Using VLEs at Tideway School
April 2008
Jim Fanning, Assistant Headteacher, Tideway School
Unlike the medical profession, where doctors are routinely encouraged to read the latest research and contribute to it, by and large in mainstream education that is not the case where teachers are concerned. In relation to the application of technology for teaching and learning this can result in a 'trial and error' approach, where the lessons learned are rarely shared outside subject areas or individual schools.
Tideway is a mixed ability 11-16 school of 650 students that serves the port town of Newhaven on the south coast of England. Since 2004 the school has developed the use of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) across the curriculum and set up a range of small-scale research projects to investigate the most appropriate use of this application. Technology is rarely designed for education. As a result there are no unique models of e-learning, only adaptations of existing models of learning - one reason why the school pilot projects have been important.
The majority of the research in the UK into the use of VLEs has taken place in higher education. The Open University has been a leader in this, along with the work of Gilly Salmon. The development of her 5-Stage Model for e-learning has been especially influential. Internationally there are a number of key researchers in this field, for example Hiltz in America, Garrison and Anderson in Canada. There are certain common elements in their research. It has mainly taken place with students over the age of 18, engaged in voluntary studies, in environments where distance learning is the norm. A number of key themes emerge from their work. Online pedagogy adopts a constructivist, collaborative approach to learning, with the teacher as a facilitator rather than a director of learning. The online or social presence of the student is a critical element in this type of learning. Although some international examples of VLE use at a secondary level exist, there are no large-scale, longitudinal studies and no key figures researching school use of this technology. If we are to effectively employ learning platforms in the classroom it is critical that schools fill the void created by this lack of research.
As described in a previous article (see side links panel), the small-scale 2007 KS4 ICT project at Tideway had some very positive outcomes and this has led to plans to more fully embed use of a learning platform across the key stage.
In Term 2 (November to December 2008), in their ICT lessons all Year 11 students will have the opportunity to study a six-week spreadsheet unit of work online. An introductory whole-year group session in our assembly hall will launch the project, with a presentation being made by the lead ICT teacher, supported by teaching and non-teaching staff. All further lessons will be available online, with students completing them either in school or from a location that has internet access, at a time that might not be within the normal school timetable. A programme of specialist tutorials will be offered to students (eg the use of formulae) and teaching staff will be available in lesson time for one-to-one and small group support. Teachers will also offer online support to students, aided by an e-moderator assistant. All students will take the formal online assessment test by the end of the term.
The pilot project will explore a range of issues relating to flexible learning and personalisation, including the ways in which we manage a flexible programme of study within a rigid timetable system. The effective tracking of students - who is doing what, when and where – will be closely monitored. The design of differentiated and engaging online learning opportunities and teacher workload are two areas of greatest concern. Student and parent/carer responses to the opportunities created by flexible working will be collected through interviews and surveys.
The project is based on a number of assumptions: that students will increasingly take more responsibility for their own learning and begin to develop the necessary skills required for self-supported study; that more opportunities will be created for one-to-one and small group support; that the quality of teaching and learning will improve; that the opportunities for collaborative student learning will be enhanced; and where students are studying from home that they will involve family members to support their studies.
The student experience
What might the project look like for students?
"I have ICT during Period 1 (8:15am) on a Monday morning and Period 5 on a Thursday. I attended the first lesson when a presentation was made about the kind of work I would have to do. I am studying the Excel/spreadsheets unit of work. I have a computer at home but don’t have Microsoft Office on it. The school gave me a copy of Open Office to use during the project. The project took five weeks to finish (10 lessons). I chose to attend three lessons to get some support from the teacher on the use of formulae and functions. I attended all of the lessons in the last week, but did these in the Learning Resource Centre rather than the classroom, where I logged in and completed the practice tests. I know that I had to get 80% in the practice tests before I could sit the real test. I did three lessons online from home. This took longer than I thought it would and I had to get support from the e-moderator. It meant that I had to regularly check the lesson area on the school VLE rather than just visit it during lesson times. One of my friends came round for one of the lessons and we worked together. I used two of the lessons to catch up with work from other subject areas, because I had already completed the ICT work online."
Jon/Year 11
Contact: Jim Fanning, Assistant Headteacher, Tideway School
Email: fanningj [at] tidewayschool [dot] org