> -----Original Message-----
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf
> Of Peter Trethewey
> 
>  "in other words with a VLE you can move to a more managed learning
> environment (reducing administrative burden on staff) more easily than
> you can with "free" web tools."
> 
> Yes this ought be true but bringing together all the college 
> admin tools
> under an MLE umbrella has surely got to be a long way off - 
> both technically
> and organisationally - so we're stuck with interesting 
> experiments in VLE
> and no fully operational MLE?

This is probably true for most colleges, even though we have five MIS
systems talking to one VLE at the WCC and other tools been added as we
go one, I wouldn't call us a true MLE, but I do use that term in
conversation. We are moving towards that aim to have systems talking to
each other across our consortium within the next three years.

> 
> The most successful use of VLE I know of is the use of the free "VLE"
> smartgroups on the web. Students are "voluntary" members of a group
> containing a wealth of resources, email and discussion that 
> they can access
> at home or at work.
> 
> Cost = £0 +  a lot of enthusiasm.

The true cost of a VLE is way beyond the cost of the licence (Leeds
University have an Open Source VLE for example).

"a lot of enthusiasm" is very expensive in terms of real costs (as most
FE staff do not have "a lot of enthusiasm" when it comes to ILT and
e-learning for a variety of reasons) as these enthusiasts are spending a
lot of time implementing this kind of model (and generally colleges
don't pay for that time) and therefore if the costs were actually paid
for, you would find this approach rather expensive.

The cost of a VLE is more than the cost of the licence, it should also
include the cost of managing that VLE which covers a range of aspects
from training, development, materials, resources, day to day management,
etc etc...
> 
> I don't suppose the model will scale up for college wide use 
> but staff are
> learning a lot of transferable skills that will be useful in 
> any VLE/MLE.
> 
which is a good thing in some ways, but the scaling up for college
implementation is a real challenge, there are hundreds (if not
thousands) of FE (and HE) Staff across the country using the internet
(and all those web tools) to facilitate learning (check the FERL site
for evidence in the FE sector), I know personally quite a few FE staff
who run their own websites to support their students (and have done so
myself). These skills are useful to learn, but can any institution
expect all their staff to learn these skills (and why should they?). For
example, is it effective and efficient to train staff in Dreamweaver so
that they can all create their web sites (some people seem to think so)
the cost of training is huge, but also the cost of preparing resources
is also huge... and you can do it cheaper by hiring staff who are
quicker and better with dreamweaver and cost less to pay.

The real challenge for any institution is the global implementation
(beyond the trial and pilot stage) of a VLE/MLE across that institution.

Just a few of my thoughts.

James Clay
Director Western Colleges Consortium
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
www.westerncc.ac.uk

***************** 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?pagev
To unsubscribe, email [log in to unmask] with the message: leave vle