At the present stage of development, the main strengths of using a VLE
include the facility for individual members of staff to upload their own
work. In my previous college, where I was webmeister, I built a thriving
Intranet from scratch; but there was an inevitable bottleneck if someone had
material that was needed urgently... people turning up with a sheepish look
at 0850 asking to have something available for a 9am class and the like!
A shared areas system gets around that, but lacks the structure and ease of
navigation that a web-based solution allows.
A VLE provides a fusion, the capability of instantaneous upload in a manner
simple enough for most members of staff to master and an easily-navigable
'front end' that students and staff can use to find their way to the
resources that they need.
As for the contents, well, that is more a matter of how good your ideas are!
It's a good opportunity for the ILT Champion to work with subject
specialists, to find out what is to be taught and to use both subject and IT
knowledge to derive ways of presenting material effectively using the
technology.
The 'repository' model for an Intranet or VLE, storing specifications,
course handbooks, lesson handouts, assignment briefs, etc., is merely
scratching at the surface. Most VLEs will allow, for example, video or audio
clips. Look around what people in your college are teaching and start
imagining where a video clip might be useful - chopping techniques for
cooks, say. Several subjects (e.g. psychology and sociology) require
students to become proficient in setting and analysing questionnaires as a
means of information gathering... and most VLEs (or stand-alone software
such as Hot Potatoes) enable you to set and analyse a questionnaire. So
enable students who need this skill to use the system to build their
questionnaires and encourage all VLE users, where appropriate, to spend a
few minutes filling them in. Just a few ideas off the top of my head as I
write this e-mail.
Look at any subject, sit back and dream a bit. Then see if you can find a
way to make that dream happen within the VLE...
Megan.
ILT Champion, Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College.
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