opportunities

What are the suggested benefits for having a VLE/learning platform? They may help you, the teacher, to become more efficient, engage students more fully, and extend and enhance learning. The big plus of a learning platform / VLE is the opportunity for any time / anywhere learning, ie teachers and pupils can access resources out of lessons. This means that learners can orient themselves to their studies and be more self directed eg find their own resources, track their own progress for themselves. Using on-line marking of quizzes and submitted work enables teachers to give timely feedback to the learners. We found these opportunities associated with:

• assessment: teachers can track and easily report on pupil progress, quizzes can be used for formative assessment both in and out of class; coursework and homework can be monitored; homework is always there – it cannot get lost.
• planning schemes of work: the platform helps orient pupils and ‘forces’ teachers to plan out sessions and makes it easier to do so. This also helps supply and cover teachers as they know what needs to be taught. Handouts can be accessed by pupils and easily amended by teachers to create a cycle of year on year improvement.
• providing online information: teachers like the idea of ‘closed open spaces’ for example giving pupils access to a wide range of materials but not having access thrown open to the whole WWW. This combines more independent learning within a manageable structure.
• communications: email and other on line communications allows everyone to participate not just ‘those who like to put up their hands’. Teachers can mail feedback and chase up missing work rather than chasing round school at break. Parents can become productively invovled in their pupils' learning. Schools can showcase pupils work to parents and carers and where appropriate to the wider community.
• belonging to the school: pupils like to see ‘my profile’ tailored to their classes and to access their own exam timetables, teacher profiles, teachers can follow what other subjects each pupils is taking.
• An ICT generation?: Many learners are familiar with social networking sites and are positive about the use of learning platforms for more formal learning.

Summing up, look at the functionality within learning platforms and its use for teaching and learning, assessment and administration.

Teaching and Learning	Assessment	Administration
student homepages e-portfolios schemes of work and course details available course resources, including links to websites homework tasks downloadable exam timetables content is preserved for future use conferencing system on-line chat	auto marked quizzes peer evaluation student self-evaluation on-line marking of tasks electronic feedback	student progress tracking electronic mail course calendar reporting within establishment reporting to parents attendance register class lists photographs of students pupil details and contacts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now move on to the scenarios and cameos!