MLE/VLE

[robert.mabbutt]

I logged into the EMBC Gateway the other day and was presented with a link to this document

 

According to Becta its says schools should eventually work towards an MLE. I know some of you already have VLE's i was just wondering would you guys eventually work towards an MLE or stick with what you have. Also the people looking at VLE's have you looked at MLE'?

 

Sorry if the question isn't worded correctly Having difficulties trying to put down my question on paper!

 

Robert

[localzuk]

Well according to this, the solution that Somerset CC is providing is an MLE. I hadn't heard that term before so have no real idea what it is but that is what we've got/are getting...

[budgester]

Virtual Learning Environment

 

Managed Learning Environment

 

Pretty much the same thing as far as I can tell, except you run one yourself and someone else runs the other one (manages it)

 

I'll be sticking with a VLE, until such time as our LEA can manage the access in an automatic way with disparate users such as we have.

 

I want to do authentification against my AD, (Single Sign On) and our AD takes into account not only all our new students but also staff, temporary staff, adult education groups, governers etc, etc.

 

Until our LEA provides a fully integrated service for all of our users, and I don't beleive this will happen. So unless I get completely outsourced with BSF, again which I don;t beleive will happen, we are very unlikely to be using an MLE.

 

Regards

 

Budgester

[localzuk]

I want to do authentification against my AD, (Single Sign On) and our AD takes into account not only all our new students but also staff, temporary staff, adult education groups, governers etc, etc.

 

Oh, that would be brilliant - at the moment we have about 4 different logins for the systems. 1 for staff email, 1 for pupil email, 1 for AD, 1 for sims.net, 1 for the Learning gateway (but this can be swapped fot the staff email one) and 1 for the learnwise software (but this is being fixed so that the Learning gateway username/pass does the job), and 1 for editing our school website.

 

I am refusing to be the person who sets up users for parents to access the learning gateway! Some other poor soul can do that!

[russdev]

Later on today will write what a mle is unless someone comes along explains before then.

 

Russ

[beeswax]

Later on today will write what a mle is unless someone comes along explains before then.

 

Russ

 

This is a direct cut 'n' paste from the BECTA guidelines -

 

"More advanced systems, often called virtual learning environments (VLEs)

These offer more sophisticated tools such as learner support (course

information, tutor support, live mentors, peer support), learner tools (such as tools to create web pages), management and tracking of learneractivity, and more highly developed assessment tools.

 

Managed learning environments (MLEs)

These are comprehensive systems where the VLE and the school management information systems (MIS) and other programs (such as finance or staffing systems) can share data and exchange information. It is intended that all schools will ultimately have access to an MLE."

 

Hopefully, this will give a basic idea of the difference VLE and MLE.

[eduabncs]

Virtual Learning Environment

 

I'll be sticking with a VLE, until such time as our LEA can manage the access in an automatic way with disparate users such as we have.

 

I want to do authentification against my AD, (Single Sign On) and our AD takes into account not only all our new students but also staff, temporary staff, adult education groups, governers etc, etc.

 

Until our LEA provides a fully integrated service for all of our users, and I don't beleive this will happen. So unless I get completely outsourced with BSF, again which I don;t beleive will happen, we are very unlikely to be using an MLE.

 

 

 

Single sign on is being developed and is known a Shibboleth. The Beta page on it is here .

[GrumbleDook]

I logged into the EMBC Gateway the other day and was presented with a link to this document

 

According to Becta its says schools should eventually work towards an MLE. I know some of you already have VLE's i was just wondering would you guys eventually work towards an MLE or stick with what you have. Also the people looking at VLE's have you looked at MLE'?

 

Sorry if the question isn't worded correctly Having difficulties trying to put down my question on paper!

 

Robert

 

Hi Robert

 

All I can say to schools in the Northants area is that as far as MLE / VLE / Learning Platform / eLearning Gateway goes .... please hang fire ... a group of lucky people are chatting with suppliers over this week and the week after half-term. There will be information sent to your school (and uploaded onto here too) about this soon.

[budgester]

Single sign on is being developed and is known a Shibboleth. The Beta page on it is here .

 

Shibboleth isn't a Single sign on system.

 

From Wikipedia

 

Shibboleth is an Internet2 Middleware Initiative project that has created an architecture and open-source implementation for federated identity-based authentication and authorization infrastructure based on SAML. Federated identity allows for information about users in one security domain to be provided to other organizations in a common federation. This allows for cross-domain single sign-on and removes the need for content providers to maintain usernames and passwords. Identity providers (IdP's) supply user information, while service providers (SP's) consume this information and gate access to secure content.

 

How many of your applications/systems are shibboleth enabled ?

[kylewilliamson]

Building an MLE is not a fun idea. The trouble we find is you usually end up buying various bolt-on's and then trying to build a web interface round them

[budgester]

Building an MLE is not a fun idea. The trouble we find is you usually end up buying various bolt-on's and then trying to build a web interface round them

 

Very true, what would be sensible would be to have something like a standard API, with a SOAP interface for each application.

[GrumbleDook]

Single sign on is being developed and is known a Shibboleth. The Beta page on it is here .

 

Shibboleth isn't a Single sign on system.

 

Shibboleth is the mechanism / application layer through which SSO occurs.

 

This is being standardised so that resources within the NEN can be access and shared as content through learning platforms that can search via meta-tagging ...

 

Authentication is a key part of this, hence the importance of Shibboleth as the standard used. AD can be enabled fairly easily (and a good number of LAs have methods of doing this already) ... as can pretty much all LDAP servers.

[CyberNerd]

The Shibboleth system is managed by the UK Access Management Federation for Education and Research . As mentioned previously it will probably come on the back of BSF or implemented by the local authority when they get around to it. To apply to join the scheme before it is steamrollered, the link is here

 

It does have some real advantages. Schools can share resources more easily and companies can share resources in schools, both moodle, apache and many other applications can use shibboleth for authentication. I didn't get the impression MLEs and VLE's were mutually exclusive -It would be excellent for our kids to be able to get resources from deptX in another school, whilst sharing resource Y in our own VLE with authenticated users. This type of shared authentication has been going on in universities for a long time, eg. the Athens system for access to Web Of Science, mimas etc. Becta are trying to get schools to follow suit, but without carrots and sticks - BSF contracts are all they have.

[robert.mabbutt]

Thanks GrumbleDook for the local info. Very much appreciated as always

 

I had an IT teacher come in work today saying I visted a school on Friday they have a VLE its brilliant we should do it!

 

In my mind i was going woah calm down dear! From what i have been reading on the net and especially EduGeek the implementation of one of these is not an easy task and would need careful planning. Espeically when in the past products and services have been rushed into and now sit dormant!

 

I do belive mle/vle's have there place and can be an excellent resource however it needs clear concise planning and work in partnership with our LEA to create a solution benefits our students.

 

Robert