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.

No related posts.

Today I confirmed the abstract of my presentation to the eAssessment Scotland Conference, hosted by the  University of Dundee, on August 25/26, 2011 – www.e-assessment-scotland.org.

Here is what I will be delivering to the distinguished delegates:

Title: “24-hour Papers: the Open-Book Alternative to Exams for Online Assessment”

Abstract: “Common unit specifications covering delivery of subject-identical units across different courses, often with different delivery methods, are increasingly being implemented. The inclusion of a ‘coursework’ element of assessment allows for flexibility. This is different when an ‘exam’ is required; with students on a fully-online course, unable to attend an exam centre, due to differences in time zones and/or locations, the concept of an open-book exam is used. The exam paper is released to students through our VLE (Blackboard) at a time that is agreed and broadcast to students in advance. Submission of their work is required within a 24-hour window via an upload of their files to the VLE (using either the standard submission tool or Turnitin).”

“This presentation will draw upon the Bournemouth University’s substantial experience of presenting ‘Time-Constrained Papers’ to students studying at a distance and will consider the issues surrounding this approach. Particular consideration will be given to the importance of question design to limit scope for academic dishonesty and the University’s plans to modify this approach in the forthcoming academic year.”

I will be following Dr. Sharon Flynn on Friday morning (Parallel session A), where I will also talk about the use of Turnitin with distant learners within the scope of Time-Constrained Papers. I hope you can join us there.

Related posts:

1. Reading: "Developing a better understanding of technology-based pedagogy"
2. Reading: "Learning from the Learners' Experience"
3. Distance Learning / Distance Education

Today I am presenting the following poster at the Bournemouth University Enhancing Education 2011 Conference “Excellent education: the heart of the student experience” with two colleagues from the Business School, and wanted to share our work.

The poster, titled “Building Educational Confidence and Affinity Through Online Induction Activities” builds on previous work by the team to introduce and encourage our online an distant learners to engage with their studies, with us, and with each other.

The poster;

“… demonstrates the development and support taken throughout a week-long online Induction for geographically-disparate Business School students studying the fully-online BA (Hons) International Business & Management degree.

“From application through to enrolment and becoming an online student our students are likely to experience many emotions over this period. We recognise the different key foundation areas required to strengthen personal confidence and determination as an individual remote student. The intention is to help students overcome their initial personal apprehension by building intrinsic trust in the capabilities of the Business School from all standpoints including technical, educational and pastoral.

“By the end of this induction week students have the opportunity to formulate a clear picture of the environment in which they will be learning, establish an initial impression of degree level study, recognise the levels of support available to them, and begin to identify their own personal resolve and how to make this work for them whilst studying from a remote location.

“Through the induction programme we firmly believe that building strong roots empowers students to maximise their potential during the full course of their study.”

You can view and download the poster, in full, from SlideShare: Building Educational Confidence and Affinity Through Online Induction Activities.

If you are going to quote or cite this in any work please use the following details (in the style of Harvard Referencing):

Hopkins, D., Wincott, M. and Hutchings, L., 2011. Building educational confidence and affinity through Online Induction Activities. In: Bournemouth University Education Enhancement Conference 2011, 4 May 2011, Bournemouth University, Poole, England. Available from: http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/17715/

No related posts.

Many thanks to Brian Knotts (@briankotts) for linking to this Infographic on “how teachers think technology works best in the classroom”.

“Todays students are technologically savvy and spend hours a day online. Why are we still trying to teach them with textbooks when we have a wealth of digital options? These are teachers’ responses after being asked to gauge the effectiveness of various forms of education materials.”

Click to view full version

Related posts:

1. eLearners Lose Focus
2. Infographic: Online Education & Learning
3. Reading: "College technology 'catching up' with students"

I’ve been wading through the 2011 Horizon Report and find it fascinating reading and quite a thrill to realise that some of my thoughts are not too far off the mark with what other people /organisations are thinking, saying, or planning.

Here are few passages that caught my attention – mind you most of the report did this too!

“As the electronic book moves further from a digital reproduction of a printed piece, some writers are seeing it become something far richer, allowing journeys through worlds real and imagined, undertaken not alone but in company with other readers. The gestural interfaces of new electronic devices enhance the intellectual experience of reading with tactile interactions. Electronic books have the potential to transform the way we interact with reading material of all kinds, from popular titles to scholarly works”

This is something I have touched on in a previous post on January 17th, 2011 “The Future of eBooks … my vision“, and the video below is referred to in the report after the passage above;

The Future of the Book. from IDEO on Vimeo.

“Despite their obvious advantages of size and weight, electronic books are not as established among scholarly readers as they are among the general public. Several obstacles have stood in the way of general adoption among academic institutions: scarcity of academic titles, lack of necessary features in electronic readers to support scholarly work, a restrictive publishing model, and digital rights management (DRM) issues Despite their obvious advantages of size and weight, electronic books are not as established among scholarly readers as they are among the general public. Several obstacles have stood in the way of general adoption among academic institutions: scarcity of academic titles, lack of necessary features in electronic readers to support scholarly work, a restrictive publishing model, and digital rights management (DRM) issues”

“Until electronic textbooks are divorced from reader-dependent formats, broad adoption will continue to be problematic for universities. Nonetheless, the promise offered by the technology is such that electronic books are being explored in virtually every discipline.  Clear advantages for students (e.g., price and portability) are other factors that make this technology worth pursuing.”

“Mobile applications add easy social interaction around electronic books that could be marshaled in support of group study and focused teacher-student interaction at any point in the text. Electronic texts can be linked to a myriad of supporting materials that can extend and enrich them.”

I am still reading my way through the list of resources and links in the report, but there are some good ones there.

No related posts.

As some of you may know I am working towards a post-graduate certificate qualification in Education Practice at Bournemouth University. I’ve spent most of my Christmas break (when the family and kids allowed) working on my first assignment for the ‘Introduction to Education Practice’ unit. I am basing this on my work in developing and delivering the Induction Programme for the fully-online International Business and Management under-graduate degree, and how it can be improved/updated to suit the possible changing student profile in the anticipated future economic climate.

While searching and researching the various methods of induction for students I cam across these videos and explanations on the IMU eLearning blog, a few I’ll show here, but please view the original post to view them all.

• What happens next?

Ask the students to watch the video below and be prepared to discuss a ‘what happens next’ situation. Play the video and pause it when the cat reaches the fishbowl, then ask your students to discuss what happens next. Most likely you will stimulate their minds to think creatively about what happens next in a competitive but enjoyable way. Did you guess what happened next … ?

• Awareness test

Tell the students you are looking for them to be observant, and to count how many passes of the ball the White team makes. Play the video below and pause it when the teams have stopped passing the ball between them. Ask for the answers … and then ask them if anyone saw the moonwalking bear? When they’ve stopped gasping or laughing continue the video.

• Language Skills

This is a good example of the importance of language skills, which can often be a sensitive subject for some students who have poor english – use this light-hearted example to break the barrier and raise a laugh or two.

Do you use any video clips in your induction? If so please share with us all and leave a comment.

PS. I used the Smart YouTube WordPress plugin to embed these YouTube videos, try it out on your own WordPress blog too, it’s so very easy!

No related posts.

Slightly different version of the children’s joke “What’s Black & White and … ” but this is a good YouTube video on one School’s experiment with QR Codes;

I like the PC-based “QR Code Station” (using Quickmark I see) they created so students can scan the codes in the books/library and watch or listen to a podcast or vodcast of a book review, but this could easily be scanned by a students smart phone and watched/listened to anywhere (and saved for later).

No related posts.

Well, here we are again. The UK has ground to a halt, it’s covered in quite a thick blanket of snow (for the UK in November/December), and most people can’t get where they ought to be; work, family, study, etc.

However, it didn’t bother me too much. I have broadband at home, I have a laptop and can connect to the majority of Uni systems online that I need to do my job, Intranet, personal drives, VLE, email, etc. As the Learning Technologist working on the fully online under-graduate International Business & Management degree at Bournemouth University I am privileged with the people I work with, and the students I help support.

With so much of the population prevented from doing what they wanted to today, it is another example of the advantage of working and studying online – I could carry on;

• I was able to answer student queries on access issues to the VLE.
• I could access the various personal and network drives to get information I needed, remotely.
• I could update and repair permission issues for students accessing some files in the VLE.
• I was able to communicate, by email and skype, with my colleagues and team members – who were also working at home.
• I could update the VLE remotely, inform the students about the situation, engage in their Units, and show that, for them anyway, we are able to continue supporting them even in such adverse weather conditions.

So, for me, this is another HUGE kick in the right direction for all of us looking at the Browne Report and Spending Review, and the reduction in Government funding for the UK HE industry (and increase in student tuition fees) … we can get students studying with us part-time online, they can continue to work/earn while they get their degree and qualification (“Learn while you Earn”, has anyone trademarked that yet? If not, it’s mine!). This mode of study is not always the first choice for the typical school leaver, but if we can get ourselves organised and marketed now, we could capture quite a few of these school leavers who might ordinarily opt out of higher education completely due to the costs involved.

The only thing I couldn’t do … mark some papers (an Excel exercise) I have to do; the marking guidelines are on my desk, on paper!

Image Source

PS. Sorry for the lame snow joke in the title.

No related posts.

Note: In this series I’ll delve into some of the better plugins available for WordPress that I am already using, or about to start using. I’m aiming to highlight 30 of the better plugins.

I had been been fighting against getting a Facebook account for my online eLearning activity but, after seeing some of the content and contacts I was missing out on I bit the bullet and created a Facebook account and  Facebook page.

I set Facebook and Twitter to talk to each other so I could update one and the other easily, but then came the question of linking this WordPress blog to Facebook. Well, of course it can be done (I don’t believe I’m the first person to think of this) so all I had to do was search and see what people were saying about the different plugins.

The two that immediately leapt out of the page was WordBook (WordPress and Facebook, get it?) but on reading a few blog posts from users it looked a little underwhelming when compared to a similarly titled Wordbooker.

Wordbooker;

“… allows you to cross-post your blog posts to your Facebook Wall. You can also “cross pollinate” comments between Facebook and your WordPress blog.”

Once the plugin has been installed and linked to your Facebook account/page you can configure it so that when you post to your blog your Facebook account is automatically updated with an extract of your post with links back to the original article; so all your Facebook friends will be notified that you’ve written a new blog post automatically without you having to do anything. Sweet!

Here is a gallery of images, just some screen shots from the various settings that are available to modify – I suggest some careful testing of them in order to get it looking and working properly!

[View as Slideshow]

And this is what it looks like on my Facebook Page: eLearning Blog Don’t Waste Your Time;

The admin panel gives you the option on how the posts are displayed, on what image is used (if any) from the post and also how the posts are introduced in Facebook. What I haven’t seen working yet is the ability for Wordbooker to cross-pollinate the comments, from the WordPress blog to Facebook, and also Facebook to WordPress. I’m sure it does work, so it’s either something in the set-up that isn’t set properly or something I’ve missed in the permissions in Facebook.

One aspect of the plugin I do like, however, and is working is that ability to re-publish an article to Facebook when you edit it in WordPress. You can set this to be always on, so each and every edit will republish to your Facebook account or Page, but I think it’s better set as manual so you have complete control!

Anyway, there you have it; this is one of the better plugins I have working on this (and other) WordPress blogs that means I am in partial control of a couple of different Social Media Networks all from this very blog.

If you are using Wordbooker, and want to share your experience, or indeed have tried it and prefer another plugin, please help us all out and leave a comment below.

No related posts.

http://bit.ly/bKqDy9

Updated 29/10/10: with information about Quickmark – I couldn’t get it installed initially, but I have done so now and I’ve updated that section of this blog post.

Regular readers will know I like QR Codes and am trying to get them used more in learning and teaching, in the classroom as well as out of it. There are plenty of links to content on this, including mine, so please see the ‘related’ links at the bottom of this post for a couple.

This time I want to address something that has bothered my about QR Codes … everyone talks about mobile phone users and the apps they can use to scan the codes to access materials while they’re on the move. But what about those people who can’t or don’t want to do that? What about people who still work at a computer (desktop even).

Well, thanks to a few replies on Twitter I’ve found a few options worth checking out.

Desktop QR Code Reader: www.dansl.net

“To use QRreader, you will need to have Adobe AIR installed on your machine (once the Adobe AIR run time is installed, you should be able to install the QRreader app). From there, all you need is a scan-able QR code (which can be generated from a device, or printed on paper) and a web-cam. Now you can scan the code into your computer using QRreader.”

Yes, it worked, but it takes a while to work out lighting at your desk in order for the code to be translated, you need very steady hands while you position the code in front of the webcam, and you really ought to make sure the code is as flat as possible or it’ll take some time.

You will also need to update the settings (top-left icon) so URLs open automatically and the application plays a sound when it’s captured the image or you could be there all day.

QuickMark Mobile Barcode (for PC): www.quickmark.com.tw

“QuickMark for PC is a powerful, yet easy to use PC application that lets you decode multiple popular 2D & 1D barcode formats via a image file (drag & drop), a screen capture, or your webcam. Not only does QuickMark let you scan barcodes, it also allows you to create your own 2D barcodes via a simple interface.”

I’ve been using the iPhone version of this for all my QR Code work so far, so I had high hopes for using this. I was originally unable to install this and get it working on my office PC due to some error on the temporary file location and the networked nature of the PC’s home drive … but an install on my laptop works fine.

It’s very simple to use; just start up the application and it sits on top of the windows of any website or other PC application you’ve got running. When you find the code, wherever, you drag the Quickmark window over the top of it (see above) and press the camera button to capture the code, then press the Quickmark Q logo to decode.

From here you can choose to open the code in a web browser, save it, or add it as a bookmark. Simple, and very effective!

You can also use the application to generate a code for a variety of different content types; URL, SMS text message, Email address, vCard, telephone number, or just plain text. Amazing!

James Clay has also had it working, and has written about it over on his blog; eLearning Stuff: QR Codes on your computer.

bcWebCam: www.bcwebcam.de

“Just place a barcode in front of your web cam, take an image and bcWebCam will read the barcode. The barcode content will be copied into your browser or other applications.”

This is the final offering I have been able to find. While it installed fine and runs well you’ve got to be careful about how it runs – a couple of times it suddenly started giving instructions in German. I was able to translate a barcode through the webcam but all it did was show me the URL, I could not work out a way for the application to launch a web browsers. Reading through the stuff that comes with it, and going by the screen shot on the download website I also thought it could read a code from a web page, but I could not get this to work, if indeed it is supposed to.

All three of these applications are good, but  my favourite (now it’s working!) by far is Quickmark; it generates as well as decodes, captures from the webcam but, more importantly, from any on-screen source.

“So, what’s all this for then?” I hear someone at the back whisper … well, I have always been a little concerned that the use of these codes will disadvantage users without a phone that has camera and a reader software. Now I know it doesn’t have to, and that there are at least three options available for desktop users, then there really isn’t any stopping us from fully integrating it into our lectures, publications, assignments, hand-outs, etc.

No related posts.