I recently read the following article on the FERL website and it did
make me giggle slightly and also wonder what other people's thoughts
were:
http://www.ferl.org.uk/display.cfm?page=71&resID=5137
In case you didn't see what I saw, I quote:
>>When we embarked on this project, we felt that commercially produced
VLEs were better applied to a higher rather than a further education
context. There was also a cost factor to consider. <<
So one of the main reasons for not going with a VLE was the cost
factor...
>>I commenced working on the design of an intranet as an ILT champion
with 3 hours' remission, but very quickly recognised the need for a
scalable solution and so a web designer and programmer was brought in to
develop the project further.<<
But the only way forward with an intranet solution was to hire (spend
money) on a web designer and programmer... staff costs are a lot higher
than a VLE licence!!!
I do feel that some people forget that the VLE licence is a small cost
in the true cost of providing an electronic learning environment (wether
you go down the VLE or intranet route). What I would say, it makes more
sense in my opinion to spend limited money on staff development and
training in the use of the tools for e-learning and benefiting students
rather than spending money on developing the tools.
I think what the college in the article has done is great, but I have
some different views.
The other part of the article I disagreed with was, again I quote
>>Most important is our policy on learning materials. Every student can
see the learning materials for every course - this helps to break down
the artificial boundaries that separate subjects. For instance, I see no
reason why a maths student should not be able to work with engineering
resources and vice versa.<<
I do hope that they evaluate this policy, as within the WCC we use to
have this policy and now we don't, simply as the amount content and
learning materials grows, it becomes more and more difficult to navigate
the content trying to find something useful or relevant.
I don't disagree with the sentiment, but us old hands who are use to
navigating complex file environments sometimes forget that a relative
newcomer (be they staff or student) have real issues with navigation.
To put into context, just using the NLN materials (only 300 hours of
learning according to the website), there are 533 learning objects now,
in July there will be another 1000, next year another 1000... the
average lecturer probably produces individually 600-900 hours of
learning per year... the average college has 500 -1000 staff...
The amount of content that could be on an intranet could be vast... how
users access that content is important.
James Clay
Director Western Colleges Consortium
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
www.westerncc.ac.uk
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