Category Archives: vle

vle

“A bad workman always blames his tools”

11 Comments

A bad workman always blames his tools.

Proverb

Over on Learning with ‘e’s Steve Wheeler is talking about VLEs. He says

OK, this is my opinion, but many VLEs are not fit for purpose, and masquerade as solutions for the management of online learning.

He continues…

I have not seen a single VLE system yet that works so transparently that students think more about their learning than they do about how to make the damn VLE work. Again, I don’t blame this on the users – it’s a management and design issue.

Though I wonder is it just a management and design issue?

I don’t disagree with him entirely, as many VLEs are badly designed and usability often leaves a lot to be desired. Functionality can often be complex to set up and use. However this is often the case with a lot of online tools and services.

So what’s the alternative?

Don’t compare VLEs with the way you want it to be compare it to not having a VLE.

Think of a VLE as a journey rather than a destination for online learning.

I look at the way our learners use the VLE to enhance and enrich their learning. Is it perfect? Of course not! Could it be better? Yes! Are they fit for purpose, well depends on who designs that purpose, but no they’re probably not. Are they getting there? Maybe!

However compared to the situation five years ago when we didn’t have a VLE, it has enhanced the learning experience of our learners.

Using a VLE does not preclude you using other web based tools, it can be the cayalyst. With RSS it is possible to use the VLE as a focus for other web based services.

The problem with VLEs is that often it is not just the VLE which is the problem.

The VLE is ONLY a tool.

Even with a blunt chisel it is possible to create a beautiful sculpture.

A bad workman always blames his tools

In teaching, you can create learning without a classroom, you can be outside on the grass, in a coffee shop. The environment is only one part of the experience; is it the most important part? I think not.

When learners and teachers complain about the VLE, are they genuine complaints about usability and functionality? Or are they just excuses for not using a tool as they don’t want to use it or learn how to use it.

If we just use VLEs as a repository of materials, why is that the fault of the VLE, isn’t that more of an indicator of how most people teach? Lectures with handouts are the physical manifestation of the virtual repository.

If web tools are so fantastic and so much better than VLEs, why isn’t everyone using them all the time?

The problem is that it is easy to focus on the problems with the tools we use and harder to focus on the problems with the people who need to use these tools.

Photo source.

vle

RSC SW VLE Forum

Leave a comment

Today I was in Taunton for the RSC VLE Forum. This forum has been running for five years now and is an opportunity for VLE managers, VLE administrators, practitioners and other interested parties to get together to talk, discuss and watch a few presentations.

Over the years the forum has seen presentations from many people including myself. The VLE Forum was the first place I ran my copyright workshop and more recently I ran a workshop on Web 2.0 which people seemed to enjoy.

One feature which has been common across the forums over the years has been a set agenda with either presentations or occasionally workshops. Though delegates can provide feedback which may be used in future forums if there was something you found out which you wanted to find more about or discuss in greater detail you either had to wait a few months for the next forum or try and discuss it over lunch or tea.

Today saw a new idea. Based on feedback from previous forums the majority of the afternoon was spent with the group broken into smaller groups. These groups then discussed and debated ideas, concepts or technologies drawn from the group as a whole. One group discussed teacher engagement, another discussed Sharepoint. I worked with a small group looking at audio and video. I demonstrated podcasting, capturing video and audio using various tools and technologies.

I thought the concept worked really well. Lyn from the RSC was concerned that the idea may not work. After the event we talked about it. She was pleased about how it went and what the delegates got out of the discussions.

I find it interesting that event and conference organisers are like teachers and feel that delegates (like students) need to have a formal structure and be assigned content and can not organise themselves. Today’s event showed that if you give delegates an open structure and guidance that they will organise themselves and choose topics that interest them or what they want to find out more about. They will also learn and gain from the event.

Practitioners can do something similar with their students, give them guidance and what you expect from them in terms of a learning outcome they may well just surprise you.

video, vle

Flipping heck!

2 Comments

One of the devices that many MoLeNET projects found really useful for creating video for mobile devices was the small pocket flash based MP4 cameras such as the Flip video camera.

Flipping heck!

These small, low cost devices allow practitioners and learners to quickly create video clips which can then be easily uploaded to a VLE or blog or similar.

In a recent Guardian column, Stephen Fry wrote about the merits of the Flip:

Video. Your mobile phone might be capable of it, your compact digital camera almost certainly is and there are dozens of dedicated camcorders available that can write moving picture information to all kinds of media at all kinds of qualities for all kinds of money. Why, then, a basic handheld video camera that can do nothing else? a) What is the point? and b) Where is the market? The answers, refreshingly, are a) Fun and b) The young.

I don’t have a Flip, though I know others that have similar devices and echo Stephen’s comments. Personally I have been using HD cameras such as the Panasonic HDC-SD5 which takes some excellent quality video which is captured to an SD card.

Key question is one HDC-SD5 worth three to four Flips?

The answer depends on the use of the video you shoot.

For quick video capture which needs to be uploaded quickly online, then the Flip wins out.

If you need to edit the video, or want to show the video through a data projector then the HD video has to the first choice.

Which would you choose and why?

Photo source.

news, vle

Moodle 1.9 Released

Leave a comment

Today sees the release of Moodle 1.9.

Our latest release fresh from over 5 months of community beta testing and improvements. This release is like a “gold reference” version, but usually the daily build above will be even better. Moodle 1.9 not only has lots of requested new features but some very large performance improvements over Moodle 1.8. We recommend all sites upgrade to 1.9 as soon as practical, especially if you are seeing poor performance in some areas.

Download it now.

Thanks Gary.

jisc, vle

RSC VLE Forum

Leave a comment

Today I am at the RSC VLE Forum in Taunton.

RSC VLE Forum

So far I have heard from ULCC talking about PLPs and now OSS on communities.

It’s an interesting event and always useful to network and engage with others in the community and realise how far behind we are in terms of Moodle development.

Some work to do.

vle

Copyright Solutions Workshop

Leave a comment

Today I ran a copyright workshop at the RSC SW VLE Forum in Taunton.

An interactive version of the workshop can be found online at the JISC Collections website.

Useful links

UK Intellectual Property – Government-backed home of UK Intellectual Property on the Internet. Resources on Copyright, Designs, Patents and Trade Marks.

CLA – The Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd. The CLA is a non profit-making company that licenses organisations for photocopying and scanning from magazines, books and journals.

NLA – Newspaper Licencing Agency. The NLA operating on behalf of the UK’s national and regional newspapers the NLA licenses organisations to take legal copies of newspaper articles;

Crown Copyright – Guidance on the use of Crown copyright protected materials.

JISC Legal – a free information service offering high quality legal information to further and higher education relating to the use of information and communications technologies.

Creative Commons provides free tools for authors, artists, and educators to mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry.

vle

RSC South West VLE Forum

1 Comment

I am currently at the RSC SW VLE Forum.

This is a really nice event, in which VLE developers and managers from across the South West get together, not just for chatting but to listen to presentations and now and again workshop activities.

Even though Gloucestershire College is advanced in terms of embedding their VLE into teaching and learning, it is always useful to go because I have found out things that I didn’t know, always learning something new.

vle

Moodle taking the lead in the secondary sector

1 Comment

Moodle (the open source VLE) one of the most popular VLEs in the FE sector is proving to be a real hit in the secondary sector.

The Guardian reports that:

Schools are becoming increasingly attracted to open source virtual learning environments (VLEs), according to a report by the British Educational Suppliers Association (Besa), which also reported a solid increase in spending on the software packages that assist the development of personalised learning.

The report, Personalised Learning in Schools, questioned more than 600 schools in England and found Moodle, a free e-learning platform, was now the second most popular in schools, but with the preference split between primary and secondary. Moodle was the virtual learning platform of choice among secondary schools and the third most popular among primaries, after Digital Brain and My Grid for Learning.

However are they going for Moodle because of the benefits of the open source system, the flexibility and the fact that it “works”, or are they attracted because they believe that it is free and are under the impression that this means free as in no cost.

Anyone who has every run a VLE realises that when you take in all the costs of running a VLE, the licences are a very small part of the overall cost of the implementation, development and operational costs of running a VLE.

Hopefully those schools which are using a VLE (and that means any VLE not just Moodle) are not relying just on the efforts of a sole enthusiast and have a scalable and costed implementation plan. Anyone can install and run Moodle (personally I have three versions running on a single Mac mini) however it is a different story when that implementation needs to be accessed by hundreds of learners from across (and outside) the institution.

100 ways, vle

100 ways to use a VLE – #3 Having an online discussion

1 Comment

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

How do you ensure that all learners contribute to the discussion?

How many though consider the needs of different learners and learning styles when facilitating discussion? Some learners are reflective and they need to time to think and reflect on the discussion

Online discussion using a forum on the VLE is one option that facilitates discussion in a way which allows reflective (and quieter) learners to contribute.

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

So how do you go about it?

The Tutor sets a question, for example:

2002 saw the first full year of the Euro.

Read the following article from the BBC News pages and each member of the group to contribute to a discussion entitled The Euro works with John to summarise by the 17th

Bob

Each of the students from the group would be expected to contribute to the discussion, with one of the members of the group posting a summary.

Facilitating such a discussion requires similar skills that you would find in the classroom, praising and bringing in quieter members of the group.

that’s a good point Charlie, what do you think Claire

You could also have an online discussion in order to provide evidence for Communication Key Skills.

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