POST SIX - VLE

VLE

In the last decade educational institutions and enterprises working in industry have invested in the use of Virtual learning environments. The VLE is a platform situated in the web which allows the sharing of resources, collaborative work and remote lesson material. An example of such an environment is Moodle, a customization platform which allows the creation of tailor fitted VLE's.


The many benefits of VLE are displayed below;

•    Communication – polls, surveys and forums.

•    Producing work – hand in folders can be used for remote work submission.

•    Resource hub – infinite storage to share documents and resources.

•    Dynamic home pages – create exciting and interactive platforms.

•    Links to outside sources – share links to resources.

•    Embedded content – YouTube, BBC, RSS and social media can be embedded.

•    Podcasts & videos – both teacher- and student-produced podcasts and videos have a shared platform; again, either secure or shared

Local Education Authority (LEA) contract VLE provisioning to organisations rather than individual institutes.

The mature teachers may not be as 'tech savvy' as the students and therefore may struggle to provide a dynamic and interactive VLE space. The teacher who administers needs to be very IT literate, it can be difficult for some to produce a good VLE. The VLE is however central and requires login into on a compatible device, students can not receive pings and updates directly to their phones.

The VLE can become a dumping ground of embedded videos and images as well as other content and may become very messy. It is essential to make the VLE as aesthetically pleasing and engaging as possible to keep he students excited.

Overall because of the sheer customization facility and interactive functionality VLE's are a staple of education both currently and the future.