted fully, it would be money wasted.

 

Asking whether VLEs are needed is maybe a bit too broad and certainly opens up a debate. Some schools we know have told us how vital their VLE is to the success of their students and the workload management of the teachers, whereas others have inevitably found them to be ‘just another piece of technology’ as they were never really used for anything more than filing systems, as you mentioned.

 

It seems like you spent a lot of time developing a system, which is sadly not being utilised in full. You could do what you suggest bringing together various systems to provide file repositories and communication tools, but if you were looking for a single solution for ease of management and the ability for data to be shared, then you would probably look for a VLE that incorporates all of these features and offers a solution with benefits that the whole school can get behind.

 

We’ve found the key to successful deployment of a VLE is

 

1. Buy in from the very top – the head teacher and SLT

2. Robust and continual programme of training

3. Developing a long term strategy for the VLE – from a teaching/ learning and functionality perspective

4. Ensuring all stakeholders have a sense of ownership over the VLE

5. Good customer, training and technical support from the VLE provider

6. Integration with other systems such as the school's MIS (e.g. SIMS)

 

Hope this helps.

[Moos3h]

Nowadays, I REALLY struggle with the concept that a 'premium' VLE is a good idea if you're not already using it and getting value from it. If it's already embedded and working well, then great but for schools looking at replacing or starting fresh, the lure of Classroom combined with the rest of the Google Apps for Education suite is VERY tempting.

 

We have a 'premium' VLE but it's very very unlikely it'll be renewed when we're out of contract - it's just not adding enough value and struggling to remain relevant.

 

*Edit to say* I would be very wary of ANY 'VLEs are dead' opinion, likewise any 'VLEs FTW' - it's about what you think will make the difference in YOUR school with YOUR learners, supported by YOUR staff body. A lot of commentators (not here it seems, the info offered has been quite balanced) would do well to remember that it's not just the tool that is important...

Edited June 4, 2015 by Moos3h
Thought of more informations.

[synaesthesia]

Couldn't agree more with the above post. Every establishment is different and all will have their own way of doing things. If those ways are best for the pupils, we'll probably never know!

Many of our staff swear by our VLE, some swear at it, some don't have a clue what Moodle is.

We find it vital, however it's also more than just a VLE; it's also engagement between staff, student and parent, it's an easy place to get certain information, it also works hand in hand with the likes of Google Apps and Office 365 should you so wish.

 

Could we teach without it? Yes, of course. It would just be different, and a matter of convenience, efficiency and familiarity keep it in play.

[DanTheLacky]

How do you guys find Google classroom that have gone from Moodle or similar?

A VLE is apparently the thing that the school is interested in next (one or two members of staff).

[robjduk]

Although of course Google classroom is a VLE

 

As long as I don't have to manage the stupid thing, I am happy.

 

"here is a Moodle installation setup by the previous person running on Ubuntu with no setup notes.... oh and if it breaks, we're doing you in.... what do you mean you have never used PHP".........

[robjduk]

How do you guys find Google classroom that have gone from Moodle or similar?

A VLE is apparently the thing that the school is interested in next (one or two members of staff).

 

Classroom is like a dream. I have had a few staff not to happy at the idea of switching but you can show them in real time just how easy it is to create and manage it from anywhere. I would think once they have setup a classroom for each lesson they teach, they could just take the rest of the year off!

[witch]

We have a moodle VLE which stopped working a while ago - nobody seems to care. I have pointed out the possibilities with Office 365 but nothing has been done.

[WebBot]

We've got Frog and the staff seem to love it. A few also use Google Classroom, but personally, I find you have to have the will to tinker with it, to get what you want (like a lot of Google products). We have some staff to couldn't achieve even basic use without a lot of training.

 

My 'issue' with Classroom is not so much the product (which is developing and improving almost daily) but with the excess enthusiasm some staff showed towards it in the early days. Originally students had to enrol in the course (at least now they can be pre-signed up), so from a classroom management point of view, it's can be a challenge to get past even that hurdle. The document assignment (from a student POV) still makes it unclear which document they've downloaded and which they've uploaded. Plus it's not dynamically linked to the MIS - so you've got to put a bit of work into sorting that out by going round the houses. We have 2-3 student changes a week here, you can't rely on manual systems for updating classes. All these issues aren't a problem for the tech-savvie teacher, but really cause headaches for the non-IT-comfortable teacher.

 

For me, Classroom is an excellent tool, but it's not a replacement VLE.