New VLE Wanted

[Warwick_Tech]

Hi All,

 

Posting here for due diligence;

 

A member of SLT wants a new VLE, anyone recommend anything that can do the below?

 

I think what would be really helpful would be a place where active learning can take place at all times - so students can use it inside and outside of lessons, upload work/tasks in real time, access PPT's/resources throughout lessons, where you can check more effectively on students learning rather than using books etc. Does that make sense? But also where you can set homework, where parents can check in, where teachers and parents can communicate a bit more easily. Almost a one-stop shop really!

[Rob_D]

Frog will do most of that (the real-time stuff might be limited compared to something like 365).

 

Office 365 or Google Classroom will do all the student teacher stuff really well, but doesn't do the parent coms side of things so much (or at all).

[mavhc]

>I think what would be really helpful would be a place where active learning can take place at all times - so students can use it inside and outside of lessons

 

This means nothing

 

> upload work/tasks in real time

 

We have this already, it's M365/Google

 

> access PPT's/resources throughout lessons

 

This is called a library. So it's a dump of all resources with a search engine. Google/M365 do this

 

> where you can check more effectively on students learning rather than using books etc. Does that make sense?

 

No

 

> But also where you can set homework

 

M365/Google

 

> where parents can check in

 

Check in what?

 

> where teachers and parents can communicate a bit more easily.

 

Just a bit more? So email?

 

> Almost a one-stop shop really!

 

Hope you're going to pay IT more for implementing your "idea" of "what if magic was real?"

[synaesthesia]

It's 2024, surely you're already using 365 or Google and therefore your bases are covered with correct use. It is likely better to concentrate efforts on using what you already have.

[MartinT]

Office 365 with SharePoint/Teams will do all of that internally.

 

If you have a parent portal like My School Portal then that can expose Teams assignments for parents to view.

[SimplyJade]

Hi All,

Posting here for due diligence;

A member of SLT wants a new VLE, anyone recommend anything that can do the below?

 

As others have already mentioned, Google education fundamentals should have this covered. It's just a matter of making sure the staff and parents have the support needed to go through the motions. Out of curiosity - what is it the school is already using?

 

Not looking to sell - just happy to offer advice

[Warwick_Tech]

Thanks for the feedback all;

 

I'll have to edit some responses for syndication;

 

Rob_D - I'll suggest Frog

Mavhc - But we work with magic rocks that beep already

Synaesthesia - Yes, but that requires work

MartinT - I'll look at MySchoolPortal, is it a third party app?

SimplyJade - 365 is our bread and butter, with 3rd party apps filling the gaps for more specialised tasks - I think the user in question just picked a whole school report to have some meetings next week, I'm just here for due diligence

[SimplyJade]

Thanks for the feedback all;

SimplyJade - 365 is our bread and butter, with 3rd party apps filling the gaps for more specialised tasks - I think the user in question just picked a whole school report to have some meetings next week, I'm just here for due diligence

 

It could be worth having a chat with your Microsoft license provider. I know some of the newer licenses (A3 etc) have a little bit more to them when it comes to reporting and parental interaction

[bligh001g]

Hi All,

 

Posting here for due diligence;

 

A member of SLT wants a new VLE, anyone recommend anything that can do the below?

 

 

I'll add a vote for Frog - it does all that for us. Happy to talk to anyone who wants to see it in action

[MartinT]

MartinT - I'll look at MySchoolPortal, is it a third party app?

 

Yes, it's a third-party web app for providing parents with all the information they need, supporting all platforms.

They can support viewing assignments via Teams or Google Classroom.

 

https://www.theaccessgroup.com/en-gb/our-brands/myschoolportal/

[PotNoodleTech]

https://classroom.google.com/

 

All you need. Much easier to set up and much easier for teachers/pupils to use compared to MS free offerings.

[sbrown88]

we're using Google and everyone seems happy

[jthompson]

Google Classroom is a solid, stable and mature option: Google aren't about to drop it or drastically reimagine it. Worth noting the following points, though:

• It doesn't really do homework, as such. Teachers setting homework will be setting regular assigments, so there's no categorical difference between classwork, coursework or homework. That could be a problem for management if they're wanting or needing homework stats.
  
• The parent/guardian features are very basic and are limited to weekly or daily email summaries only. There's no live view of what work a student has been set at a particular point in time, which isn't great for supporting parents/guardians of pupils needing to be proactive and fully-appraised of what work has been set.
  

 

Sticking with Google or MS tools will give you the easiest ride in terms of new staff joining the school, I would argue. Those are the platforms that they're most likely to be familiar with already.

[bjeffery]

Cloud Design Box - based on SharePoint / Teams

 

https://clouddesignbox.co.uk/

[MartinT]

Another vote here for Cloud Design Box. Essential if you're going the Teams/SharePoint route.

[Wubbalubbadub]

Cloud design box +

[GrumbleDook]

Hi All,

 

Posting here for due diligence;

 

A member of SLT wants a new VLE, anyone recommend anything that can do the below?

 

I know a few folk have picked holes in the question asked, but from an educational point of view, it is a valid one with a reasonable set of requested functionality.

Yes, there are lots of add-ons to GWfE/Classroom and M365/Teams Edu, and the request for a one-stop shop is a fairly valid requirement too. Having all the required tools managed in and through a solution such as Classroom/Teams is a decent method but has some barriers to adoption unless you are will to work through it piecemeal.

 

Are you able to counter the request with asking about how they expect staff to work with it? Make use of existing resources they have created? Provide access to lesson notes/annotations? Virtual whiteboard? Do they want guided learning as part of it based on a built curriculum or will it more towards ad-hoc tasks and assessments? Flipped learning? Curated resources (curated by the provider) or teacher-chosen/created resources?

 

As silly as it may sound, it might be worth revisiting some of the old Becta articles on VLEs/LMSs to see if that helps pin things down.

 

As with all these things though, pretty much any solution can work ... it is just about how much effort is put in, what the long term strategies are and where the people to setup/manage/create content/review results will be pulled from.

 

As RFC 1925 states:

(3) With sufficient thrust, pigs will fly just fine. However, this is not necessarily a good idea. It is hard to be sure where they are going to land, and it could be dangerous sitting under them as they fly overhead.

(7a) Good, fast, cheap.: pick any two (you can't have all three).

[eric22]

We use Canvas.

We are a secondary school and it does all that we use it for.

It's a very mature piece of VLE. Many world leading universities like Oxford use it.

There's integration with Google Drive and OneDrive so students can work on those platform. Go on Canvas and upload directly without needing to export.