Shirley,
In response to your questions about vle use:

1) at City of Sunderland College we have beeen using Blackboard since January
2001. Bb was chosen becuase, after considering it alongside others such as
webCT and Learnwise, it seemed the most intuitive for students and staff to get
to use quickly and effectively;

2) Staff are more than happy with it, as the viral growth in courses from our
initial pilot of 4 during Jan-June 2001 to over 480 today has shown;

3)We have had very positive feedback from students, and some are busy writing
case studies for the ferl website about their experience of using a vle;

4) see point 1 above...even stff with very limited IT skills are able to use it
within twenty minutes or so of being shown how;

5) we have a system administrator, myself as e-learning manager and general IT
support. This is an area that we are developing, and i have only been in my
current post since mid-march. We also have a very recently appointed staff IT
trainer who is developing training around the use of the vle;

6)see above;

7) We use both approaches, but we already had a multi-media unit in
existence...developing/adapting materials for use within the vle has become
part of their remit;

8) we have not bought in materials as yet, but we certainly do not count that
out;

9) more effective communication with students (we are a split site college,
with a large student body, e.g. approximately 400 AS level psychology students
on three sites); large lectures have become more dynamic and interactive as
students have, spontaneously, downloaded information from the vle, read it
before the lectures and come prepared to ask, and answer questions; more
frequent assessment becomes possible;

10) It doesn't at the moment, because we have decided not to implement an mle
at present...but it can....and it probably will;

11) installation was done in-house, with back-up support from the vendor...but
it was relatively straightforward. We have had training from Blackboard, and we
have also developed our own which we deliver to our own staff and other
institutions if requested;

12) on-costs are largely related to staff time in relation to staff development
(at both basic IT skills, (which would have needed doing anyway) and more
advanced skills as needed), system administrators costs (currently two persons,
but equivalent to one full-time member of staff). The cost of the annual
licence, which is determined by the system and level you decide to run with;


Hope these points are useful to you, and if you would like any further info, or
would like to arrange to visit us, then please contact me at any time.

regards,

merv stapleton



Shirley Crawford wrote:

> Apologies in advance for any cross-posting.
>
> I am part of a team of staff who have been looking into VLEs and would
> appreciate some feedback from colleagues who have already been down this
> route.  At the risk of filling up my mail box I would like to pose the
> following questions to those of you who are already using a VLE.
>
> Please reply to me off list so as not to fill up everyone's mailboxes.
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> 1- What VLE are you using and why was it chosen?
> 2 - Are teaching staff happy with it?
> 3 - Do the students like it?
> 4 - Is it easy to use?
> 5 - What what sort of structure do you have in place for support?
> 6 - Do you have specialist staff who manage the VLE?
> 7 - Do teaching staff create and upload their own materials or have you
> employed a specialist to convert existing materials?
> 8 - Have you bought in materials, if so do the staff and students like
> them?
> 9 - What benefits have you experienced using the VLE?
> 10 - Does it talk to your MIS system?
> 11 - Is installation and training supplied by the vendor?
> 12 - Are the on-costs expensive?
>
> If possible I would appreciate feedback you are able to give by Thursday
> 25 April when I will be attending the next meeting.
>
> Thanks
>
> --
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Shirley Crawford
> Staff IT Training Co-ordinator
> St Austell College
> (Part of The Cornwall College Group)
> [log in to unmask]
> Tel:01726 67911 ext 3137
>
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> Remember - replies go by default to the entire list.
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> The Ferl VLE Focus Area is at http://ferl.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?page=76
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***************** List information: *****************
Remember - replies go by default to the entire list.
Access the list via the web on http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/vle.html
The Ferl VLE Focus Area is at http://ferl.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?page=76
To unsubscribe, email [log in to unmask] with the message: leave vle