Different tools that VLE can offer.

Different tools that VLE can offer in order to favour the teaching learning process of the English language. Some examples of teaching situations appropriate to use in VLE.

MSc Yordanka Brunet Valle


INTRODUCTION

The world at the present time crosses by crescents and vertiginous transformations that determine the necessity of professionals with better preparation by means of an educative process that responds to the exigencies of a society that requires new creative ideas and flexible behaviours with high human values.

The twenty-first century is characterised by vast, exponential technological changes.

For education, this explosion of technological changes has enormous implications, for both teachers and students.

The majority of the students are learning, acquiring, and using technology faster than their teachers, and many teachers are highly fearful of the technologies that the students take for granted.

According to Marc Prensky (2007), in the past five to ten years, new technologies appeared with a strong potential. Most of them were put into practice in education. They include email, search, testing and instant messaging, bogs, wikis, the Wikipedia, pod casting, polling devices, peer-topeer (P2P), complex computer and video games, networking, augmented reality, social and community building tools, digital cameras/video cams, phone-based cameras/video cams, GPS, speed enhancers, interactive whiteboards and DVD.

Additional he states that, the key point is that new technologies for education are arriving and changing really fast.

For example the VLE is one of the best things that have favoured the development in the teaching learning process. Using the VLE there is an electronic space where learning can take place or where interactions occur.

It has given the possibility to students and tutors participate in online interaction through different kind of courses.

This essay will report about some information concerning VLE in general terms. In the first part of the essay there will be a brief description about what VLE is according to the definitions given by different authors such as: Paul Chin (2002), Peter Clinch (2005) and Gavin Dudeney and Nicky Hockly (2007).

Then, in the second part, there will be an analysis made by some authors about two of the three main companies that promote VLE, these are, Moodle, Web CT and Blackboard. There is also my opinion about these at the end.

The next level of the analysis will mention and explain some of the different tools a VLE offer, as for example, pages of links to other web resources, discussion board or web based e-mail tools, simulations or interactive tutorials into the course site, lectures with online tutorials that end with a self assessment quiz, online courses with fully integrated activities, forums, chat and video conferencing, online learning materials, communications tools, interactive content delivery, assessment tools, interactive whiteboards, calendar, diary and loading notes.

Then, the essay will briefly remark the advantages and disadvantages of VLE in education, particularly in distance learning courses because of its great importance for this kind of course.

The final level of the essay will assume the author’s opinion about VLE in general.

So, the main purpose of this essay is to demonstrate through definitions, descriptions and analysis that the use of VLE in the teaching-learning process is very significant and important.

DEVELOPMENT

There are many people who are still doing research and going deeper into the development of VLE because of its great importance in the teaching learning- process. After having analyzed some definitions given by different authors, this essay will present only the ones that provide more information.

According to Chin P. (2002) a VLE is an online (computer) environment, where various tools are provided for the student to facilitate learning. Some VLEs require specific software to be installed on the user’s computer but most VLEs operate across the World Wide Web, so you often only need an Internet connection to access a VLE.

Besides, Clinch P. (2005) thinks that the term VLE is used to refer to interactions of various kinds which take place between learners and users.

The authors Dudeney, G. and Hockly N. (2007:137) state “Online learning is often delivered via a learning ' platform’ of Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)”

In addition to this, Dudeney, G. and Hockly N. (2007:137) add that “a Virtual Learning Environment is a web-based platform on which course content can be stored. It is accessed by learners on the Internet, and they can not only see course content, such as documents, audio and video lectures, but also do activities such as quizzes, questionnaires and tests or use communication tools like discussion forums or text and audio chat.”

“Increasingly popular in the VLE world is Moodle, an open source VLE which is free" Dudeney, G. and Hockly N. (2007:137)

Aberdour M. (2007), in his article gave the following definition; “Moodle is designed to support social and collaborative learning which comes at a relevant time as the industry refocuses on informal and blended learning models. Functionally, Moodle is a credible substitute for any standalone LMS. It comes with an impressive array of features and is highly configurable and extensible. And, of course, the bit that is on everybody’s lips: Moodle is free”

He also goes on to suggest that in Further Education in UK FE institutions,
Moodle is used in 56%. Many FE Moodlers cite Blackboard and WebCT (now acquired by Blackboard) as being too slow to respond to changing customer requirements.He adds that the schools market is keen to embrace Moodle, but there are political barriers to entry. In his article there is evidence about the fact that Moodle is noticeably perceived as high value in the education community and has also made an impact in government where open source is routinely evaluated alongside proprietary solutions. However it is yet to make much impact in the corporate sector. Moodle’s existing functionality is not yet geared towards common business requirements. In particular, areas like skills gap analysis are not supported.

According to Mougalian C. and Salazar A. (2005), one of the most eminent advantages of Moodle is that it facilitates collaborative work. They add that Martin Dougiamas designed Moodle under a social constructivist philosophy and I totally agree with them, because, this philosophy gives the possibility to students being the centered in the class, they are able to work independently, analysing by their own and reflecting on the work of the rest of the students.

According to constructivist philosophy, learning occurs as a reflection of the ideas and experiences we construct about everything that goes around us. In a joint classroom connected to an on-line environment, awareness is therefore constructed through interaction with the colleagues.
After having consulted some authors and analysed what they have said about what Moodle is and its importance, it can be said that Moodle is extremely important because it is centred around collaboration, activity-based learning, and critical reflection, it has many power uses outside of the education sector, such as provision of e-learning materials for corporate training, among other things.

“Other one well-known VLEs are WebCT, which recently merged with Balckboard, And First Class, although neither of these is free”. Dudeney, G. and Hockly N. (2007:137)
The author Rowan M. (2004), explains in his article that WebCT’s interface is aimed at the non-programmer and allows easy organisation of media and resources for the delivery of web-based courses. It is very popular with academics throughout the world and UK Higher Education. However, because courseware development software is highly automated, and is a relatively new field, most courseware development software currently available has some accessibility difficulties.
He also, adds that with the impending removal of the education exclusion from the Disability Discrimination Act and new Human Rights legislation, courseware that is produced using these products may become potentially illegal. WebCT is aware of these issues and intends to include more accessibility features in version 3 of their product which he considers that will be available in June 2000. Until then, it is recommended that these products be used with care. There is now a brief explanation about WebCT V1 and WebCT V2 according to his point of view.
WebCT V1
“This version uses a frames format which makes both the student view and the designer view potentially inaccessible to users of adaptive technology such as a screen reader. The navigation system in the course content has no text link equivalent and the bulletin board system also uses frames. Because of these problems, designers have to create alternative navigation and bulletin board systems to ensure accessibility. WebCT also relies on Java applets, which makes the interface inaccessible to users of assistive technologies.” Rowan M. (2004)
“Accessibility is further compromised by the lack of opportunity to include ALT text in pages generated by the courseware. The bulletin board/mail systems have a complex three-frame structure that is fairly awkward for anyone to use and even more difficult for users of screen readers. The chat is java-based and also inaccessible. “Rowan M. (2004)
WebCT V2
He considers that Version 2 reflects more improvement and that nowadays, educators should use WebCT Version 2 with caution regarding accessibility.
He considers also that, Version 2 give the opportunity to the designer of the course to add ALT text to images generated by the courseware. “The new site map feature has been added to help users with navigation and the new mail tools provide pop-up windows as an alternative to frames. New strategies to improve the access to student tools / navigation are currently being developed.”(Rowan M., 2004)
After having read about this subject, it is clear evident that WebCT is very useful in general and offers a great help to teachers and students because among other things, it allow to teach different courses and give the possibility to students to have access to them any time, it offers the possibility to design, maintain, and add course materials interactively through the Web and quickly update and change course content.
VLEs also provide fairly sophisticated tools. For example, Chin P. (2002) points out in his article there are many tools a VLE can include such as communications tools, interactive content delivery, assessment tools and interactive whiteboards.

He suggests that, “probably one of the most fundamental tools offered by a VLE is the ability to provide students with interactive subject content. Although this can include lecture support notes, reading lists and so on, simply providing passive notes does not in itself constitute good teaching practice. Another core tool of any worthwhile VLE is a communications tool. This enables the lecturer to communicate with their students in a variety of ways via email or by electronic message and online discussion boards.” Chin P. (2002)

Many VLEs also present some sort of formative and/or summative assessment tool. There are a range of other tools available such as being able to link to external resources or design online student groups to promote peer support and group work. Chin P. (2002)

Therefore a VLE can offer similar teaching opportunities which can be used to support traditional teaching methods, but people interaction must be presented.
Perrie Y. (2003) provides clear evidence about the fact that discussion boards, chat rooms and emails can all form part of virtual environments communication in chat – rooms where students can talk to each other virtually and tutor can add input and advice when required, can prove a good mechanism for peer support. Tutors can also participate and provide e-tutorials by agreeing set times in which they will be able in the chat room to discuss any issues or problems.
VLE can also be used to provide general practice and feedback for the students, for example: online tutorials or videos that end with a self assessment quiz and that focus on areas where students would appreciate additional practice can be added.
VLE can provide flexible resources that effectible deliver or enrich learning experiences to an audience with a wide variety of learning requirements. Students are given the freedom to learn where, when, and how they want and active learning can be encouraged.
VLE offer many advantages to the teaching-learning process and in the future times a lesson won't be totally good if it is not supported by VLE.
According to Chin P. (2002), “taken separately, communications, content delivery and even assessment can be delivered via the Web without the need for a VLE.”

He also comments that, there are a number of challenges in Higher Education which VLEs can help with and these include the following, increasing student numbers, automated assessment, widening participation and improved access to limited resources.

ILIEV A. (http://anton.iliev.tripod.com ) in his article points out the benefits of using VLE.
There are only few examples presented in this essay, for example, it allows tutors to create a study environment which makes the relationship between assessment and learning activity explicit, it enables the learner to view resources in the context of learning activity, it allows www-based and traditional non-electronic resources and lecture programs to be referenced in the context of specific learning opportunities, creations of study environments (COSE) allow the course designer to choose suitable resources and present them to the students, COSE view a course as a group of people to whom learning opportunities are assigned, rather than as a body of content to which people are assigned, tutors and learners can search all published content on their COSE server and "collect" relevant items in a "basket"; tutors can readily assign and cross-assign learning opportunities to course groups among others.
According to O'Leary R. (www.swap.ac.uk/elearning/using5.asp - 51) there are some important features that must be taken into account when making reference to a complete learning and teaching experience. To sum up we can say that one of the most important examples is “the communication between tutors and students”, this means that through discussion boards, e-mails, and virtual chat they can be in touch and share ideas and experiences in different ways: one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many. Another one is the “self-assessment and summative assessment”, it facilitates the multiple-choice assessment with mechanical marking and direct response, the next one is “delivery of learning resources and materials”, for the development of lessons it is important the use of learning and teaching materials such as images, video clips and assessment activities. Another significant feature is “shared work group areas” that allow selected groups of students to upload and share files as well as communicate with each other. The “student tools” is another useful feature and a student web pages, electronic diaries and calendars are good examples of it.
It can be argued that I am in favour of these features and also consider that VLEs is completely excellent for different types of teaching situations, mainly for distance learning courses. According to Dudeney, G. and Hockly N. (2007:136) “the term distance learning originally applied to traditional paper-based distance courses delivered by mail. Nowadays distance learning includes learning via technology such as the Internet, CD ROMs and mobile technologies, hence the new term e-learning. “
So, distance learning courses can allow flexible resources that effectively deliver or improve learning experiences to an audience with a huge variety of learning requirements. Students have the opportunity to learn what ever they want in the moment they select without the press ion or demanding of a teacher in front of them. Besides, VLEs provides general practice and feed back for the students, for example online videos can motivate them to study any subject or to enrich new aspects about a culture, etc. Students will improve their abilities in searching, organizing their ideas, discussing with other students out or inside the country, and this is one of the main aspect that there must be taken into account, because students love to consult and share what they have done with colleagues. So, the chat rooms are part of virtual environment communication, students can talk to each other virtually and tutor can check and add input and advice if it is necessary. Teachers through the chat rooms discuss any aspect or problem with the students with out moving of their seats.
On the other hand it is important to say that distance learning courses are made not only to develop students’ knowledge but also to improve the development of teachers or professionals in general. Dudeney, G. and Hockly N. (2007:143) consider the following “with increasing access to the Internet, teachers, too, can find opportunities for professional development which do not involve expensive courses or travel.” So, through some websites like Google they will find many online courses, certificates and degrees.
So, Internet offers the possibility to teachers and teacher trainer being in contact and share ideas and experiences concerning the research they have been doing and also, gives the chance for permanent qualified advance.
However, from my point of view, it is necessary to highlight that there are still some teachers who despite the fact they have the technology in front of them to use it in class with the students, they don' use it at all and they still want to continuous teaching subjects using the traditional way. Maybe they have not learned how to use it very well or maybe they do not feel comfortable using it as a material support for their lessons. Though, if the teachers are extremely motivated they will learn by their own how they must use it.
With respect to this point, the authors Dudeney, G. and Hockly N. (2007:148 ) think the following “one of the main entry points into technology for a lot of teachers has been their own experience of it in the form of distance training, with more and more busy professionals finding themselves only having the time and resources to develop professionally by taking advantage of online courses in teacher education -from short skills-based courses to the longer in service-training like the distance learning version of the DELTA. Courses like these have obligated many teachers to engage more with technology, which has resulted in a change of attitude. Rather than learning technology skills in isolation, they have seen at first hand how technology can enhance training, and these experiences have permeated their own professional practice.” Besides there are short methodology online courses for teachers, like Teaching Young Learners, for example that offer also pre—service certificate courses, in-service diploma courses, this is the case of the Cambridge ESOL DELTA and MAs and university diplomas. Dudeney, G. and Hockly N. (2007:143)
Having considered the advantages of VLE it is important to examine the disadvantages.

As ILIEV A. (http://anton.iliev.tripod.com )points out there are some disadvantages in using VLE, for example, students must have fast and reliable Internet connection; the materials can be explored when they are fully downloaded by the students; there must be learners who do not have the necessary technical equipment at home nor access to Internet.
On the other hand, Perrie Y. (2003) states some disadvantages of using VLEs for teaching and training in her article Virtual Learning Environments, for instance she argues that, web casts received over the Web require a fast modem and/or considerable bandwidth (may prefer to issue these tutorials as CDs or offer them as an alternative), less opportunity for independent searching and serendipity, reduces face to face contact, e-learning itself is not yet in line with established study patterns (for example, bulletin boards are unfamiliar as a way of learning), hard to take account of whatever hardware the students have to work with off-campus, difficult to change/update (unless you have an accompanying content management system) among other.
According to Schulte-Mecklenbeck M. (2004), “both instructors and students need training in order to be able to use the VLE. As with every new tool, it takes some time to learn usage and gain confidence. A VLE can become a 'dumping ground' for material not designed for online delivery. Filling up a VLE with hundreds of journal articles, long lists of links, or high-resolution pictures/videos hinders accessibility and lowers satisfaction. Often, the advice faculty give to students about how to sign on a VLE or use it is ignored and the students do not take advantage of the VLE in a course. A VLE does mean additional work in students' spare time, so make the added value transparent to your students and propose reachable goals.”
On the other hand, the authors Lyne C. and Scott B. (2005), state that concerning the incorporation of the VLE into the learning, teaching and assessment (LTA), there are some disadvantages of assessing the on-line activities, for instance: not in the true spirit of autonomous learning if students are forced to do the activities, time-consuming to prepare, limited number and type of questions and technical problems may arise, e.g. Students being 'locked out' of quizzes.

So, in my view, it is extremely necessary to emphasize that, VLE is very useful for students and teachers, although it has some disadvantages that should be taken into consideration. Students from different part of the world can study and acquire knowledge during the distance learning course, but it could be affected by the following features. For example, the lack of face to face interaction is one of them, because students sometimes may get low-spirited when they are interested in sharing information with other students and see their reaction, gestures, or movement concerning the results they have obtained in the tests. There are some students who love listen to how great they are in a specific subject, they want to be congratulated most of the time from their tutors, partners or friends, and this is one of the things that distance courses can not offer as such.

An additional argument is the variety of activities that can keep them motivated must of the time. In this sense, it could be argued that these activities should be very interactive, completely new for them, interesting and dynamic, so students are learning and enjoying what they are doing at the same time without out getting boring. In relation to this aspect, it is important to say also, that teachers when are preparing the activities should take into consideration the main goal of the lesson and the didactic and pedagogical point of view.

Concerning this fact, Jobbings D. (2006) stated that” The VLE is no "quick fix" to presenting good quality teaching and learning materials. Like most educational activity, there is always the need to establish pedagogy for effective e-learning in practice.”
In my opinion, also, another important feature that may disappoint students is when teaching materials have been out of stock as a result of technical problems, so as they want to consult the material and it does not appear this makes them to feel frustrated or disappointed and as a result they may lost their interest in the course.

And the last one that may be taken into consideration is how students will acquire and develop through the distance learning course their human values, mainly children and adolescents who are changing their attitudes and behaviour most of the time.

In conclusion, there are several reasons why the use of VLE is very beneficial for the whole society, and very significant and important for the teaching learning process, allowing the possibility to both students and teachers increase their knowledge and skills. Although it has some disadvantages that should be taken into account in order to improve the way people design different courses using the VLE as a support. Step by step people will fell more confident using VLE and more satisfied with the new favourable changes that will occur in future times in relation to the development of VLE.

















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