Virtual learning environments: the future is already here

Mr Neville Coles
Priory Community School
Weston-super-Mare, United Kingdom

We wanted to move all our developing online resources from our ‘shared area’ to a new Virtual Learning Environment. We wanted great school links and could have opted to use RM Easy Link – we might well use this as well to allow students to access their own in school files. This is quite a common area that many schools have allowed.

The VLE called ‘MyPriory’ has been build by our e-learning director, Andrew Atkinson, who works for the Weston Federation. It has been his drive, coupled with the appointment of a new visionary Head of ICT, that has pushed our VLE forward at a rapid pace. The prime concern for me has been that it has to make life easier for both teachers and students. In the end, with a parent function on the VLE, it will also enable parents to see student grades from home.

I am worried about the digital divide but this should not stop our development of internet-based education. MyPriory is built on ‘Moodle’ and, as such, is this ‘open source’ product. Thus, we have not directly paid for a VLE ‘product’. The launch in September was low key but it has spread through word of mouth (re Malcolm Gladwell and the Tipping point). We have not needed to ‘teach’ our 1200 students to use a VLE over these last six weeks and a main area of ‘newness’ has been the developing discussion boards.

Student engagement with boards should not have surprised me. Text language, lol and ‘spamming’ are in students’ own fields of experience. To date, all contributions have been of worth and no student has badly abused the VLE. We consider that if bad language was used, we would deal with it just as we would do in any class – this just happens to be a virtual classroom. Messaging and course content have developed apace but the discussion boards are the area that I would point to as an area of learning interest for me.

I am offering students to act as ‘moderators’ - this might be a paid role. The gateway into the VLE is our website, again designed by two ex-year 11s who left in the summer. These are kids with real skill who, for a small fee, have produced a professional product. A new background to the VLE will be launched later this month and that is stunning – the kids are driving the VLE and, whilst we must be careful, educationally the VLE seems to be something that is well worth a ‘personalisation’ quest. The training of staff has been an issue that we have placed in the hands of our talented younger staff and, as is normal on Monday nights, we have offered voluntary training in the use of the VLE. I would welcome colleagues who would like to see the VLE and could offer a dummy password, if needed.  Contact me through the online conference manager, please.

View the new Priory Community School Virtual Learning Environment 'MyPriory' - home school links - PCS - a Technology College

View the new student designed website!