Can a VLE do this?

[Kevin_ace-d]

I am not new to VLEs but have had to work with what I had before. Now I am looking to find the right platform for the way I want to develop platform from the bottom up (learning model first then facilitate it wit the VLE).

To meet my requirements I am looking for something that will allow me to do the following:

Set a learning task.

Host a series of resources needed in satisfying the learning task (learning, practising, researching, building understanding etc)

Track which resources have been used and to what extent

Receive the completed task with a history of the resources used in order to contextualise the outcome

Support communication which allows for "learning manager" communication and peer review

Records and facilitates feedback including tagging recommended further study or activities

keeps and maintains an achievement profile of the learner which can produce reports based on level of success/achievement helping to identify areas (strengths/weaknesses)

Provides a graphical representation of achievement not just lists or marks/grades

Works with single or groups of learners

Has assignable groups to create learning teams with team tasks and responsibilities (supports diary entries for the group and individuals)

Has secure access and keeps a log of use

Can be customised in terms of the "desktop" (visual, layout etc)

Has an ability to promote a sense of belonging (community)

Facilitates needs such as fun, freedom, power (ability to affect own learning)

 

A bit of a list I know hence my difficulty in finding a suitable VLE with which to work.

Anyone with any suggestions please help me out. I do not want to adopt a VLE to find I meet a key limitation several months down the line!

Kev

[Sylv3r]

Most if not all will probably do the majority of your shopping list. Your probably going to be best inviting vendors in to give you demonstrations of their products to allow you to see what they can / can't do and associated costs.

 

Visiting other neighbouring schools could also be an option.

 

If I am totally honest you will probably need to combine around 5 or 6 of the VLE's on the market today to get the perfect system to suit all of your needs.

 

Take a look at Frog, TALMOS, Moodle etc.

[mthomas08]

I would agree with Syl, best to get a Demo. A lot of that Frog can do (we are a Frog School here) and the only thing I believe it can't do so far is the "Which resource was used". Although it does record everything used in a VLE if you are after a teachers ability to view what their student just used its a bit more complicated.

 

Host a series of resources needed in satisfying the learning task (learning, practising, researching, building understanding etc) Yes

Track which resources have been used and to what extent It records everything but viewing it is not easy to filter

Receive the completed task with a history of the resources used in order to contextualise the outcome Similar to above

Support communication which allows for "learning manager" communication and peer review It does come with its own built in email system, forums, blogs, voice, walls etc

Records and facilitates feedback including tagging recommended further study or activities Not too sure about this

keeps and maintains an achievement profile of the learner which can produce reports based on level of success/achievement helping to identify areas (strengths/weaknesses) Everything for us is imported from SIMs

Provides a graphical representation of achievement not just lists or marks/gradesCould be setup with a bit of time and development

Works with single or groups of learnersYes

Has assignable groups to create learning teams with team tasks and responsibilities (supports diary entries for the group and individuals)Yes

Has secure access and keeps a log of useYes but again looking through this takes time

Can be customised in terms of the "desktop" (visual, layout etc)Yes

Has an ability to promote a sense of belonging (community)Yes, they even have their own Community Area

Facilitates needs such as fun, freedom, power (ability to affect own learning) Yes, staff/students will feel they are apart of it

 

Hope that helps but again might be best to get Demos to see what suits your needs the best, for us it was simply Frog but for other schools it could be something else.

[Kevin_ace-d]

I would agree with Syl, best to get a Demo. A lot of that Frog can do (we are a Frog School here) and the only thing I believe it can't do so far is the "Which resource was used". Although it does record everything used in a VLE if you are after a teachers ability to view what their student just used its a bit more complicated.

 

Host a series of resources needed in satisfying the learning task (learning, practising, researching, building understanding etc) Yes

Track which resources have been used and to what extent It records everything but viewing it is not easy to filter

Receive the completed task with a history of the resources used in order to contextualise the outcome Similar to above

Support communication which allows for "learning manager" communication and peer review It does come with its own built in email system, forums, blogs, voice, walls etc

Records and facilitates feedback including tagging recommended further study or activities Not too sure about this

keeps and maintains an achievement profile of the learner which can produce reports based on level of success/achievement helping to identify areas (strengths/weaknesses) Everything for us is imported from SIMs

Provides a graphical representation of achievement not just lists or marks/gradesCould be setup with a bit of time and development

Works with single or groups of learnersYes

Has assignable groups to create learning teams with team tasks and responsibilities (supports diary entries for the group and individuals)Yes

Has secure access and keeps a log of useYes but again looking through this takes time

Can be customised in terms of the "desktop" (visual, layout etc)Yes

Has an ability to promote a sense of belonging (community)Yes, they even have their own Community Area

Facilitates needs such as fun, freedom, power (ability to affect own learning) Yes, staff/students will feel they are apart of it

 

Hope that helps but again might be best to get Demos to see what suits your needs the best, for us it was simply Frog but for other schools it could be something else.

 

Any idea of cost?

Kev

[mthomas08]

Frog is expensive, which is why you really need to make sure its what you want. 25K+ and an annual fee of 4K depending what you do. The thing to remember about Frog is the fact it is constantly developing and you do get technical/Platform/Server support. The two big things they are working on at the moment which are not far off from being finished is Single sign on (Domain machines) and Live/Exchange integration.

 

It's also designed on its own platform so even our non IT Literate staff are able to construct a website and make changes/additions to it. Annoying thing though is when you spend more time with it, you want more from it and you can come up with too many ideas too fast

[Sylv3r]

Frog is expensive, which is why you really need to make sure its what you want. 25K+ and an annual fee of 4K depending what you do. The thing to remember about Frog is the fact it is constantly developing and you do get technical/Platform/Server support. The two big things they are working on at the moment which are not far off from being finished is Single sign on (Domain machines) and Live/Exchange integration.

 

It's also designed on its own platform so even our non IT Literate staff are able to construct a website and make changes/additions to it. Annoying thing though is when you spend more time with it, you want more from it and you can come up with too many ideas too fast

 

From the last discussion I had with Frog, they are re-looking at their pricing structure so i don't think it is currently / will be as expensive as £25k+ as you probably paid.

[witch]

I agree that it is unlikely to get one that does everything you want - but Moodle does most of it too - and it is free

[winng]

We are considering moving to Google Apps for web-based email, etc, and wondered whether anyone has experience of using Google Sites as a VLE?

[moriartythemundane]

Used google email and apps for nearly four years. It is very very good and an effective tool but it is not really a VLE. We are almost certainly moving to a sharepoint based VLE in September(New BSF School) we will miss our google alot. One thing I would say, you can set it up in a week and if you did it next week inside a month you would know if its for you. Also, consider making a simple intranet page that can have links to all the various elelments eg, blogger, youtube, sites etc so that it looks more cohesive than it is. New option of google drive is useful so all in all its a way forward for free.

Moriarty

[liamroberts1]

You're probably best to look at Frog or Moodle which incorporate a lot of the features you mentioned. Although the implementation and management can be quite expensive. Another good new VLE is called My Big Campus which I was introduced to at BETT this year. If we didn't already have a VLE in place I would have definitely considered it as it has a lot of features that I haven't seen in VLE before such as the ability to import YouTube videos without the dangerous content and a Facebook-esque layout which I'm sure the kids would have preffered to the more old fashioned structure of our current VLE. I was told My Big Campus was free but I think to get the full features you may have to purchase a content filter with it but it definitely looked promising. The main point is make sure you look at all the options before making your decision or you may regret it. Hope this helps