The Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is a system/tool that sparks a fair bit of controversy when you mention it in any education setting. Whether you like it or not, use it or not, you will no doubt be involved in one, to some degree.

Last month I posted the poll to this blog about what name or label you have for your ‘student-centred’ learning environment (I know, that in itself is ripe for a huge discussion about whether a VLE or CMS could validly be called ‘student centred’ or even a ‘learning environment’), and here are the results:

I am not surprised with these results as the VLE is deemed the most popular one I observe in discussions. Whether it is the right classification for the tool is also up for discussion but the results show the term VLE as the one we use.

However, Steve Wheeler got me thinking (again!) when he tweeted during last months eAssessment Scotland Conference:

The institutional VLE is where content goes to die #eas11

August 26, 2011 1:18 pm via EchofonReplyRetweetFavorite

@timbuckteeth

Steve Wheeler

Now, while Steve is somewhat known for sparking ‘heated’ discussion he has a point here, even if it’s one we don’t want to like it. I have constant battles when I see PDF and PowerPoint files being uploaded to the VLE, with no explanation on what they are or how/why the students should use them, and to then see them called ‘eLearning’. Arghh! That is barely even eDelivery and certainly not eLearning. In this day and age there is no reason why we can’t develop decent learning packages for the students, or arrange for appropriate explanation of what they are expected to do with the materials we provide for them … right?

However, from Steve’s post above I then saw the following tweet from Matt Northam, a colleague at Bournemouth University:

Why is it that students will happily talk about course stuff and whatnot on Facebook/twitter/etc but not in designated VLE's(?) #mes11

September 7, 2011 12:14 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@mattnortham

matt northam ™

Indeed, why do students not interact wit us or each other in the Institutional VLE? I’ve searched around on this topic and haven’t really found any definitive research or evidence that I’m happy with. I retweeted Matt’s post and received some welcome replies, which I’m sure Matt is also appreciative of too. The following are a selection of the replies, so I apologise if your’s is not included and commented on – you might have something similar to another reply?

• Tim Dalton: “Feeling that the VLE is part of the assessment process so I filter what I write there?”

Indeed I have heard similar feelings from students at BU, but if introduced and explained properly then any form of required interaction (group based, personal, journal, informal/formal, etc) should negate these feelings? The VLE is not, to my knowledge, intended or even used to replicate or replace existing communication channels, but rather to enhance a particular section or activity. For me what you post to the Institutional VLE is always considered confidential.

• Ben Bull: “Because your VLE isn’t as good and isn’t as socially relevant to them?”

Certainly the VLE is not as ‘socially’ relevant to the, but it’s not supposed to be, is it? As far as the statement that it isn’t “as good” really depends again on how you use it, and which one you have. I would say that from my experience most VLE systems are not developing as fast as the world of social media/networks.

• Jon Scott: “VLEs outdated. Need to improve + integrate with workable pedagogy which encourages online communication and collab.”  and “hard to achieve- need to show a requirement for it. how do you demo requirement without a system to try pedagogy on?” (2 tweets)

Jon echo’s my sentiment from Ben’s tweet, VLE systems are slowly catching up to online behaviour in social networks, but unless they make radical changes they will always be playing catch-up. More importantly is that there needs to be a reason to have the VLE, and any changes within it, that must be relevant to the pedagogic need for the technology, and how we use it.

• Doug Belshaw: “Discussions on SoMe instead of VLE because of ownership of space? Identity?”

I’ve blogged about this before too, but the ‘safety’ of activity within the Institutional VLE is something we can and should advocate. When we or the students take the work/assignment/conversation/etc out of this environment we lose control, they lose security, and we and them are open to external influences and activity/exposure that, for me, we ought to prevent. While I’m sure someone will argue that we should not have control over the conversation, I am merely stating here that we should be ‘controlling’ the technical infrastructure to provide a safe online environment for course-based student activity.

• Natalie Lafferty: “Usability, interaction design, ownership maybe why students prefer talking about course stuff on FB rather than VLE”

Interesting point here: while I talk about (our) ‘ownership’ of the Institution system the idea that the students want their own ownership of the system they use is not one I had thought of until now. However, their data, details, communication, etc, in external systems are at the mercy of those T&Cs .. and we all know how unreliable and changeable Facebook has been in the past about that. The question of ‘ownership’ is one we ought to take seriously.

• Sue Beckingham: “SoMe v VLE – interface more intuitive & visually pleasing + can easy communicate with chosen connections.”

If we can get the issues surrounding data security sorted then a ‘system’ or set of tools that utilises the best of both worlds could be on the cards, yes?

• Shirley Pickford: “A student said its because the VLE doesn’t look/feel like FB/twitter/etc. Design tweaks coming up when I have time.”

I’d like to know more about this as the question for me here is whether it is purely the design of the two systems or do they mean the practical aspects of the way the two different systems work? I can see potential in this approach, certainly in finding out whether the students actually understand what each system can offer.

• David Walker: “Perhaps because fear of being monitored? Or less fear of being shown up among immediate friends (Fb) rather than whole class?”

I’m not sure how other people use their VLE but for ‘my’ online students the conversation is about being monitored so we can gauge their progress and direct them to additional resources in case they start to lag behind, or even worse, get the wrong idea? Key here is that the conversation we expect/hope/plan for IS centred around their study, so this is obviously aimed at them using the VLE.

Is this question about the use of the VLE more about the basic fundamentals of each system rather than their merits? If we had a VLE that mimicked the buttons and function of the social network tool would the  students be more inclined to use it, or will they still use the external system because of the issue or ownership or the link to assessment?

This tweet from Carl Morris simply says ”Ownership, familiarity and habit?. it simply covers the main topics. Is it more about familiarity and habit or is it about how WE introduce the VLE to them, explain what it is we will do and actually do it, as well as explain what we expect from them?

I saw a report recently (unfortunately I can’t find the  link now!) that highlighted what the students liked and disliked about their VLE. The aspects the students were positive about were orientated towards what the VLE did and how it did it, but the negativity surrounding the VLE was centred around how it was used. Therefore we are the problem, not the VLE?

This says a lot. Is the question about the success or failure of the VLE actually our fault, even though we pin it on the system or the students for not using it properly?

I don’t see the VLE as a place for conversation, I see it as somewhere the students ‘should’ be interacting with for the purpose of their studies. Yes, use Facebook and other websites to chat about housing, drinking, sport, etc but for your course studies they will benefit from using the VLE as we, the educators and facilitators, are present and able to join in when they ask us. If the students take everything outside of the space we provide then we can’t be expected to join them, or even know where they are. Can they?

I think this whole exercise has produced more questions for me than provided possible answers. What do you think? Do you have any research to add here that will help us all form a better understanding of what/where/how we need to develop our use and uses of the VLE? Please leave your comments below.

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Please take part in the poll below.

There are quite a few different names and definitions being mentioned and written about these days, for what is essentially the same thing. Do you call your student-centred learning system a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) or a Learning Management System (LMS)? Do you know the difference between a Content Management System (CMS) and a Learning Platform (LP) … indeed the question could also be IS there a difference ??

If you answered ‘Other’ in the above poll please leave a comment and let us know what you have, what you call it, what it is running, and what you think.

This poll will close on September 1st, 2011.

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I found this Infographic this morning and it kind of resonated with me and some thoughts I’ve been having recently about using alternative systems for student interaction (not replacing the VLE, but ‘enhancing’ the student experience).

While I like this and what it is trying to say, surely Facebook and indeed any system is going to make the student ‘better’ based only on how it is used, not what it can do? Therefore it is ‘our’ responsibility to introduce and set up the system (Facebook, Twitter, etc) in a way that will engage and enhance the learning experience? Please leave a comment below if you agree or disagree, or just what to comment on the general implication of social media on student lives.

Click image to enlarge.
More from OnlineEducation.net

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It is always a good idea to check your learning materials once you’ve loaded them to the VLE – if you have access to a student account then I strongly recommend this, if no other reason so you can test to see file permissions are set correctly. Alongside this kind of checking it is worth trying your materials on a student PC (if you have access to the student PC labs) to see if video plays correctly.

For those who haven’t realised it YouTube recently changed the default code you use if you want to embed a video in a webpage. While the majority will not notice any difference (my included) some PCs are not set up to display the media in the same way and, for some poor souls, it doesn’t play at all.

So, what do you do? Thankfully YouTube have left the old embed code available for you to use. So, here is how you do it in Blackboard:

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As with quite a few of the posts from James Clay this one is short and sweet – ‘Using the VLE more‘ – and struck a chord with me.

We all know that time is money and everyone is busy; whether it’s teaching, research, marking, meetings, etc. At some point in our busy schedules we need to explore the tools currently available to us, even if we’re going to go outside and try and find something new and shiny to play with (we should at least have tried the existing tools before discounting them). Getting academics and administrative staff to take time out of their busy day for repeated workshops on features and functions of the VLE just won’t work.

But how about this; if they can attend just one and this one workshop will introduce all the features through their own learning and that of their colleagues. Would that work? I thinks so – we ask the students to help each other, so why not do the same for us?

What caught my attention in James’ post was his closing sentence:

“This is about moving the responsibility of using the VLE to the practitioner, and their continuing personal development in the use of the VLE.”

This will enable a (fairly) structured training schedule where the full features of the VLE can be explored by everyone because of the feedback method; the teams report back to each other (informal coffee morning?) on feature they tried and how they got on. By learning from each other they get exposure to tools and features they may not have thought of (or liked) before.

Thanks James.

PS. A comment left on James’ post was from ‘Leia’ and linked to the following “How to be an expert” chart expands (slightly tongue-in-cheek) on the notion that you need to try something a few times before you know if it works, but you’ll often give up before you become familiar with it enough for it to mean something (positive or negative):

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With figures like “13.4 million downloads of WordPress 3.0″ or “10,935 Available Plugins” andthat WordPress “powers nearly 8.5% of all websites on the net”, this is one of the better infographics I have  seen for a while.

I cannot find the original author, but thanks go to Robin Good for pointing it out.

Click to enlarge

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I’m really looking forward to our upgrade to Blackboard version 9 this summer. I’ve had a play on the BB development website (last year!) and on the test server here at BU, and I want to like it … I really do!

So, do I like it? I’m not sure yet, and I want to be fair to the system and the people who have worked, and are continuing to work tirelessly, to get it installed, configured, and integrated with our internal systems.

In the meantime I’m going to post a series of links and resources I find about Blackboard version 9 here, the good and the bad (I haven’t found any ugly ones yet, but a few of the bad ones are fairly damning!).

• University of Syracuse: BB9 Testing Issues:
  blogs.syr.edu/blackboard9testing
• University of Leicester: BB9 YouTube video guides for staff:
  www2.le.ac.uk/institution/lts/talent/blackboard/blackboard9upgrade/
• University of Leicester: Blackboard Staff Development:
  www2.le.ac.uk/offices/staff-development/courses/it/elearning
• Hack College: Blackboard 9 ‘enough is enough’ (and some interesting comments from staff and students):
  www.hackcollege.com/blog/2009/9/9/blackboard-9-enough-is-enough.html
• Leiden University: Log of Upgrade from BB7 to BB9:
  http://bb9.weblog.leidenuniv.nl/
• Kentucky Community College: Issue and Bug ‘fixes’ for BB9:
  efaculty.blogspot.com/2009/05/bb-v9-current-issues-and-work-arounds.html
• Keith Russell: BB9 the next generation:
  keithrussell.blogspot.com/2008/05/presentation-blackboard-9-next.html
• Getting started with BB9:
  www.ric.edu/faculty/revans/bb9/

If you have any links or resources you’d like to add to the list then please email me and I’ll include them (with your name as referral) or just leave a comment with the details below and I’ll publish it.

Either way I am interested to hear from all types of users of Blackboard, whether you are using the current version 9.1 or anything previous to this, whether you love or hate it (but please say why otherwise it is a little pointless!).

Additional Links/Resources:

• Blackboard On Demand – links and videos from Blackboard:
  ondemand.blackboard.com (thanks to alextronic)

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I believe that asking questions is a good thing, and can often bring a greater sense of understanding in whatever subject area you currently inhabit. The question of whether your current VLE (or LMS or CMS or whatever you classify it as) is the right one for your Institution seems to be one of those questions that people would rather you didn’t ask. I’m not sure why considering the costs involved in maintaining a VLE infrastructure; surely we can ask if we are getting value for money?

Which is when I found this:  Transition to Moodle, Florida International University

The article outlines the FIU’s position in the development of their VLE, from WebCT to BlackBoard via the BlackBoard purchase of WebCT, through to the evaluation of alternative systems.

“Our testing and evaluation of open-source alternatives showed that both Sakai and Moodle offer comparable tool/feature sets compared to Blackboard. However, the Moodle university, user, and developer communities are substantially larger than those of Sakai. In addition, Moodle is rated higher on ease of use by many in the LMS community.”

If the question is asked, and the answer (after proper consideration and evaluation) is that your existing VLE system (BlackBoard, Sakai, Moodle, etc) IS the right choice for you then so be it. I’d be happy with that kind of answer, so long as it has been properly addressed. If the answer is NO then that is the right time to ask the next logical question … what should you be using for your intended outcome?

Has your Institution asked this of itself? Are you migrating from one VLE or LMS system to another (if so from what to what)? Please share your thoughts and experiences by leaving a comment below.

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Blackboard have announced they’re releasing a custom toolbar for IE and Firefox users;

“Get notifications directly from your Blackboard Learn system with an easy-to-use browser toolbar. You’ll receive regular updates of new content items, grades, discussions and announcements. And you’ll save time and energy with an automatically generated set of links that give you one-click access to all of your courses.”

I’ve installed it and got it running in IE7 (although I usually use Chrome for the majority of my browsing, Blackboard doesn’t work well in it so I use IE7 for all Blackboard activity). However, when I try and login it crashes the browser, the same happens for Firefox 3 as well.

Is anyone using it yet, any comments on how it works, it’s effectiveness, etc, then please let me know, I’d be interested to know.

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It seems a bit silly talking about Informal Learning becoming ‘formal’ but it is happening. Right here. Right now.

An article from Bersin & Associates called Informal Learning Becomes Formal outlines how you do this (should you wish to). You must include;

• Role definition: Although the role is the same, it’s label is not. You are no longer a developer or design, you are a facilitator, champion even.
• Technology partner: Find an appropriate technology partner (CMS, LMS, VLE, etc) and DO NOT expect it to solve your problems. Work with the system to deliver the materials in the best you and it can.
• Create, Promote, and Monitor: Become the ‘champion’ you’ve always wanted to be. Take the ideas, encourage a sharing environment, and develop (sorry, facilitate) the promotion of them. Don’t forget to monitor results and feedback.

There is a whole lot more in the report, but you knew that already, which is why you have, or have not clicked the link to read the full article!

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