At 15:32 26/09/01 +0100, Pene Prior wrote:

>We feel that we have been somewhat successful in transforming the attitude
>of the lecturers to using and not being threatened by the introduction of
>ILT as a tool for them of learning. The time is right for us to look for an
>MLE, but it feels like the 'betamax v VHS' purchase scenario.
>
>And after all it is a market, is there a table or matrix with all the
>criterion for a 'good' MLE which matches each VLE/MLE against it ( a bit
>like a WHICH? report) ?
>

On the old MLE area on ferl, we had a feature comparison table which
compared different VLEs. However, we scrapped it for this current focus
are, partly because it was extremely difficult to keep up to date, but more
because it's an incredibly difficult thing to do. For example, I personally
feel one of the key things about VLEs is "how easy is it for lecturers to
upload content?". On some it is quite hard, on others very easy. However,
I'm not at all sure how I could quantify that in a comparitive table, and
make it meaningful. Another question might be "Does it provide its own
internal email system?" - on the face of it, a simple yes/no answer. But
then if it's yes, you can get into all sorts of questions about the detail
of that email system - e.g. can a student cc or bcc to others in their
class, can they set up groups, can it also be automatically copied to their
external POP account, etc.

So I think we feel that a comparitive table, whilst in theory a good idea,
is just extremely difficult to do in practice.

This is part of the reason I take a personal view that colleges should
experiment in a small way with VLEs before making a decision to spend all
their money and commit to a specific one. Apart from building up the skills
of a core group of lecturers, this will help you decide what questions you
want to ask the suppliers when you finally go out to tender for your
college wide VLE - and knowing what to ask, is, of course, crucial. Get
your feet wet now, dive in later.

And, of course, this list gives you access to a whole range of people who
have used, or have some knowledge of, more or less all the VLEs currently
around the UK market.

It might be interesting for people on the list to say what is, to them, the
single most important feature of a VLE. Is it ease of uploading materials,
is it MIS compatibility, is it that the suppliers sell content too, or what?

Geoff.

Geoff Minshull
Direct Learn Training
Online services to education, courseware development, project management,
deafness/disability consultancy
Web:   http://www.directlearn.co.uk/ - last updated 18.09.01
Tel:   +44 (0)1629 540386   Mob:  0771 264 7600   Fax:  +44 (0)1629 540820

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