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Jim Fanning

The DfES Learning Platforms policy document makes a number of claims about the use of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) in the classroom. Elements of the technology will allow learning resources to be personalised for individual pupil needs; pupils will be able to access learning resources ‘anywhere-anytime’ they have an internet connection; home contact will be improved as carers check school work online; message boards and conference areas will enhance collaboration in and out of school; pupil progress will be better tracked and teacher time will be saved.

Tideway School is an 11-16 specialist technology college on the south coast of England, mid-way between Brighton and Eastbourne. In Term 6 of 2007 the ICT department ran a pilot extended learning project involving a small group of Year 10 pupils who were following an IT Level 2 Users certificate course. The certificate is modular, with eight units of study taking place over two years. Formal summative assessment takes place in end of unit online tests. The aim of the project was to investigate some of the issues surrounding ‘anywhere-anytime’ learning.

A five-week online course of study was developed on the school learning platform, using a simulated business area to teach spreadsheet skills. Pupils had to support staff at BEST Business Supplies as they used Microsoft Excel to carry out a range of tasks, including stock taking and tracking staff wages. Each lesson consisted of an Excel workbook, containing tasks that had to be completed. Help files were available to introduce new skills and re-enforce previous learning. Students had access via e-mail, message forums and a webcam to an e-tutor. Ex-students had been trained in this role. The classroom teacher was available online for the duration of the project and pupils could also communicate with BEST ‘employees’ on forums set up on the learning platform.

Lessons went ‘live’ each Friday from 6pm. Pupils had to complete work by 9pm on the Sunday evening. If work was completed pupils did not need to attend Lesson 1 on the Monday morning but could register in school for the start of Period 2. Tideway runs a continental day and this makes the difference between registering at 8am or 9:15! Classes are taught in mixed ability groups, and two girls and five boys volunteered to take part in the research with their carers’ approval. The only criteria for selection was that pupils should have completed their Level 1 IT Users certificate, thus ensuring that they had the necessary basic skills to access the technology.

Teacher assumptions underlying the project were that, given flexibility and individual support, pupils would complete more work, more quickly and of a higher quality; that there would be a higher level of interaction between staff and students and collaboration between students; that results in end of unit tests would be better than the school average; and that the learning platform would be the key technology that ‘made a difference’.

Outcomes were fairly predictable. In terms of quantity and quality, most pupils produced ‘more’ work than their classroom counterparts, although some found that working from home provided more distractions than a classroom setting. There was a very quick turnaround – in some cases less than 10 minutes after it had been submitted - in the marking of work online and its return to pupils with helpful advice. Although requests for help were answered within an hour at most, some pupils found this not as good as having personal contact in the classroom. Feedback from carers revealed that within the group pupils had met up at each others’ homes to provide support for the work. End of project interviews certainly showed a high level of enthusiasm and motivation for this style of short-term learning. And, perhaps most importantly, in the end of unit test six students passed, achieving a score of over 80%, higher than the school average, with one re-sit having to take place.

One unexpected outcome was the range of communication technologies used by pupils. They downloaded work and help files from the learning platform, but chose to submit work by e-mail. They asked for support through text messages to the school mobile, e-mail and their Bebo accounts. They preferred contact with their classroom teacher as opposed to working with an online tutor. Only half of the group accessed the online forums and even then any evidence of ‘threaded discussion’ was limited.

This pilot project has opened up some bigger issues for the school. How do you deliver flexible learning in a system that is far from flexible, with its five period days and weekly rigid timetable? How do you design online learning opportunities when most teachers are unaccustomed to this method of delivery? How do you ‘manage’ classroom teaching in a scenario where pupils are not held back by age or stage but can progress through a syllabus at different rates? What of those pupils who do not have access to technology at home? What of teacher overload in terms of time spent online during those ‘anti-social’ hours when pupils may learn best? Can you (or should you) control the technology that pupils choose to use to support learning?

This project will be extended in two different ways in the next academic year. A greater number of students will be given the opportunity within ICT lessons to take part in extended learning. This will be done to test the optimal number of pupils that can best be accommodated in this way and the ability range that can be supported. Flexible learning will also be offered in another curriculum area – GCSE history – to explore issues surrounding the ways in which different subjects best make use of the technology.

Useful links

www.learningplatforms.info
Tideway School projects involving learning platforms

publications.teachernet.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/2102-2005.pdf
DfES Learning Platforms: Secondary

www.becta.org.uk/page_documents/research/VLE_report.pdf
A review of the research literature on the use of MLEs and VLEs in education

www.ltss.bris.ac.uk/publications/guides/vle
Virtual Learning Environments: making the web easy to use for teachers and learners (University of Bristol)

www.futurelab.org.uk/openingeducation
2020 and beyond: future scenarios for education in the age of new technologies

www.eu-ripides.net/cms/content/view/57/48/lang,en
Improvement of National Schoolnets in Europe

www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00001900.htm
The use of virtual classrooms for school improvement

www.demos.co.uk/publications/theirspace
Their space: education for a digital generation

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