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C Goldblatt Virtual Learning Environments February 2012 Project Report Page 1 of 31 Virtual Learning Environments Investigating the benefits of using a managed/Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and evaluate its effectiveness in enhancing the learner experience in a primary school setting.

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Page 1: Virtual Learning Environments

C Goldblatt Virtual Learning Environments February 2012

Project Report Page 1 of 31

Virtual Learning Environments

Investigating the benefits of using a

managed/Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)

and evaluate its effectiveness in enhancing the

learner experience in a primary school setting.

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Table of Contents:

1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................................3

1.1 LEARNING OUTCOMES ........................................................................................................................................................3

2 VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS ............................................................................................................................4

2.1 VLE’S IN A PRIMARY SCHOOL CONTEXT..................................................................................................................................4

2.2 BENEFITS OF USING A VLE ...................................................................................................................................................5

3 METHODOLOGY.............................................................................................................................................................7

3.1 ANALYSIS OF STATISTICS AND SURVEY RESULTS .........................................................................................................................9

4 CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................................................14

5 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................................16

6 APPENDICES ................................................................................................................................................................17

6.1 APPENDIX 1 – ETHICS .......................................................................................................................................................17

6.1.1 Ethics form..............................................................................................................................................................17

6.1.2 Letter sent to parents to ask permission for survey and statistical analysis ..........................................................18

6.2 APPENDIX 2 – CHILD SURVEY .............................................................................................................................................19

6.3 APPENDIX 3 – SURVEY RESULTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS ......................................................................................................25

6.4 APPENDIX 4 – EXTRACTS FROM THE VLE ..............................................................................................................................30

6.4.1 Year 1 – VLE Forum – Favourite Fruits ....................................................................................................................30

6.4.2 FS2 – VLE Forum – Number Bonds to 10.................................................................................................................31

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Project 1 – Virtual Learning Environments

Investigate the benefits of using a managed/Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)

and evaluate its effectiveness in enhancing the learner experience.

1 Introduction

This report will explore how using a VLE in a primary school can benefit the school, teachers, learners

and wider school community. It will begin by discussing the varied aims and intentions of using a VLE in

a primary school and go on to discuss its proven and potential benefits; including how ICT in general can

benefit and extend the curriculum. Following this, the report will look at how the focus school is

currently using their VLE, incorporating a comparative analysis of current statistics and survey results

regarding usage.

1.1 Learning Outcomes

• Investigate and evaluate the effectiveness of using a VLE to enhance and extend learning

beyond the classroom in a Primary School.

• Critically appraise how the VLE can benefit students and the wider school community.

• Appraise and evaluate the usage statistics of the VLE to see what effect the confidence and

capability of a teacher has on the general usage of the VLE by the class.

• Evaluate what material is the most popular/useful/effective and explore how the content could

be developed further.

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2 Virtual Learning Environments

In order to investigate the aims of using a VLE in a primary school setting and how its use can aid

learning, we must first understand what a VLE is?

The acronym ‘VLE’ stands for ‘Virtual Learning Environment’. According to Becta (2004), a VLE is a

software tool which provides a diverse selection of tools that enable learners, staff and other members

of the school community to interact online. In 2002, Dillenbourg, Schneider and Synteta described a VLE

as an online space, providing information and social tools, specifically designed to enhance classroom

learning. Simply put, a VLE is a secure online area where learners and educators can communicate.

Some people erroneously refer to a VLE as an MLE, a Managed Learning Environment. An MLE takes a

VLE and a management information system (MIS) and amalgamates them, thus giving a school the

potential to integrate pupil data, learning resources and assessment data (Becta 2004). In this essay the

focus will be on using a VLE, not an MLE.

2.1 VLE’s in a Primary School Context

The majority of learners have access to the internet (and through this the potential to connect to a VLE)

at home. This is evidenced by the fact that in 2007, 61% of UK households had internet access (Ofsted,

2009). The Office for National Statistics released a report in 2011 which states that 77% of UK

households have internet access. This significant increase, over the last four years, indicates an

enhancement of childrens’ access to the internet at home.

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According to Becta (2003), primary school children are spending three times longer using ICT at home

than they are at school. Although this does not directly refer to childrens’ use of a computer or the

internet at home, it does highlight the fact that a large majority of children are regularly exposed to

some form or another of ICT and are comfortable using it independently. In the words of Green and

Hannon (2007, p.10), ‘the use of digital technology has been completely normalised by this generation,

and it is now fully integrated into their daily lives’.

Over the past ten years, schools have been making a big move to upgrade their technological hardware

but the impact on teaching and learning from this modernisation has not been significant. Schools need

to be looking at the interests of their students and recognise that nowadays access to knowledge is

imperative, even more so than hardware. Educators should be looking for ways to connect school based

learning with their students’ lives at home. In order to do this effectively, the educators must

understand what their students are interested in and proficient in doing so that they cultivate new

information and skills through the existing skill set of the learners. Children are regularly using

computers, competent at finding information on the internet and are learning new skills all the time.

(ibid., 2007). If schools do not realise or accept this, they limit their potential to connect with the

students, parents, governors and wider school community.

2.2 Benefits of using a VLE

As mentioned above, a VLE is a software tool which provides a secure web based platform to a school.

This platform can host many tools which can be used effectively to extend learning beyond the four

walls of the classroom (Becta 2004).

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Due to the VLE being web based means pedagogy is consequently more efficient; it allows members of

the school community easy access to relevant information whenever and wherever necessary.

(Ainsworth, P and Smith, J. 2008). Other potential benefits of having and using a web based VLE include:

increased levels of communication with parents through the accessibility of school information and

potential to increase communication between staff, enabling them to plan collaboratively (Becta, 2003).

The easy access that a VLE provides to learning resources means that absent students can easily access

any information they may have missed (Ainsworth et al, 2008), thus encouraging their learning and

ensuring a consistent flow of information.

The VLE also provides a multitude of tools that can be enabled or disabled for a school. For example,

the VLE hosts communication tools such as: email; news bulletin boards and instant messaging.

Moreover, collaboration tools are discussion forums, multi author documents and calendars can also

facilitate learning and staff communication. Furthermore, one can create documents and set

assignments which can either be automatically marked or marked manually by the teacher (Becta,

2004).

Becta (2003) states that there are many benefits to using a VLE, these include, increased accessibility to

learning resources. The anytime, anywhere access to learning and the potential to participate in forum

discussions can be empowering for less able students. Moreover, parents can find it beneficial for

school information to be made immediately available and easily accessible. It should therefore be

possible for parents to see targets, assessments and other such vital information on the VLE; giving

them up to date information on their child’s progress. Furthermore, by recording childrens’ levels and all

future levels, the VLE will be able to direct students and their parents to the specific areas where

improvement or support is need. (Ainsworth and Smith. 2008)

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The VLE can also be utilised by students to help them complete their homework (Ofsted, 2009). This

reduces paper usage by the school and having the activities available on the VLE reduces the number of

children coming to school with the excuse that they ‘lost their homework’.

Ofsted (2004) consider that pupils have responded positively to the use of ICT for advancement in

education and consequently their behaviour and attitudes to learning have improved. Ofsted (2004) go

on to state that when these ICT skills are encouraged across all aspects of the curriculum, children can

be seen to make more rapid progress. This is seen most significantly with students who had previously

poor attitudes to behaviour and learning. As such the VLE is used as a tool to motivate learners and

should not create any additional work for teachers (DfES, 2005)

This method of teaching is also backed by the London Grid for Learning (LGFL) who have designated

Pearson-Fronter1 (from here on referred to as Fronter) as the preferred VLE provider for London

schools. They hope that his will enable teachers to spend more time and effort in the classroom as it is

easier to share and create learning materials (Becta, 2003, p.16).

3 Methodology

Noting the benefits ascribed to using a VLE, we looked at a primary school in North London to see how

they are using their VLE and which of the proven benefits applied. All the children and staff were

1 http://www.pearsonfronter.com/

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surveyed, where 17% of the children in the school and 22% of the staff completed the survey. Of the

22% of staff that completed the survey, 84% were teaching staff comprising 50% of the current teaching

staff. Some of the data from the survey can be seen in Appendix 2. The usage statistics from the VLE

were analysed (also available in Appendix 2), though this data was compromised slightly as the school

had synced the data from their MIS system in October 2010. This created new users for all the current

staff and pupils and deleted all previous users which in turn removed all statistics prior to this merge. In

addition, whenever students or staff leave the school, their data is deleted from the VLE, and as such we

do not have their usage statistics.

The focus school is a two form entry primary school with approximately 450 students across eight year

groups. The school uses Fronter (Pearson-Fronter) as their VLE provider. The children were first given

access to the VLE in June 2009. Initially only one year group had access to the VLE, however, over the

next year and a half, once all the staff had been trained, the access was rolled out to the rest of the

school. Although, the VLE was received favourably by the majority of children and parents, the teaching

staff were initially more reserved. Their opinion was that this initiative would not provide enough

benefit to outweigh the perceived extra work.

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Figure 3-2 – Home computer and internet use

Figure 3-3 – Staff Fronter Logins

Figure 3-1 – Student Fronter Logins

3.1 Analysis of statistics and survey results

The children were surveyed to gauge their access

to a computer and the internet at home and how

frequently they logged into Fronter. The chart in

Figure 3-2 (and Figure 6-4) shows that 87% of the

respondents use a computer and access the

internet more than once a week. This figure is

significantly higher than that of the Office for

National Statistics cited in Section 2.1 showing the

high number of frequent internet users among the

children in the school.

The children were also asked how frequently they

logged into Fronter. As shown in Figure 3-1Error!

Reference source not found. (and Appendix 3:

Figure 6-2) 87% of the respondents log into the VLE

(Fronter) at least once a month with 62% of the

total responding that they log in at least once a

week. However, when these results are compared

with the statistics from the Fronter site there is a

disparity between the two, showing that the

majority of the children who responded to the survey are are the ones that access Fronter most often

and that though the children assume that they log in at least once a week this is not actually the case.

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The results to this question are also shown in Figure 3-3 (and Appendix 3: Figure 6-1) with the staff

survey and statistics.

As shown in Figure 3-1 and Figure 3-3, a big portion of the school community are logging into Fronter at

least once a month with a few logging in at least once a week. Although 91% of the teachers are

logging into Fronter at least once a month, only 39% of students are. This may be partially due to the

fact that 95% of Foundation Stage children have never logged in or are logging in less than once a

month.

In 2003, Becta released a review of VLEs in education that said ‘the moderators' input is crucial to the

success of the activity’. This is reflected in the statistics from the focus school. When the statistics are

separated by year group (Appendix 3: Figure 6-9) it is evident that the year groups that have teacher

who use the VLE more often than others also have higher usage statistics among the students. This is

especially apparent in Foundation Stage 1 and Year 5. If the teacher of the class does not update the

page or activities regularly and promote them in class the children will lose interest in using the VLE

(ibid, 2003). One of the students responded to the survey by saying ‘the content is not interesting to me

or my classmates’. If this is truly the case then it is unsurprising that the children are not using it as

frequently as some of their teachers would wish. In order to encourage and excite the children to use

the VLE the teachers must reimagine themselves as facilitators rather than directors to put the students

at the centre of their learning. We need to use tools that our students are already comfortable with to

allow teachers and students to interact more spontaneously. This could encourage the children to

transfer their expertise gained in informal learning across to the formal sphere. (Green and Hannon,

2007)

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It is interesting to note that the teachers use the VLE more than the students. This may be because the

teachers are required to log in as part of their job while the students feel that it is on a voluntary basis.

The usage statistics are dramatically different in Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 as opposed to Key

Stage 2 (Appendix 3: Figure 6-9). Some people believe that Foundation Stage children (ages 3-5) are too

young to use the VLE for example, one of the children commented ‘I am too little to use it’ when asked if

they had anything to say about the VLE. Though this may be the attitude of some parents and children,

it should not be the way that teachers view the children in Foundation Stage. In 2004, Ofsted made a

point that children in the Foundation Stage are taught basic skills in how to use a computer and start to

learn how to type which means that with parental support they should be capable of logging into the

VLE and answering basic questions. This is evidenced by a forum in the FS2 online classroom, about

number bonds, where the children were asked to post all the ways they could make 10. There were 21

responses some of which can be seen in the screenshot in Appendix 4.

The ICT strand of the National Curriculum for Key Stage 1 states that children should be able to use a

computer including how to find information and how to use text and images to create documents

(Department for Education, 2011). The VLE could be used in ICT lessons to show children safe ways to

find information online, and forums provide a secure environment for children to share pieces of

information and pictures with their teachers and classmates. It has already been used effectively in this

way in Year 1 in the focus school where children were asked to share what their favourite fruit was.

Part of the forum can be seen in Appendix 4. The children were shown the forum in class and the

teacher demonstrated how they should post and by the end of the week many of the children had

already posted their answers.

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The children were also asked about the frequency with which they visit the rooms available to them.

The response (seen in Appendix 3: Figure 6-5) shows 62% of children visit their LK Classroom (Jewish

Studies Room) at least once a week and 59% visit their secular classroom once a week. A possible

reason for this could be because the Jewish Studies teachers log into Fronter more frequently than their

secular colleagues as evidenced in Appendix 3: Figure 6-3.

One of the items detailed in the focus school’s last Ofsted inspection was that parents felt that they

were not being communicated with well enough. The school has attempted to help this by creating a

Parent Room on the VLE where all Weekly Correspondence is uploaded as are relevant school

documents. Despite this, 68% of the respondents replied that they have never visited the Parent Room.

It should be noted that the children were the ones surveyed not the parents so this number may be

higher in actuality.

Appendix 3: Figure 6-6 shows what the children believe is most important when visiting a room on the

VLE. 72% responded that homework is very important. Games came second with 24% saying it is very

important and 30% saying it is almost the most important thing when visiting a room. Music is the least

popular media on the VLE with 24% of the children responding that it is least important. Games prove

popular again with the survey respondents when asked what would make them visit the VLE more often

(Appendix 3: Figure 6-7).

When asked how their usage of the VLE differed this year from last year (Appendix 3: Figure 6-8), 34% of

students said that they use the VLE more often than last year and 36% said they use it about the same

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as last year. The answer given most as the reason to why they were using it differently, 23% of

respondents, was because they had a different teacher.

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4 Conclusion

In order for a VLE to be classed as a learning environment there needs to be some form of social

interaction, (Dillenbourg et al, 2002) for example, using multi author texts or discussion forums. When

teachers lack confidence in using technology, their students can be demotivated. If staff haven’t been

trained adequately or are not provided with enough support, they will not be confident and

enthusiastic, and therefore, less likely to promote it in their classrooms. (Becta, 2003). Students are

unlikely to access the VLE solely with the knowledge it exists, they require encouragement and frequent

updates about what learning tools and support are available on their secure educational environment.

The VLE, when used effectively, can create an online educational environment which will enable student

to access their curriculum from anywhere at any time. It can motivate and improve attitudes towards

learning, while keeping a teachers workload at a minimum. Although, using a VLE can be a successful

learning tool, not all children will have access to the VLE at home, as such, not only will they not be able

to benefit from the educational environment, they may feel left out or unable to participate in

collaborative activities that are solely based on the VLE.

OFSTED’s evaluation of virtual learning environments in 2009 stated that a common factor in effective

VLEs was the enthusiasm of the teachers and the best VLEs allowed learners to reinforce their work and

catch up on missed lessons.

The benefits of the VLE are both diverse and widespread; it can be used as an effective teaching tool in

the classroom and a tool for learning when the students are at home. It can enhance communication,

not only between a teacher and their students but also between a school and its parents. This additional

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communication can be used to consolidate and scaffold children’s learning while keeping parents

abreast of what is happening at school and any potential targets or areas for concern.

As supported by the DfES the use of technologies such as a VLE are an invaluable tool in maintaining a

high work ethic and also a way of successfully differentiating for the less able or less willing to involve

themselves in whole class work (2005). Furthermore, as a teaching tool a VLE can be a straight forward

way for teachers to reach their students. It allows children to gain access to a secure educational area,

where they can produce work in an environment that they are both comfortable and confident in. ‘ICT

in primary school... is able to engage the pupils and enhance their learning experience.’ (Becta, 2003,

P34). If we take this to be accurate, we can therefore assess that pupils learning experience will be

enhanced dramatically when they are able to access their online classrooms and other educational

activities from the comfort of their own home.

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5 References

• Ainsworth, P and Smith, J. (2008). USING A VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT (VLE) TO RAISE

ATTAINMENT. Available: http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/vle-raise-attainment-3498.

Last accessed 16/10/2011.

• Becta. (2003). A REVIEW OF THE RESEARCH LITERATURE ON THE USE OF MLES AND VLES IN

EDUCATION. Available: http://www.teachfind.com/becta/becta-research-research-archive-

virtual-learning-environments-vles. Last accessed 19/01/2012

• Becta. (2004). WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS ABOUT VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS IN

TEACHING AND LEARNING. Available:

https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/15003.pdf. Last accessed

29/12/2011.

• Department for Education. (2011). NATIONAL CURRICULUM ICT: ATTAINMENT TARGET LEVEL

DESCRIPTIONS. Available:

http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/curriculum/primary/b00199028/ict/

attainment. Last accessed 05/02/2012.

• DfES. (2005). HARNESSING TECHNOLOGY: TRANSFORMING LEARNING AND CHILDREN'S

SERVICES. Available:

http://tna.europarchive.org/20080610184942/http://www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/e-strategy/.

Last accessed 29/12/2011.

• Dillenbourg, P., Schneider, D.K. & Synteta, P. (2002). VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS. In A.

Dimitracopoulou (Ed). Proceedings of the 3rd Hellenic Conference "Information &

Communication Technologies in Education" (pp. 3-18). Kastaniotis Editions, Greece. Available:

http://telearn.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/19/07/01/PDF/Dillernbourg-Pierre-2002a.pdf. Last

accessed: 04/12/2011

• Green, H and Hannon, C. (2007). THEIR SPACE: EDUCATION FOR A DIGITAL

GENERATION. Available: http://www.demos.co.uk/files/Their%20space%20-%20web.pdf. Last

accessed 15 January 2012.

• Office for National Statistics. (2011). Internet Access - Households and Individuals,

2011. Available: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_227158.pdf. Last accessed 19/01/2012.

• Ofsted. (2004). ICT IN SCHOOLS: THE IMPACT OF GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES FIVE YEARS

ON. Available: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/ict-schools-2004-impact-of-government-

initiatives-five-years. Last accessed 01/01/2012.

• Ofsted. (2009). VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: AN EVALUATION OF THEIR DEVELOPMENT

IN A SAMPLE OF EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS. Available:

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/virtual-learning-environments-evaluation-of-their-

development-sample-of-educational-settings. Last accessed 30/12/2011.

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6 Appendices

6.1 Appendix 1 – Ethics

6.1.1 Ethics form

Partnerships Division (Applied Professional Studies)

Student’s Research Ethics Check for ALL Projects or Assignments Involving Human Participants

Note: Please do not leave any section blank. Please give a written answer, say yes or no when required, or write N/A (Not

Applicable). Your tutor can guide you through this form.

1. Your name: Channa Goldblatt

2. Your APS programme (Foundation, BA/BSc, MA/MSC): Foundation Level 5

3. What is the title of your project?

Investigate the benefits of using a managed/Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and evaluate its

effectiveness in enhancing the learner experience

4. What do you consider to be the main ethical issues or problems that may arise with the proposed

study and what steps will be taken to address them? (See your tutor and the ethics guide for more

information)

I do not consider there to be any major ethical issues with this project as there will be no direct

contact with the children. I will be using data from a school website and will ask children to

participate in a questionnaire that they will complete with their parents.

I have permission from the school to do this and have written an informational letter (attached) that

was sent out to parents by the school giving them an option to opt out of the research.

5. Where exactly, will the interaction with the participants take place?

There will be no personal interaction. There will be an optional questionnaire for them to complete.

6. Are any of the following involved? Please write ‘Yes’ or ‘No’

An intrusive activity (e.g. interview, focus group, questionnaire): Yes

Something that might cause mental stress: No

Adults with incapacity: No

Children or young people: Yes

7. Are there potential adverse effects, risks, hazards, pain or distress for your research participants? If

so, please specify what these are and how you will minimise them?

No

8. Are there potential adverse effects, risks, hazards, pain or distress for you as the researcher? If so,

please specify what these are and how you will minimise them?

No For more information, please refer to the guide on ethics which is included in your project handbook. Include this form as

part of your project learning contract. This form must be submitted to your tutor for permission for all assignments that

involve human subjects before being undertaken. You should also consult your tutor should circumstances change.

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6.1.2 Letter sent to parents to ask permission for survey and statistical analysis

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6.2 Appendix 2 – Child Survey

LO Question What am I trying to test? How am I

going to test

it?

What data will I end up

with?

What will this

prove?

Key theories, concepts, practice.

Sources

Primary,

secondary,

quantitative,

qualitative data

collection/appr

oaches.

Size, frequency and number of a

given phenomenon.

Emotion, feelings, beliefs,

philosophies and arguments.

Analysis techniques:

Descriptive: similarities,

differences

Establishing regularities:

pattern, groupings, series

Causal: correlation

Prediction

Expected

outcome, finding,

conclusion.

. What year group

are you in?

(P8) the way that students navigate

the VLE is very much influenced by the

tasks that the teacher sets.

Dillenbourg, P., Schneider, D.K. &

Synteta, P. (2002). Virtual Learning

Environments. In A. Dimitracopoulou

(Ed). Proceedings of the 3rd Hellenic

Conference "Information &

Communication Technologies in

Education" (pp. 3-18). Kastaniotis

Editions, Greece. Available:

http://telearn.archives-

ouvertes.fr/docs/00/19/07/01/PDF/Di

llernbourg-Pierre-2002a.pdf Last

accessed: 04/12/2011

Primary

quantitative

data

collection

from

questionnair

e

Number of children in

each year group who

respond.

I will be able

to use this

data to assist

in the analysis

of the survey

results and

statistics.

1 What

computer/internet

access do you have

at home?

(P19/20) #48 in one school, the ICT co-

ordinator used a survey to find out

from the pupils what access they had

to ICT outside school.

Ofsted. (2009). VIRTUAL LEARNING

ENVIRONMENTS: AN EVALUATION OF

THEIR DEVELOPMENT IN A SAMPLE OF

EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS. Available:

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/

virtual-learning-environments-

evaluation-of-their-development-

sample-of-educational-settings. Last

accessed 30/12/2011. (P8) in 2007

61% of households had internet

Ofsted. (2004). ICT IN SCHOOLS: THE

IMPACT OF GOVERNMENT

INITIATIVES FIVE YEARS ON. Available:

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/i

ct-schools-2004-impact-of-

government-initiatives-five-years. Last

accessed 01/01/2012.

Primary

quantitative

data

collection

from

questionnair

e

number of children who

have regular access to a

computer/internet at

home

Children are

able to access

the VLE at

home

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LO Question What am I trying to test? How am I

going to test

it?

What data will I end up

with?

What will this

prove?

1 I log into Fronter

(the MLE)

More than once a

week

Once a week

More than once a

month

Once a month

Less than once a

month

I have never logged

into Fronter

(P8) the way that students navigate

the VLE is very much influenced by the

tasks that the teacher sets.

Dillenbourg, P., Schneider, D.K. &

Synteta, P. (2002). Virtual Learning

Environments. In A. Dimitracopoulou

(Ed). Proceedings of the 3rd Hellenic

Conference "Information &

Communication Technologies in

Education" (pp. 3-18). Kastaniotis

Editions, Greece. Available:

http://telearn.archives-

ouvertes.fr/docs/00/19/07/01/PDF/Di

llernbourg-Pierre-2002a.pdf Last

accessed: 04/12/2011

Primary

quantitative

data

collection

from

questionnair

e

Frequency of use How often the

children think

they are

logging in and

compare to

statistics from

the VLE

1 When I log into

Fronter I visit

(list of rooms)

(P5/6) common factor in effective

VLE's was the enthusiasm of the

teachers

Dillenbourg, P., Schneider, D.K. &

Synteta, P. (2002). Virtual Learning

Environments. In A. Dimitracopoulou

(Ed). Proceedings of the 3rd Hellenic

Conference "Information &

Communication Technologies in

Education" (pp. 3-18). Kastaniotis

Editions, Greece. Available:

http://telearn.archives-

ouvertes.fr/docs/00/19/07/01/PDF/Di

llernbourg-Pierre-2002a.pdf Last

accessed: 04/12/2011 (P8) the way

that students navigate the VLE is very

much influenced by the tasks that the

teacher sets. Ofsted. (2009). VIRTUAL

LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: AN

EVALUATION OF THEIR

DEVELOPMENT IN A SAMPLE OF

EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS. Available:

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/

virtual-learning-environments-

evaluation-of-their-development-

sample-of-educational-settings. Last

accessed 30/12/2011

Primary

quantitative

data

collection

from

questionnair

e

number of rooms visited

regularly

Which rooms

are being used

effectively

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LO Question What am I trying to test? How am I

going to test

it?

What data will I end up

with?

What will this

prove?

4 Please rate the

items in order of

importance from 1-

5 where 1 is most

important and 5 is

least important.

When I visit a room

I look at/use the

Homework

Information/News

Forums

Votes

Games

Pictures

(P32) #84 Teachers effective use of

colourful text, shapes, data, animation

and things from the internet.

Dillenbourg, P., Schneider, D.K. &

Synteta, P. (2002). Virtual Learning

Environments. In A. Dimitracopoulou

(Ed). Proceedings of the 3rd Hellenic

Conference "Information &

Communication Technologies in

Education" (pp. 3-18). Kastaniotis

Editions, Greece. Available:

http://telearn.archives-

ouvertes.fr/docs/00/19/07/01/PDF/Di

llernbourg-Pierre-2002a.pdf Last

accessed: 04/12/2011 (P8) the way

that students navigate the VLE is very

much influenced by the tasks that the

teacher sets. (P6) F5 Internet based

activates are added to the VLE to

enrich current learning activates.

Ofsted. (2004). ICT IN SCHOOLS: THE

IMPACT OF GOVERNMENT

INITIATIVES FIVE YEARS ON. Available:

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/i

ct-schools-2004-impact-of-

government-initiatives-five-years. Last

accessed 01/01/2012.

Primary

quantitative

data

collection

from

questionnair

e

The reasons behind the

frequency of child visits to

a room.

Which items

are most

important in

the childrens'

eyes.

2 When a

question/forum is

posted I

Add my own

answer/post

Add more than one

answer/post

Read it when it is

first posted

Read what other

people have

written

Reply to other

peoples posts

(P4/5) F4 students become

information producers in a VLE (P9)

children will not use a forum just for

the sake of it. They will answer

questions posed by the teacher.

Dillenbourg, P., Schneider, D.K. &

Synteta, P. (2002). Virtual Learning

Environments. In A. Dimitracopoulou

(Ed). Proceedings of the 3rd Hellenic

Conference "Information &

Communication Technologies in

Education" (pp. 3-18). Kastaniotis

Editions, Greece. Available:

http://telearn.archives-

ouvertes.fr/docs/00/19/07/01/PDF/Di

llernbourg-Pierre-2002a.pdf Last

accessed: 04/12/2011

Primary

quantitative

data

collection

from

questionnair

e

number of children using

forums effectively

We will be

able to see

whether

children are

using forums

and if they are

interested in

what they

have to offer.

1, 4 I find it most

helpful to check

what homework I

need to do by

1. Checking

the MLE

2. Looking in

my homework diary

3. Having it in

my diary and on the

MLE

4. Looking in

my school bag

(P14/15) learners use VLE to assist

with course assignments and

organisation of assignments

Ofsted. (2009). VIRTUAL LEARNING

ENVIRONMENTS: AN EVALUATION OF

THEIR DEVELOPMENT IN A SAMPLE OF

EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS. Available:

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/

virtual-learning-environments-

evaluation-of-their-development-

sample-of-educational-settings. Last

accessed 30/12/2011.

Primary

quantitative

data

collection

from

questionnair

e

Number of children who

prefer to have homework

in their homework diaries

or on the VLE.

Children will

prefer to see

what

homework

they have on

the VLE.

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LO Question What am I trying to test? How am I

going to test

it?

What data will I end up

with?

What will this

prove?

1, 4 I prefer to complete

my homework

1. On the

MLE

2. On my

computer

3. By hand

(P14/15) learners use VLE to assist

with course assignments and

organisation of assignments

Ofsted. (2009). VIRTUAL LEARNING

ENVIRONMENTS: AN EVALUATION OF

THEIR DEVELOPMENT IN A SAMPLE OF

EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS. Available:

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/

virtual-learning-environments-

evaluation-of-their-development-

sample-of-educational-settings. Last

accessed 30/12/2011.

Primary

quantitative

data

collection

from

questionnair

e

number of children who

prefer completing

homework online or by

hand

Whether

children

prefer doing

their

homework on

the computer

or if they

prefer

completing it

by hand.

1, 2 Using the MLE has

helped me learn

1.More about

topics we are

learning in class

2.How to use a

website and visit

different pages

3.How to use a

forum

(P4) best VLE's allowed learners to

reinforce their work or catch up on

missed lessons, material presented

was fun and helpful

Ofsted. (2009). VIRTUAL LEARNING

ENVIRONMENTS: AN EVALUATION OF

THEIR DEVELOPMENT IN A SAMPLE OF

EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS. Available:

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/

virtual-learning-environments-

evaluation-of-their-development-

sample-of-educational-settings. Last

accessed 30/12/2011.

Primary

quantitative

data

collection

from

questionnair

e

number of children who

feel that the VLE

enhances education

Will be able to

see whether

the children

think that the

staff are using

the VLE to

enhance their

learning or

just for fun.

2 Through forums the

MLE makes it easier

for me to

communicate with

1.My teacher

2.My classmates

3.Other children in

the school

(P3) F2 a VLE is populated and can

only be classified as a VLE if it there is

social interaction

Dillenbourg, P., Schneider, D.K. &

Synteta, P. (2002). Virtual Learning

Environments. In A. Dimitracopoulou

(Ed). Proceedings of the 3rd Hellenic

Conference "Information &

Communication Technologies in

Education" (pp. 3-18). Kastaniotis

Editions, Greece. Available:

http://telearn.archives-

ouvertes.fr/docs/00/19/07/01/PDF/Di

llernbourg-Pierre-2002a.pdf Last

accessed: 04/12/2011

Primary

quantitative

data

collection

from

questionnair

e

number of children who

think that they have more

avenues of

communication open

between them and the

teacher etc

Children will

feel that they

are able to

communicate

with their

teacher

outside

school.

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LO Question What am I trying to test? How am I

going to test

it?

What data will I end up

with?

What will this

prove?

3 Compared to last

year, this year I use

the MLE

1.More often than

last year

2.About the same

as last year

3.Less often than

last year

4.I didn't use the

MLE last year

5.I don't use the

MLE this year

6.I am new in the

school and did not

have access to

Fronter before

I think I used the

MLE differently last

year because

1.I had a different

teacher

2.There were

different things

available in my

classroom

3.I was shown it

more often in class

4.It was shared less

often in class

5.My teacher told

me about new

things that were

available on Fronter

6.I had homework

to do on Fronter

(P8) the way that students navigate

the VLE is very much influenced by the

tasks that the teacher sets.

Dillenbourg, P., Schneider, D.K. &

Synteta, P. (2002). Virtual Learning

Environments. In A. Dimitracopoulou

(Ed). Proceedings of the 3rd Hellenic

Conference "Information &

Communication Technologies in

Education" (pp. 3-18). Kastaniotis

Editions, Greece. Available:

http://telearn.archives-

ouvertes.fr/docs/00/19/07/01/PDF/Di

llernbourg-Pierre-2002a.pdf Last

accessed: 04/12/2011

Primary

quantitative

data

collection

from

questionnair

e

Children feelings on

whether they use the VLE

differently to last year

and why.

Children will

use the VLE

differently

depending on

how the

teacher is

using it.

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LO Question What am I trying to test? How am I

going to test

it?

What data will I end up

with?

What will this

prove?

4 I would visit the

MLE more often if

there were more

1.Forums

2.Games

3.Learning Tools

4.Links to

interesting sites

5.Videos

Dillenbourg, P., Schneider, D.K. &

Synteta, P. (2002). Virtual Learning

Environments. In A. Dimitracopoulou

(Ed). Proceedings of the 3rd Hellenic

Conference "Information &

Communication Technologies in

Education" (pp. 3-18). Kastaniotis

Editions, Greece. Available:

http://telearn.archives-

ouvertes.fr/docs/00/19/07/01/PDF/Di

llernbourg-Pierre-2002a.pdf Last

accessed: 04/12/2011 (P8) the way

that students navigate the VLE is very

much influenced by the tasks that the

teacher sets. (P6) F5 Internet based

activates are added to the VLE to

enrich current learning activates.

Ofsted. (2004). ICT IN SCHOOLS: THE

IMPACT OF GOVERNMENT

INITIATIVES FIVE YEARS ON. Available:

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/i

ct-schools-2004-impact-of-

government-initiatives-five-years. Last

accessed 01/01/2012.

Primary

quantitative

data

collection

from

questionnair

e

Statistics of what the

children would like to see

more of on the VLE.

Children will

want more

games.

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Figure 6-5 – Survey results - Frequency of room visits

Figure 6-3 – Staff logins by subject

Figure 6-1 – Staff Fronter Logins Figure 6-4 – Home computer and internet use

6.3 Appendix 3 – Survey results and statistical analysis

Figure 6-2 – Student Fronter Logins

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Importance of items on the VLE

Figure 6-6 – Importance of items on the VLE according to the children.

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Figure 6-7 – What children want on the VLE

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Figure 6-8 – Difference of usage compared to last year

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Figure 6-9 – Fronter logins by year group

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6.4 Appendix 4 – Extracts from the VLE

6.4.1 Year 1 – VLE Forum – Favourite Fruits

(Please note: All

identifying information

has been concealed)

This extract from a year

1 forum demonstrates

that the children are

capable of typing their

own sentences and

editing the text.

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6.4.2 FS2 – VLE Forum – Number Bonds to 10

(Please note: All identifying

information has been concealed)

This extract from a Foundation

Stage 2 forum demonstrates that

the VLE can be used to extend and

enhance learning by giving children

an opportunity to share their

knowledge without time pressure.