Much of the criticism levelled at virtual learning environments / learning management systems relates to the control of the environment by the institution rather than the learner. The individual student has minimal ability to upload their own content or to set up collaborative tools unless this has been pre-ordained by the institution. The argument goes […]
Mobile learning has been promoted as a massive up and coming phenomenon now for so long that you could be forgiven for being cynical; uptake for educational purposes has been very slow. However the devices and applications are getting so sophisticated that I’ve come round to the view that before long many learners will be […]
£27.99 / $44.99 Packt Publishing A sample chapter is available. I was recently sent a copy of this book for review. First published in May 2009, Moodle 1.9 Multimedia is one of a series on the popular learning management system / virtual learning environment published by Packt which includes titles on Moodle administration and course […]
The Association for Learning Technology’s annual conference currently underway in Manchester included a well-hyped session called “The VLE is Dead”. The debate included a number of well-rehearsed viewpoints on both sides of the divide between those who would like to do away with institutional learning systems and those who see them as essential (if perhaps […]
A group of us met earlier in the year from my office and from Learning and Teaching Solutions at the Open University to discuss some of our ideas around the future development of our Moodle-based VLE/LMS. Out of this discussion emerge, I think, some principles which could be taken into account when looking at new […]
I’ve just been at a workshop with my colleagues Tony Hirst, Ross Mackenzie, Martin Weller and others looking at how the OU’s virtual learning environment could be enhanced by closer integration with other systems elsewhere. This could work both ways so that: Live data from other systems is integrated within OU course content, and OU […]
The Higher Education Funding Council for England has issued a document called Enhancing learning and teaching through the use of technology: A revised approach to HEFCE’s strategy for e-learning. Naturally I was interested to see what they are recommending. Various other studies are quoted which demonstrate the benefits of elearning, and there are references to […]
Jo Coldwell, Associate Head (Teaching and Learning) in the School of Information Technology at Deakin University in Australia talks about an initiative led by her colleague Annegret Goold to develop a parallel virtual organisation called United Enterprises. Students have to apply for jobs at this virtual organisation and then take the role of an employee, […]
OpenLearn’s external funding has all but dried up, but the Open University sees enough value in the initiative to keep it going. With funding from the Hewlett Foundation the initiative was able to convert 5,400 hours of current course materials and a lot more archived course content into open educational resources, available freely to anyone […]
In the first of a series of podcasts about learning innovations, I interview Mike Richards, course chair of a new OU course planned for Autumn 2010: “My Digital Life”. This innovative course teaches programming principles without students having to type in any code – instead they use a drag and drop environment developed at MIT […]