The value of a Institution supported VLE whilst you develop your PLE
Consistency of experience must be key, if only as the initially offering, i.e assume nothing about what students bring in terms of IT skills and build on this.
In the past students came to university with the ability to read, this didn't mean they relied on their local library or their own books. The VLE is the digital version of the campus: admin, support, library, course materials, tutor groups, assessment and so on.
We were given reading lists. The student in 2011 still has a reading list, though hopefully there are activities too, beyond reading/observing and taking notes.
There need to be parameters, a 'walled garden' of sorts, in order to create a sense of common purpose, of singing from the same script. The VLE can do this. Whilst also offering what might be a safe training griund for PLE tools, such as e-portfolios, blogs and social media. And bridging the two of course is blended learning, where you can be on campus and online and so mix and match, indeed realising that one compliments the other and both/all represent the new reality - neither VLE or PLE, just how we learn in 2011.
Next thing we'll learn that students can study in the language of their choice as a click of Google Translation and you're communicating.
(Now there's a thought)
Comments
New comment
sorry I emailed you the wrong page, I meant to email you about the company Ski Plan because I thought you'd find their mission statement interesting (I also saw they were looking for people in their marketing department recently). but I sent you the wrong link.New comment
Hi Jonathan,
I was just going through my blog to see how long it had become (very!), and I found a question from you, from months ago, asking if I could tell which module a person was studying through reading their blog. Well, obviously many people announce the code of their module. Some people mention aspects of a module that I have studied, and so I can take a guess. Some are written in other languages, and so I have assumed they are doing language modules, though now I think about it I suppose they could be writing in their native tongue. Some of them I see on course forums, so I know at least one of their modules. Overall though, the blogs that I read the most offer very little insight into which particular module they are studying. I don't suppose you even remember asking the question, so this must seem very random, but there you go! I couldn't let it go unanswered!!
Rosie
New comment
Whilst there are some failings with the OU blog, I like is its simplicity, throwing us all together, and moments like this that are the product of a mistske. Like the echo of a conversation appewring out of context. As you have found to communicate direrctly we end up posting a comment in the most recent post. 'Creativity is mistakes' to quote Greyson Perry.