Conclusion

In an earlier chapter we described a distinct category of technology that was relevant to this discussion, but was not so immediately applicable to the kind of classroom activities encountered in this section so far. In some cases, this is because the technologies are new and are only gradually developing to a point that would make them usable in a classroom environment. In this category we might include the social bookmarking tools and even the really simple syndication services that were described in the opening chapters of this book. In other cases, this is because they perform a function that means that they would not necessarily be used by children in the independent and creative ways that we have emphasised so far. These might include virtual learning environments like Moodle, which incorporate the functionality of social software like blogs and wikis, but are otherwise part of the learning environment provided by the school and are not tools in the hands of the children themselves. However, teachers need to view these technologies as being relevant to their professional

development. Over time they are likely to become more useable and it is important to reflect on how the digital literacy of children is improving all the time. This means that they might acquire a function within classroom activities in the future. At the same time, some tools can be used by teachers to enhance their own practice and to add a new dimension to their teaching. We will therefore address these technologies within this concluding chapter of the section. We have seen that virtual learning environments (VLEs) have been introduced into

schools as part of the drive towards personalisation. They are seen to offer flexibility to the child, who is able to use them to bridge the worlds of home and class and to share work with parents and other people from outside school. They are also seen to extend the learning environment in ways that reflect better the varied needs of learners, not all of whom find it easy to express themselves in traditional environments, and to provide teachers with a means of working closely with individual children. In these ways and others, the virtual learning environment is seen as a means of promoting an approach to schooling that tailors learning to the needs of the individual child. The simplest way to think of a VLE is as a website. You access it through a standard

web browser and once you have done so, you quickly realise that you are really just navigating through a series of web pages and web based tools. The difference between the VLE and websites that you are accustomed to using in a more day to day context is that the VLE is designed to be organised and customised by users whose areas of expertise lie in fields other than web development and design. In this sense then, they can be considered Web 2.0 tools and much of what happens within a VLE is mediated

by the same kinds of technology that we have referred to in connection with blogs and wikis. There are differences. VLEs typically offer lots of control over the appearance and organisation of pages as well as tools that allow content to be added or created on the page. However, assuming that you are now familiar with Web 2.0 tools you should find that you are familiar with many aspects of the environment. Taking a less mechanistic approach, Weller (2007: 5) defines the virtual learning

environment as a ‘software system that combines a number of different tools that are used to systematically deliver content online and facilitate the learning experience around that content’. As a definition it is necessarily vague as different virtual learning environments are quite varied. However, it captures the essential ingredients that they have in common. All VLEs allow educators to store materials and resources and to make these available selectively, so that the individual child sees only those materials that are relevant to them. These materials can be organised so as reflect the structure of the curriculum and, within that framework, of a project, a scheme of work or even an individual lesson. These materials can then be browsed, scrutinised and downloaded from any computer that has access to the internet, providing the user has a valid username and password. In addition to this, VLEs typically offer tools that allow users to communicate with

one another and to create their own content. Communication tools are normally categorised as being synchronous, like chat facilities, which support real time communication, and asynchronous, like discussion boards, which allow users to contribute at a time and at a pace that suits them. However, these distinctions are easily blurred. For example, discussion boards can be used by multiple users simultaneously and all the tools can be used in a wide variety of ways, depending upon the context. A discussion board can be used to conduct an open discussion, but might equally support a more structured process of interaction – such as a question and answer session – or simply serve as a mechanism for submitting work online. This is possible because file attachments can normally be added to discussion board posts. Using these tools effectively requires teachers to think imaginatively about the ways that dialogue can promote learning in a given context and to select the best tool and the best approach to using that tool. In the same spirit, users need to take an adaptable and creative approach to the tools

that allow students to create content. We do not have to dwell on these as we have addressed most of them in the preceding chapters. They are simply versions of the social software that we encountered under the headings of blogs and wikis. However, the fact that they are brought together into a single environment that places them alongside structured resources and communication tools does create some significant opportunities. As Weller says, the purpose of the environment is to facilitate the learning process around resources and it falls to the teacher to think about how these tools might function in combination with each other, within an integrated learning environment. Many of the case studies in this section have exemplified this principle, but it is useful for the teacher to start by looking at the combination of tools available to them in their own VLE.