Category Archives: vle

100 ways, assessment, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #95 Setting an Assessment

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Assessment is an important check on learning, have the learners understood what they have learnt and can they apply what they have learnt.

Assessment can take many forms, most require not just time from the learner to complete, but also from the assessor in marking the work. It also takes time for all the “paperwork” related to submitting assignments.

Though a VLE can not be used to set and mark all assessments it can be used to make life easier for the assessor in maintaining the “paperwork” of assessment. Have all the learners received the assessment? Have all the learners submitted their assignment? Which learners have submitted on time? Has the assessor graded every assignment? Has the assessor given every learner feedback on their assignment?

The assignment module on Moodle (VLE) can allow for all this making life much easier for assessors to ensure that all the relevant “paperwork” and grading for assignments is done. Learners know that they have submitted and they can use the VLE to access their grade and feedback; they can also re-submit via the VLE too.

The submission process can be undertaken by the learner at a time and place to suit the learner; likewise the assessor can collect in and mark the assignments when and where they want to.

Using a VLE to set an assignment, to ensure that learners submit their assignment, grade and provide feedback can make life easier and better for learners and save time for assessors.

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100 ways, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #67  FAQ

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If you find yourself answering from learners the same questions over and over again, it can save time and make life easier for you and your learners to create a list of Frequently Asked Questions (or FAQ).

This can then be used to reference any questions asked by learners about the course and assignments. Learners who then ask the same or similar question again can be shown the FAQ. If they ask a new question, just add the question (and the answer) to the FAQ.

Hosting the FAQ on the VLE allows learners to access the FAQ before they even get to ask the question to you the tutor. If if has their question and an answer they will then go away satisfied without even needing to ask you the tutor a question. This saves both you and them time. It means they will get an answer quicker (very useful at weekends and in the evenings).

100 ways, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #42 Setting a task

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You can quite easily set tasks for learners, or small groups, or even a whole group of learners in a classroom situation.

By setting the task using the VLE, you can ensure that all learners have access to the details of the task, what is required of them, relevant resources and what the final outcome needs to be.

You can then use the VLE to monitor progress of the task, check that the learners are on target to meet the final outcome.

Learners can use the communication tools of the VLE to discuss the task with each other, ask questions of the tutor about the task and share resources and links.

Once the task is completed, the learners can submit their outcomes to the VLE and this will ensure that the tutor can access the outcome easily. At the end of the task, the tutor will have for assessment purposes the completed outcome, a trail of discussions, questions, resources and links that supported the task.

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100 ways, podcast, podcasting, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #56 Hosting a podcast

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Creating podcasts can be relatively simple, however when created where do you host them? You can “buy” hosting space, you could put them on a “free” web host or you could put them on the VLE. Of course by placing them on the VLE you do create issues about learners who wish to subscribe (via RSS) to the content through iTunes or Juice or similar, though that is not insurmountable. The VLE can also just have a link to the podcast files and the podcast subscription instead.

Podcasts are an effective mechanism to support learning. Due to the audio format, learners can download and listen to them on an mp3 player (such as the iPod) as they walk to college, or catch the bus. Likewise mp3 files can be burnt to CD and a learner could listen to them in their car, or on their home music system. Though portable, learners can also access podcasts direct through a computer and listen to them via the computer speakers (or headphones).

Teaching is an oral tradition, we have been “listening” to lectures and conversations for years; podcasting allows learners to listen when, how and where they want to. The other key advantage is that podcasts can be listened to more than once, enabling a learning objective to be reinforced or for revision purposes.

Recording podcasts can be relatively easy; though it does make sense to try and get good quality audio.

What is generally more difficult is getting the content right, so that learners listen to the podcast. Monologues and recordings of lectures are often better than no recording, but dialogues and conversations often are more interesting to listen to.

Podcasts do not need to be length affairs, ten to fifteen minutes is more than ample for more educationally orientated podcasts.

Podcasts do not need to be in a single place, so for example you may host the podcasts on a WordPress.com blog and use that RSS feed, you may then also link direct to the podcast file or upload it again to the VLE so that learners who wish to can access it that way.

Podcasting through the VLE is one more way in which you can use the VLE to enhance and enrich learning.

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altc2009, blog, blogging, coffee, e-book, google, sony, twitter, vle

The Top Ten Blog Posts of 2009

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These are the top ten posts from this blog (according to the stats) in terms of views. In reverse order…

10. Sony eBook Reader – First Impressions

Back in March I got my hands on a Sony eBook Reader and posted my first impressions. Since then I have found the eBook Reader to be a very useful device. So much so that in October I wrote e-Book Readers, are they the future? and in November I wrote So do you like books, or do you like reading? I also gave the Keynote at the JISC Collections AGM in which I discussed the future of e-Books.

9. It’s all about the coffee…

Twitter has been the service of 2009 and this was the blog posting of my presentation on Twitter that I delivered at the Handheld Learning Conference 2009 in October.

Of course really Twitter is all about the coffee. It’s the coffee you drink with colleagues during a break, where you discuss work, but also your commute, TV, films, the weather. It’s the coffee you drink whilst browsing the web and posting links of interesting web site to your blog or in an e-mail. It’s the coffee you drink in a coffee shop, reading the paper or a book. It’s the coffee you drink with fellow delegates during a break or at lunch at a conference. Where you discuss the keynotes, the presentations, the workshops, where you are going next, your hotel, the food, the coffee, what you do, where you’re going, what gadgets you have in your bag.

8. Sanyo CA9 Video Camera

This post from April was a repost of a blog entry that  first appeared on the Shiny Project Blog. The Sanyo CA9 Video Camera was one of the devices we had purchased as part of our MoLeNET project and these were my initial thoughts about this small handheld video camera. The camera proved to be a huge success in the college causing major cultural shifts in the way that practitioners and learners used video. Nice thing about the camera was that it was waterproof.

7. The VLE is Dead

This was the PR post for the VLE is Dead Symposium at ALT-C 2009. Just a trailer…

6. No Flash player on the Google G1

There is no Flash player for the iPhone and at its release there was no Flash player for the Google G1 either.

5. It’s not dead… yet…

This was posted before the ALT-C VLE is Dead debate. This was my response to various posts made by others on the death of VLEs.

4. G2 Google Phone

This posting is this high due to a high Google search ranking I expect… Not a huge amount of content, just some thoughts and a link on the then new G2 Google phone.

3. Ten things people say about using Twitter, but really they shouldn’t

One of two Twitter “ten things” posts I made in 2009. One of the things that does annoy me about Twitter is the way in which people like to dictate to you how it should be used and how you should use it. This is the top ten things you should never say about using Twitter.

2. The VLE is Dead – The Movie

We filmed the VLE is Dead debate at ALT-C 2009 and this was uploaded within 12 hours… I served something like 40GB of video in the first week of this post going live.

1. Ten reasons why Twitter will eventually wither and die…

Though Twitter has been the service of 2009, one day it will die… These were my ten reasons why it will die… one day….

It is a fact known to all that use Web 2.0 tools and services that one day they will no longer be flavour of the month, or will be swamped by spam, cons and hustlers. We have just seen the death of Geocities and services such as Friendster and Friends Reunited are not once what they were. The same will, one day happen to Twitter!

So there are my top ten blog posts of 2009 according to the number of visitors.

altc2009, vle

It’s about the conversation…

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So it was day three of Ascilite 2009 and this was a big day for me as I was delivering the final Keynote.

As I was still doing some final preparation I missed out on the first morning session. After that I attended the Thinking about a new LMS: Comparing different institutional models and approaches symposium

Selecting a new Learning Management System (LMS) is a strategic decision. The LMS is a key part of your institutional culture and shapes not only the student experience but also the future direction of your institution. This symposium describes the experience from the initial selection phase to early implementation of Moodle in four case studies: University of Waikato, University of Canberra, University of Canterbury and Massey University. The central question explored is: how do you successfully implement a new LMS within a large institution? In answering this question, the symposium compares and contrasts different models and approaches to successfully implementing such an important educational innovation and large-scale institutional change. The symposium shares lessons learnt from each university and offers participants an excellent opportunity to hear first hand about the benefits and challenges of adopting an open source LMS in the university sector.

This was an interesting presentation with some useful experiences that were passed on.The experiences by the four institutions had valuable lessons to pass onto any other institution contemplating changing their LMS or VLE.

However I do feel that it shouldn’t have been labelled as a symposium. Now though a symposium originally referred to a Greek drinking party, it is now used to describe an openly discursive format, rather than a lecture and question–answer format.

The LMS symposium was a series of four presentations with a few questions at the end. That is not a symposium, that is a series of four presentations with a few questions at the end…

It would appear that I am not alone in thinking that the symposium format needs to be rethought for academic conferences.

Sebastian Fiedler on his symposium said in his blog:

Altogether, our slightly eclectic individual statements/presentations apparently worked as a conversation opener. There was clearly interest in the over-arching theme and present ASCILITErs were eager to chime in an voice their opinions. However, when things just started to get somewhat interesting we already had to wrap up the session and disperse the convention. I found this extremely unfortunate.

He goes onto suggest:

I can easily imagine to simply start with a conversation among a group of informed peers on stage… that gradually draws in more and more participants. It would provide a hyperlink-cloud around the individual contributors to get an idea of where they are coming from, and possible end with recommendations on further readings… plus some form of mediated conversation and exchange beyond the event. No presentations, no lecture halls, no 60 min time-slots.

When I was planning the original VLE is Dead symposium at ALT-C 2009 one of the key issues for me was to ensure that the delegates attending the debate had ample time and opportunity for discussion.

So how did we do this?

Well the first thing we did was get the discussion going well before the conference. The speakers were posting to their blogs with their views. One result of this was that lots of people responded to those blog posts, which continued the debate.

At the symposium itself, we restricted the amount of time to each presenter to just five minutes; Josie in the chair was under strict instructions to stop us after five minutes. I also wanted the presenters not to use PowerPoint, though in the end some presenters did use them.

As a result we had a wonderful debate looking at a range of issues, allowing delegates an opportunity to ask questions, voice their opinions and join in.

Well our symposium worked very well, with a room for 80, we had 150 delegates in the room, and about 200 online. I recorded the debate and that video has now been seen (at the time of writing) by over 1500 people!

So what can we learn from this, especially those that are thinking of putting in symposium submissions and conference organisers.

Lesson 1: Less is more

If you can’t get your viewpoint across in five minutes then you just need to try harder. Likewise I wouldn’t have more than four presenters for an hour debate and no more than six for a ninety minute session. Don’t try and cover “everything” try to keep to a single or simple viewpoint.

Lesson 2: Early start

Start the debate early well before the conference. Get the presenters to blog their viewpoints. Encourage others to debate the issue using their blogs. Use Twitter to get the debate going.

Lesson 3: Amplify

If you can stream your symposium over the internet, use a service such as Ustream. Use Twitter to cover the debate and if possible have a Twitterfall type service showing during the debate.

So ask yourself the next time you consider running a symposium, are you interested in the debate or are you only interested in presenting your point of view.

vle

Does learning happen on a VLE?

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I have had quite a few people comment and say that learning doesn’t happen on a VLE and that it is merely a glorified content repository. Now I am sure in many institutions that this is certainly the case.

However in the same way that learning sometimes does and sometimes doesn’t happen in a physical environment. I should note that the classroom is not the only physical learning environment that learning can take place in. Physical learning environments can be classrooms, the home, workshops, salons, kitchens, work places or in the field (you know literally in a field). Before you make the blanket comment learning doesn’t happen on a VLE, how do we know that learning takes place in a physical learning environment? The environment is either conducive to learning or not conducive. We carry out checks on learning and assess that learning has happened. These happen in physical learning environments and can happen in VLEs too. You can check by using the same checks and assessments you would use to check for learning in other environments. You can also use new and innovative checks and assessment methods using technology too.

There is no way that we can categorically say that learning can not happen on a VLE. If we do then we must also say that learning can not happen on the internet period.

So then have I seen learning happen on a VLE?

Well yes. In the same way I have seen learning take place with Web 2.0 tools and services.

I have seen some fantastic work with the use of audio and video on the VLE combined with a VLE discussion forum.

I have seen learning happen with wikis on the VLE. Just because the functionality of the wiki or discussion forum in a VLE may not match those found elsewhere on the web, doesn’t mean they should be dismissed. Simple tools do not mean simple learning; though it should be said that complex tools doesn’t mean complex learning either. These are tools and regardless of their simplicity or complexity, they can be used for learning.

We mustn’t forget that the VLE is generally rarely used in isolation, it is used to enhance and enrich all kinds of learning. When a VLE is dismissed because it is just used as a repository I wonder what these people think of libraries and books. Libraries are repositories of knowledge and information, do we dismiss them? No we do not. But in the same way that Libraries work best when learner are guided by information professionals, their peers and their teachers; VLEs also work better when learner are guided by information professionals, their peers and their teachers.

So does learning happen on the VLE?

Of course it does.

Join the debate in Wolverhampton on the 16th December 2009.

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Don’t kill off the VLE…

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Don’t kill off the VLE, for many staff it’s their only option. For some if they didn’t have the VLE they wouldn’t use anything else.

Yes wouldn’t it be wonderful if every practitioner, teacher and lecturer was well informed about the wealth of online tools and resources out on the web. The reality is that they’re not. Just ask yourself what percentage of staff in your college are using Twitter?

The problem with saying that the VLE is dead it assumes that both practitioners and learners will move over to free web tools and services. Now some will, some will thrive on that. This is the reason why others may say that the VLE is dead or should be dead. However I disagree as if you kill off the institutional VLE then a substantial proportion of learners and practitioners will not move onto free tools and services.

For many practitioners the VLE is still an alien beast which they are not familiar with and more importantly not making the best use of. Yes you could argue that this is because the VLE is not fit for purpose and that it is a slow clunking tool that no one wants to use. Lets stop though and ask if this is the case. Isn’t it more likely that the reason some staff don’t use the VLE for enhancing and enriching learning is that they don’t know how to? If they think it is tired and clunky, that assumes that they are comparing it to “snazzy” or “clever” Web 2.0 tools which they are using widely. This is a very small number of practitioners and they are probably using those tools already.

I can’t see practitioners who are not using the VLE, or simply skimming the surface of the functionality of the VLE, making an educated, informed and rational decision about using the VLE. How would they know? How can the decide based on what is probably a cursory glance at at a few features of the VLE without having an understanding of the full and potential benefits of the VLE for their learners.

I have had quite a few people comment and say that learning doesn’t happen on a VLE and that it is merely a glorified content repository. Now I am sure in many institutions that this is certainly the case. However to blame the VLE would be like blaming a classroom for being boring. As anyone who is ever in a classroom soon realises, it is not the environment which matters but what and how you use that environment. A VLE or virtual learning environment is merely replacing or supplementing a physical learning environment. I should note that the classroom is not the only physical learning environment that learning can take place in. Physical learning environments can be classrooms, the home, workshops, salons, kitchens, work places or in the field (you know literally in a field).

If we ensure that practitioners have the right skills, experience and understanding then we can start to ensure that learners have a guided, enhanced and enriched learning experience.

Join the debate in Wolverhampton on the 16th December 2009.

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So is the VLE dead or not?

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A lot of people out there are talking about how dead the VLE is that you would actually think it was dead. However take a step back, there are lots of people using their VLE, learners are using them to learn, practitioners are using them to enhance and enrich the learning experience.

The VLE is not dead, you could say that the VLE is undead. Now not undead as in zombies or vampires, but undead as in not dead, very much alive and kicking.

Now don’t get me wrong, the wealth of Web 2.0 tools or services out there are fantastic and can be utilised by learners to enhance and enrich their experience. But this needn’t be in exclusion to the institutional VLE, the institutional VLE can be the glue which holds this altogether.

When people often talk about how the VLE is dead, should be dead, or is undead and should be  sorted; they expect learners to utilise the tools of their choice to create their own personal learning environment (PLE). We need to stop confusing the debate over the VLE by implying it is a PLE versus a VLE debate. It isn’t and hasn’t ever been that.

A PLE in my opinion is allowing a learner to choose their own learning environment by utilising tools that are available to the learner. Now where does it say that this specifically excludes institutional tools and services? Why can’t learners decide to use an institutional VLE, an institutional e-mail address, institutional storage?

The key is choice.

We do need to give learners choice about which tools they want to use. We also need to help them make an informed choice.

If all you let learners use is the institutional VLE then you are restricting choice and stopping learners from creating their own personalised learning environment. Services such as XML and RSS allow learners, practitioners and institutions to feed content and communication into whichever environment they choose.

The problem I have with removing the institutional VLE from the equation is that it removes choice and for some learners adds barriers learning.

We know that the so called Google generation and digital natives don’t exist. Some learners are very familiar with Web 2.0 and technology, but many others are not. How do we provide an enhanced and enriched online learning environment to learners that are not confident about entering that environment. The VLE can be that first step, the first port of call for these learners.

The VLE is not dead, that’s what we mean by undead, the VLE can be a tool to enhance and enrich learning and be a portal to a world of Web 2.0 tools and services.

Join the debate in Wolverhampton on the 16th December 2009.

alt, altc2009, facebook, twitter, vle, web 2.0

ALT-C Reflections Part One

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I really enjoyed ALT-C last week and not just because I won an award. It was an excellent conference and I found it a very rewarding experince from both a delegate’s perspective and as a presenter.

It was really nice to meet up with a lot of different people, some I knew, some I knew only from the web, some I had never met and those that knew me though I didn’t know them.

There was some great presentations, workshops, keynotes and debates and I felt I learnt a lot and was given a lot to think about.

I had a reasonable journey up to Manchester (no connectivity on the train) and having arrived, caught a taxi to the venue. I was relieved to see that my Glossy Poster had safely arrived though for some unknown reason at that time my flyers for my workshops and that symposium had failed to arrive.

I bumped into a few people I knew and then someone came up to me and said hello. I recognised him, but couldn’t name the face… I hate it when that happens, and after turning over their name badge (why do they always flip the wrong way at the wrong moments) I saw it was Richard Elliot from New Zealand. I am doing the keynote at ASCILITE 2009 conference so it was good to meet one of the organisers to chat and discuss the conference.

After the pre-conference buffet and chatting I headed up to the F-ALT event on post digital and managed to catch the last bit and added a little to the discussion.

altc09001

These fringe events add a lot to the conference, they’re not competing with the conference, but adding a social, informal side to the conference that allows delegates to add a social learning element to the conference. It also allows delegates to discuss and present issues on stuff and technologies which at the time of the abstract submission deadline maybe wasn’t available or didn’t even exist.

Tuesday morning, saw a bright and early start with the conference kicking off proper at 9.00am. After the conference introductions we moved onto the conference keynote from Michael Wesch.

It took tens of thousands of years for writing to emerge after humans spoke their first words. It took thousands more before the printing press and a few hundred again before the telegraph. Today a new medium of communication emerges every time somebody creates a new web application. A Flickr here, a Twitter there, and a new way of relating to others emerges. New types of conversation, argumentation, and collaboration are realized. Using examples from anthropological fieldwork in Papua New Guinea, YouTube, classrooms, and “the future,” this presentation will demonstrate the profound yet often unnoticed ways in which media “mediate” our conversations, classrooms, and institutions. We will then apply these insights to an exploration of the implications for how we may need to rethink how we teach, what we teach, and who we think we are teaching.

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed his presentation and presentational approach, however I do wonder and still wonder if all our learners are like his students? Are all our learners using Facebook and other Web 2.0 tools and services on a regular basis and importantly are they using them for learning?

I don’t see a Google Generation or Digital Natives in the learners I work with. Some are using Facebook and other tools, many are not. Those that are, not all are using these tools for learning.

See what you think from the recording.

I enjoyed the short papers on staff skills, some of the work that Alan Cann is doing at Leicester is very illuminating and interesting.

Then lunch and I won’t dwell on the conference catering, all I will say how much I enjoyed the coffee from the Museum Cafe across the road from the conference venue.

After sustenance we had the big debate, you know, the one about how the VLE is Dead! The debate was a lot of fun and it would appear that the delegates who attended enjoyed the debate. In a room with space for eighty, we had nearly a hundred and fifty people, many sitting and standing. We also had about two hundred people online following the live stream.

vleideadterrywassal

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The debate was based on the following proposition.

The future success of e-learning depends on appropriate selection of tools and services. This symposium will propose that the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) as an institutional tool is dead, no more, defunct, expired.

I know that most people realised that the debate (and especially the title) was provocative and that the aim was for a fun debate as well as looking at the issues. You are not going to be able to give serious academic consideration to the issues in an eighty minute debate.

I was pleased with the interest shown, not just at the conference, but also online on Twitter and on various blogs. Cloudworks has a list of the blogs that have discussed the issue. The “marketing” for the debate worked well (probably better than expected) with the trailer, the flyer and the numerous blog posts by me, Steve and many others…

As expected, I didn’t get to the next session, but did make Steve Wheeler’s Twitter session. A very popular session with lots of different people attending, some like me who are immersed in Twitter to people who had never used it.

After all that I missed the new ALT Members Reception, and as Gloucestershire College joined ALT this year I should have been attending. Ah well.

In the evening I went to a nice Tapas bar with Ron, Lilian and David.

More later…