learning - Academic Conferences Limited

John Jessel
teachers who agreed to participate, reported out-of-class rates of usage were proportionately higher
(10 using the VLE at least once or twice a week) than reported in-class rates (only 4 using the VLE at
least once or twice a week), interview data suggesting that out-of-class use was largely for
administrative purposes. Although there was a lower rate of in-class usage (16 using the VLE less
than once or twice a month which included 10 never having used it) this did not appear to be because
of lack of interest; responses to a further questionnaire revealed that the technology was regarded as
innovative and that all of the teachers surveyed were interested in finding out more about its use.
4.2 Workshop sessions
Applications of VLE technologies in teaching mathematics, science, English and PSHE were
explored. With mathematics, opportunities for students to develop problem-solving skills were
addressed through the online dimension taking account of a need for inner city students to develop
their extended writing skills. The idea was to use the technology to create project-based lessons that
fitted within both the GCSE and KS5 Curriculum. Work with science teachers focused on developing
resources and a structure for the VLE with a focus on BTEC Science. In relation to the PSHE, the
focus was on a core of underachieving girls and trying to use the technology available to engage both
pupils and parents to increase engagement and communication. The aim was to use the VLE to
communicate with these pupils in a less formal way in an attempt to remove some of the barriers to
their learning. It will also be used to engage with and help parents, many of whom do not have good
memories from their own educational experience. The idea was to set up a chat room for engagement
between students. Older Y10/Y11 girls would be encouraged to take a mentoring role for younger
girls. The possibility was that a forum would be a natural place to start for asking for help. Finding
ways of getting girls to support each other was regarded as crucial. However virtual peer mentoring
was not seen as the sole means of communication; ‘real-world physical mentoring would tie up with
virtual mentoring’. It was thought that a sense of community could be developed through building links
between the year groups.
Two schools were involved in developing the use of the VLE in the English curriculum. The
technology also included handheld audio and video devices within the Level 1 Functional English
Qualification, Reading, Speaking and Listening, with Year 8 (12-13 year old) students. The work,
done in relation to an existing scheme of work for a BBC School Report initiative giving students a
chance to make news reports for a real audience, will now be described in more detail.
The aim was for pupils to use radio or television for their reports. In addition to developing an
understanding of the media they were to use, attention was given to what constituted a news story,
how to go about finding a story and how stories could be put together to form a final sequence. This
would involve editorial meetings and use of the VLE for an online discussion forum.
As with the other schools, the technology-use framework was introduced at the start of the workshop
sessions. This was found to be largely self-explanatory and it was apparent where the different modes
of use of the VLE could be mapped or located within the social and cognitive space. The framework
also had a discourse-setting effect and allowed discussion to move beyond the more prevalent use of
the VLE as a dissemination instrument for tests and factual material. In particular, with regard to the
quality of learning activity and student engagement, the framework encouraged account to be taken of
types of learning paradigm and the social and collaborative dimension afforded by the connectivity
available through the VLE. However, the move towards the more participatory approach to learning
did not occur immediately.
In common with the majority of London schools, the VLE used was Fronter. In response to being
asked about his initial understanding of Fronter one teacher replied ‘I think it is a virtual learning
environment. It’s modelled like a virtual school where there are different rooms and corridors and
pupils can go into rooms and teachers will be in certain rooms. Just like a classroom, there are
resources in there.’ At this stage the potential for learning was in line the more prevalent uses of VLEs
mentioned earlier: ‘I think Fronter is a really good place to store resources so any child who’s got
access to a computer at home can carry on with their work’ ‘Children are allowed to upload work that
they’ve done so they can hand in work for the teacher to mark.’ ‘You can set work, upload resources
and set tasks in Fronter.’
In regard to the potential of the VLE for exploring participation in learning in the development of a
news story, the question was asked ‘Why bother with Fronter?’ Although the scope for participation
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