Category Archives: 100 ways

100 ways, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #24 Course handbook

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One of the things that Ofsted often look for when inspecting courses is a course handbook for the course. The idea behind the handbook is to provide students with all the information they are going to need for the course and to provide help and guidance while on the course.

In the past this may have (and may still well be) a physical handbook. Today much more likely to be an electronic Word document that may well be uploaded to the VLE. This will probably be referenced once by the learners and possibly ignored for the rest of the course, which is a pity.

By using something like the Book module on Moodle, it would be possible for the student to have much more accessible course handbook, one that has live links and could also use audio and video to enhance and enrich the information. Why have a written overview of the course, why not create an audio recording? Instead of pen pictures of where students go after the course, why not video recordings of past students? Making it real and more relevant to the learners.

Handbooks often are “ignored” by learners, by making reference to the online version on the VLE, tutors can ensure that the help and advice is referred to on a more regular basis.

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100 ways, assessment, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #9 Peer Assessment

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We are often fearful of getting our peers to judge us, is that because we fear they are incompetent at assessing us, or that they are so much like us that they will do it honestly and openly and notice all our hidden flaws?

Probably for the latter reason peer assessment by learners of learner is such a valuable method of assessment. Learners giving each other formative or summative feedback to each other can be a very positive activity, even if it is (to the learners) somewhat daunting.

There are many advantages to peer assessment. It can enhance learning through learners having to not convince you that they understand a topic, but also ensure that their peers understand the topic too. It allows for a greater depth of self-reflection by learners on the learning process. Peer assessment is daunting, but as a result can increase the confidence of learners as they need to work with each other. This working together builds social interaction across a group of learners and a support mechanism.

There are some issues and fears in regard to peer assessment. It can be an administrative nightmare. It is dependent on learners all taking part and not all will want to, some may not want to give the same level of effort as others. Conflict and arguments can arise, unlikely to happen with other forms of assessment, and will the learners have the skills and the confidence to resolve these conflicts. Some staff think that it will be challenging to do and that “exam boards” may object. Even some learners may object as they see the assessment process as an end and not as a learning process in itself.

One of the key features of peer assessment is communication and though e-mail and SMS is one way, the VLE allows for the communication to be more easily aggregated, sorted and assessed.

Any piece of peer assessed work, like any other piece of assessed work, needs a detailed briefing, time to discuss, both face to face and online, and guidelines and rules need to be in place. Once more the VLE is an idea vehicle to provide the online space for the briefing, online discussions, guidelines and rules. Providing a dedicated space on the VLE for the assessment will make it easier for learners to compartmentalise the assessment from other parts of the course.

Using the VLE allows learners to undertake parts of the peer assessment at a time and place to suit them; in college, at home, in the workplace or drinking coffee!

Peer assessment offers a different process of assessment that engages learners, builds relationships and improves learning. By undertaking that peer assessment through the VLE ensures that it is easier for learners to work together, discuss, share and refer to in the future.

100 ways, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #5 Having an online debate

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Debating  is a really useful way of enhancing learning, whether it be a formalised classroom debate, or an informal discussion arising from a presentation or a video.

How many though consider the needs of different learners and learning styles when organising debates? Some learners are reflective and they need to time to think and reflect on the debate. Some learners may be working or on online courses won’t be able to join a face to face debate.

A live debate using a chat facility on the VLE is one option that facilitates a debate in a way which allows quieter learners to contribute. A live online chat facility is a useful tool, and as the VLE itself handles the authentication process, learners needn’t worry about creating new user accounts or remembering passwords for when chat is used.

A moderator (or chair) may want to be appointed to allow learners an opportunity to make their point, to avoid the chat becoming a free for all. This is similar to the role of chair during a face to face debate.

Another way of undertaking a debate on the VLE is through a discussion forum. As with the chat, the VLE itself handles the authentication process, again learners needn’t worry about creating new user accounts or remembering passwords. In many ways this can be a different debating experience with the opportunity for all learners to make their point.

You may want to indicate how long the learners have to make their points (over a week for example) and close the debate with learners making a summary of the debate’s key points.

It is not an either or situation, it’s not about having just online debates in the same way as it is not just about having all face to face debates, it’s much more about allowing a range of debates using different mediums to reflect the different needs and learning styles of different learners.

Online debates are not difficult, but do require (in the same way that a face to face debates do) some planning and facilitation. It also helps if you try out a debate as a user first.

First you need to decide on a motion and nominating specific learners to put forward a view that supports the motion and learners to argue against the motion.

You may also need to put down some guidelines on how the learners should participate to ensure that the debate doesn’t degenerate into personal attacks. Also you may want to provide guidance on how learners should participate and what expectations  you have for those learners.

Debates are a great way of discussing topics in many subjects, an online debate on the VLE is just one way in which this can be facilitated.

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100 ways, audio, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #74 Embedding audio

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Most people I know are aware that you can embed video into webpages from sites such as MoLeTV or YouTube.

It should be noted that many sites that host audio files, also allow these to be embedded into webpages. Of course that means you can usually embed them into the VLE.

A service such as Audioboo allow you to embed audio into a web page so will work on the VLE.

Having recorded your “boo” you can copy the embed code (or copy the embed code of another “boo” that you have found).

This can then be “pasted” into the VLE into a discussion forum, into a webpage or as a label into a topic.

Listen!

The advantage to the learner is that they can just click play without having to worry about clicking a link, opening a new window, click another link to play the audio.

So you’ve embedded the audio, what next?

It’s not just about the audio, you can’t just place the audio on the VLE and expect it to do everything. As with using audio in the classroom, you need to consider the audio in the context of the learning activity.

You may example ask your learners to listen to the audio and comment on the recording in a VLE discussion forum. Another example would be to use an audio recording to reinforce a resource on the VLE.

100 ways, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #25 Scheme of Work

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Sometimes it is the little things that make a difference to the learner. One thing can often be the difference between a learner completing a programme of study and one deciding to drop out.

A key “little” thing is keeping a learner informed and up do date about where they are on their course and where they are going.

Research by the LSDA back in the 1990s showed that if learners were well informed about their course that they were more likely to stay on that course, in other words improve retention.

So what’s the easiest way to do that? Generally as well as other things a scheme of work for the course gives a learner a clearer idea of not only where they are going in their course but also where they have been.

Most practitioners I know give their learners a scheme of work at the beginning of the year. However learners will lose it or leave it at home. Likewise there is a good chance it will change, if it snows for example.

By placing the scheme of work on the VLE the learner can access it at any place and any time. If it is on the VLE then it is equally important for the practitioner to not just ignore it. It can be updated as and when needed. If you use a web page on the VLE you can add live links to lesson resources and online content making it a more useful document for learners looking for information.

A scheme of work is a valuable resource for learners. A dynamic updating interactive version on the VLE is a really valuable resource for learning.

100 ways, presentation, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #48 Embedding an online presentation

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Death by Powerpoint has almost become a running joke at conferences and in education. Despite that, presentations are a staple of many conferences, courses and learning programmes.

it’s very easy to upload and link to a Powerpoint presentation, but does mean that not only does a learner need to click a link and download a file, but also (usually) needs Powerpoint on their computer. If they don’t then we might send them off to download OpenOffice another step and hurdle.

One service I am using much more now for my presentations is Slideshare. It allows you to upload a presentation and converts it into a Flash slideshow. This can either be viewed on the Slideshare website or can be embedded into a webpage. This means you can embed it into the VLE.

This allows learners to immediately access the presentation, without needing to wait for it to download. With larger presentations this can be a long wait on a slow connection. As Slideshare allows you to navigate to a specific slide, this means that learners who want to look at one slide can more easily than from a whole Powerpoint.

Of course there are a few downsides, the main one is that Slideshare is an open service, so your presentations are public and you may not want that. Though that’s also an advantage in that there are lots of presentations on the site that you can use and embed into the VLE.

Being Flash based this could cause issues if your learners have lots of iPhones and iPads, however Slideshare now provide an iPhone friendly service.

It is very simple to link to Powerpoint files, however using a service like Slideshare allows you to easily embed not just your presentations, but also other presentations from the site, straight into the VLE.

100 ways, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #13 Keeping a reflective journal

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Learners always reflect on their learning, whether they learn or act upon that reflection is a different matter.

By keeping a reflective journal, a learner can record their reflections in a journal they will then be able to review their reflections and set themselves targets. They will then be able to improve their performance and succeed on their programme of study.

One of the most obvious places to keep a reflective journal is in a paper journal. However a paper journal requires every journal entry to be handwritten. By placing the journal on the VLE, the learner suddenly has much more choice when it comes to recording their reflections. They can type in text, record an audio file or upload a video. The choice allows learners to record their reflections on their studies at a time and place to suit them. If they want to quickly type something up they can, if they want to quickly record something using a mobile phone, they can and upload later.

Using a VLE doesn’t stop learners handwriting their reflective journal, very easy these days to use a TabletPC to write, or more simply, write it out on paper, photograph it and upload. Digital cameras and most cameraphones are now more than adequate to photograph text and for it to be readable on a screen.

Learners can also tag their journal entries, making them easier to sort and search later.

So why put it on the VLE?

Well reflection can be an individual process, but sometimes learners may want to share their thoughts, and read the thoughts of others. Tutors may want to be included in the process to allow them to better judge progress been made on the course. Using a VLE allows these users to engage with the reflective process.

Another option is to use third party tools and embed them into the VLE, this has the advantage of allowing learners to maintain their reflective learning journal once they have left the college.

Reflection and review of progress is an important part of the learning process, by using technologies like the VLE, we can ensure that the reflection is available to more if required and less likely to be lost or forgotten.

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100 ways, e-book, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #19 Reading a book

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A book, how on earth can you read a book on the VLE?

A book, a printed paper thing!

Well….

Of course we are talking about electronic books, e-books.

It doesn’t really matter whether you like or don’t like e-books as the issue isn’t about choosing one over the other, it’s about convenience and ease of use for the learner.

e-Books should really be seen not as an alternative to paper books, but as an addition an enhancement. Learners still may be given or buy a core text book, they will still have access to the library and that collection. Using e-books on the VLE is about increasing access to resources.

For any course, it is very useful for learners to have access to a reading list, a selection of useful books. Having access to those e-books via the VLE makes that reading list really useful.

Generally most VLE platforms can not be used to host commercial e-books, so most of the time you will need to link to whichever e-book platform that your institution decides to subscribe to.
We use the JISC Collections e-Books for FE collection and this uses the Ebray platform. This allows us to link to individual pages within individual books, books and collections (bookself) of books.

We would never expect learners to just use e-books and never use any other books, however having access to e-books allows learners to access a (virtual) library at a time and place to suit them.

So, yes you can read a book on the VLE!

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100 ways, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #66 Glossary

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From Wikipedia

A glossary is an alphabetical list of terms in a particular domain of knowledge with the definitions for those terms. Traditionally, a glossary appears at the end of a book and includes terms within that book which are either newly introduced or at least uncommon.

Most courses contain technical terms, jargon and just plain weird words that mean nothing outside that curriculum area!

You could create a simple alphabetical list of definitions on a page on the VLE. This will allow learners to refer to a detailed list of defined terms.

Having said that, why create a glossary when there are quite good ones already online?

Biz/Ed – Business and Economics Glossary

Physical Geography Glossary

Computer and Internet Glossary

Though a glossary list is useful many VLEs have a clever trick up their sleeves, an ability to create an integrated glossary into any learning content on the VLE.

All the learner needs to do then is click the highlighted text to read the definition, making life much simpler!

But isn’t creating a glossary hard work?

Well yes… but instead of creating your own, get the learners to create the definitions as part of an ongoing learning activity. A glossary built by the learners for the learners is going to be a excellent collaborative learning activity.

Learners could create multiple definitions and then rate them, with the highest rated being accepted for the final glossary.

They could use a wiki on the VLE or a discussion forum to create the glossary, or even a built-in glossary tool.

Another way to create a glossary would be work with colleagues across the country in creating a subject glossary.

A glossary on the VLE can be both a useful learning tool and the creation of one can be a stimulating learning activity.

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100 ways, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #62 Jorum

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Now Jorum has lots of useful and wonderful materials in it.

Jorum hosts a wide variety of learning and teaching resources from any subject area within UK Further and Higher Education learning and teaching, ranging from simple one-file assets and links to external resources, to more complex learning objects, including content packages and open courseware. These resources are free to use, and are available for all educational purposes, for download, reuse and repurpose.

The downside is that in order to access the JorumUK materials on Jorum you need to register an account and be a member of staff at an institution in the UK. This means you can’t simply pass the URL onto your learners.

So if you are a member of staff and want your learners to be able to access the materials then where are you going to put them?

Well you can’t just place them on a website, the licensing agreement doesn’t allow for that. Nor are they designed to be e-mailed to learners.

The obvious place to put them is on the VLE.

So what about JorumOpen then?

Though these resources are open and made available under a creative commons licence.

However though freely available, JorumOpen is not a delivery platform, it’s a repository, a place to store materials.

The obvious place to put these materials is again the VLE.

It’s not always best practice to provide a bundle of resources to a learner, context is really important. Placing resources from Jorum on the VLE is only part of the process, you also need to consider how the object relates to the learning activity. What do the learners need to do prior to using the object, whilst using the object and what to do after accessing the object. There are many other tools on the VLE that can be used to support the learning activity based on any learning object downloaded from Jorum. You could for example, use a discussion forum to discuss what the learners have learnt. Using a quiz to assess what the learners now understand.

Jorum has a wealth of content from which to take and use with learners on the VLE.

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