WHY do we need a VLE?

Many years ago when I was a student the thought of a virtual learning environment (VLE) was the dream of sci-fi fans,  but now I find myself as a trainee educator trying to devise and create an environment for students to utilise so to enhance their educational experience. I have seen many different versions of VLE  and many ways in which I think it doesn't work. Certain educational establishments see it as simply a dumping ground for information for the students to access as and when, but for me this kind of environment would not translate well into a class room so should not be acceptable as an online version either.

It would be unheard of to throw lots of information at students and not give them time to respond or reflect upon what they had just learnt. Not giving the students the opportunity to actively engage in the topics or concepts under investigation could be detrimental to their learning outcomes, but when it comes to online courses this is general thought of as good practise (O'learly,2015).  This may be due to the fact training is an issue and the previous generation are nervous to use new  technology or software, but with a new generation using the net for everything it seems only reasonable to expect this will be the same for education.

Every educational establishment should now be considering the use of  an interactive VLE in the lesson planning, the setting of homework, for use within assignments or assessments,  and for peer feedback at the very least. There are many advantages for the use of a VLE such as ease of access for both the educator and student, but as I have mentioned it can also become a dumping ground which has no or very little interaction between the student and the teacher. In the case of the former is it the best way to provide education for the less confident student?

Another advantage it could be said is that if offers a way for educator to provide flexible support without a set time or place in which the students are able to communicate.  Communication can open up an infinite number of channels in the format of forums, discussion threads, polls, surveys and instant feedback either as a group or individually, the teacher is also able to link to outside sources such as journals, you tube, or any other electronic sources, (bbc, 2015).  The VLE can in fact become a dynamic resource hub for the students (dynamic not dumping is the key here), the internet has a infinite storage space and this make any VLE a huge resource for students, examples of resources could be Power Points, word documents, worksheets, revision notes, study skills, homework, all of which can be shared and accessed by the students. The tools can be very powerful to engage even the most disengaged students. I have added a small video on what a VLE looks like just in case  anyone has been living in a cave for the last ten years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

.