• The Children’s Act 2004 put onto the statue books the recommendations of Every Child Matters. The Education departments of Local Authorities were replaced by Children’s Services Authorities who have a lead member for children. There has to be a Director of Children’s Services, who is responsible for education and the other linked children’s services.
• Because of the amount of contact time children have with schools they are seen as central to the integration of all services.
• Schools have always had a role in making children safe and healthy (the first two aims of Every Child Matters). However, education is not just about teaching and learning. “Enjoy and achieve”, the third outcome of Every Child Matters, is now seen as an important focus of established education. To achieve these aims educators are expected to work closely with the local health service, social services and other local agencies so that every child gets the best from life.
• Under new school inspection arrangements (Sept 2006) every school will be inspected against the five areas listed above. Indeed each local authority is also inspected every year against the same five outcomes.
• The government wants schools to extend a whole range of services, activities and times that the whole community can use the schools.
• This is a big sea change in the way schools have previously operated and presents many challenges for teachers, social workers, health workers and all the other professionals involved in dealing with children. It is hoped that it will prevent tragedies like Victoria Climbié happening again.

Positioning of computers	Height of workstations	Monitor height and position (no light reflection, at eye level)
Comfortable chair properly adjusted	Adequate desk space	Ability to use the mouse left or right handed
Use of wrist supports	Length of time at work at computers

BBC News item on the Byron Review
Links to the report
BBC on setting up of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS)

Use of a filtered ISP, some authorities provide these, other providers are available commercially e.g. RM
Staying private online
Supervise pupils and provide strategies for when they come across unsuitable material
Use children’s search engines, e.g. http://www.kidsclick.org/, http://www.askkids.com/

computer cables out of the way
no food or drink near computers

A key factor in the significance of Every Child Matters is the use of the internet to share information and discuss issues. Work together as a group to produce a blog and put up comments about the Every Child Matters document and related issues. Decide together which method or free site you are going to use. Register, if necessary, and plan the layout of the web space you are creating. Upload comments and start different strands for discussion. Allocate different groups to work on different strands. These strands could include e-safety, universal access to broadband, netiquette and using and contributing to Wikis.

Objectives

• To have a practical experience of one of the ways in which Every Child Matters is to be supported by ICT
• To demonstrate an understanding of the document by starting relevant strands of discussion and posting comments

Key points

Choose an appropriate web tool for creating your web space.
Plan the layout of your webspace so that it will enable people to comment on the various aspects, and for their comments to be easily found and responded to.
Be aware that this webspace will be visited by a varied audience. Check up on netiquette, and keep the tone educational and objective.
Upload your webspace, or create it online. Post comments to different strands as per your plan. Invite other groups to visit your webspace and contribute.

Success criteria

• Webspace has been created and has comments added to several strands
• Webspace follows a logical layout and is easy to use
• Nettiquette has been followed and no offensive material has been submitted.

Building Schools for the Future

"We intend to provide new increased capital funding for both primary and secondary schools by 2006. But we also recognise that their needs are different. Recent capital investment has done much to improve primary schools. Around 2,000 new classrooms have allowed infants to be taught in smaller classes; and there are now reduced class sizes for many 7- to 11-year-olds. These investments have, in turn, supported big improvements in literacy and numeracy, and in teaching and learning generally. Other investment has provided new sports and arts halls. Primary schools are usually much smaller than secondaries. This means that the scale of investment needed to improve their premises is much more likely to be found from within the formulaic capital funds provided to local education authorities, particularly if most secondary school renewal is to be funded on a separate targeted basis. We will continue to make additional investment available for primary schools."

Reference:
www.teachernet.gov.uk/_doc/3611/Building%20schools%20for%20the%20future.pdf

"Becta’s self-review framework is designed to help you evaluate your current use of ICT and plan future improvements to the way technology is used in learning and teaching. It can help ensure that your school’s investment in ICT is fit for purpose and you make best use of the resources available.

Freely accessed through an online tool, the framework is made up of eight elements and linked to the national standards for ICT. It offers your school a straightforward process for identifying strengths and areas for development in current ICT use. After allowing you to benchmark your school’s capabilities against established best practice, the tool develops an action plan to help move forward.

The framework is divided into eight elements:

• Leadership and management
• Curriculum
• Learning and teaching
• Assessment
• Professional development
• Extending opportunities for learning
• Resources
• Impact on pupil outcomes"
Becta produces a number of publications which aim to help schools work through the process.
http://schools.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=srf&catcode=ss_to_srf_ben_02

There are also a number of case studies where headteachers articulate how their school has benefited from the process:
http://schools.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=srf&catcode=ss_to_srf_exp_02

The lesson here for students is that any redesign of school buildings or reassessment of school functionality can’t be independent of a clear vision as to where the school wants to go and what it wants to achieve. Such a vision must involve staff, parents, governors and pupils. And sometimes the latter can be remarkably perceptive, imaginative and truthful!

Teaching ideas

As a possible teaching session students can be sent in groups of half a dozen to different primary schools. The aim is for them to talk to pupils about how they (the pupils) might redesign their schools. One scenario might be a blank sheet of paper and the school is being rebuilt from the ground upwards whilst another scenario is that, given the basic school infrastructure, how might the pupils refurbish it.

Some of the questions to be addressed include:
• What features do you want to see in the school?
• How many pupils should be in a class (if classes still continue to exist)?
• What hours do you want the school to be open?
• What subjects are important to learn?
• How do you want to learn them?
• What would make you want to come to school every day?
The students can present their findings in any way they think appropriate. They may produce a Word report, they may produce a poster, a Powerpoint presentation, a blog, a video diary, a wiki, a podcast.

The aim of a session of this nature is threefold. Students will be:
• Asking pupils to articulate their thoughts about school and how they would redesign the environment in which they spend a considerable time of their formative years
• Thinking about how well primary schools meet the needs of the child of the 21st century
• Using the new technologies to present their findings in whatever manner they see fit. They will need to bear in mind whether the audience is the staff or pupils of the school, their peers or tutors.


author: Roger Keeling


Virtual Learning Environments


A Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) can be thought of as a computer program that enables users to engage in computerised learning. VLE’s are often called by other names such as LMS: Learning Management System, CMS: Course Management System, e-Learning system, MLE: Managed Learning Environment, etc.

The real classroom is dead! I think not. But things have moved on. If students and teachers need to communicate then some sort of medium is certainly involved. Perhaps the simplest method is to be in the same room and just talk. However, getting together can be expensive or simply not practical. Also, teachers and students free time might not coincide. So, people cannot get together in the real world, but they can in the cyber world of the LP (learning platform).

A VLE is used to help with learning through the internet and ICT. It generally also has online storage and various features to make content for lessons. An MLE (Managed Learning Environment) as the M suggests is about the background support services that enable learning online to happen. The term Learning Platform describes ICT systems that support and enable learning. One of the main features of this concept is the notion of personalized learning for the individual. To facilitate this a VLE needs several key features to enable users to store their work, communicate with each other, track progress, and give access to resources. Obviously teachers and students have different access rights to different parts of the system.

Such systems are run on servers and the visible part of the program often looks like internet pages. In the background managers can access a host of features to do with the administration of the services. They can monitor the learner’s progress and keep a record of their inputs. Other features include chat rooms, discussion forums and quizzes. Some VLE’s systems have blogs and RSS features.

There is currently a Government target for all schools in the UK to have some sort of personalised learning space by 2008 with a learning platform for all schools in place by 2010 as it is deemed a useful learning tool that will supplement the face to face learning environment. Tanya Byron has completed a report for Becta which outlines how ICT can be used as medium to help keep parents informed without having to 'hassle' their children. The Byron Report includes statistics and more information.

A network of Regional Broadband Consortia have worked together to bring affordable broadband to schools in all local authorities. The link gives more details of this.

Costs and roles

A basic learning platform system may cost several hundreds of pounds per year to host; however, having someone run it will involve additional costs. It seems sensible for roles and responsibilities to be shared across the school with one named person as the administrator, others would help create and maintain the material on the system.

Main sorts of VLE as listed in Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia (May 2007)



.LRN ANGEL Learning Apex Learning K-12 ATutor Blackboard Bodington Claroline CLIX CompassLearning Desire2Learn Dokeos e-CIT eCollege

Edumate FirstClass ILIAS LON-CAPA Moodle OLAT Ossett Sakai Project Scholar360 VClass WebCT - (Now a part of Blackboard)



Further features of some VLEs
• able to send content to external and internal sites as WYSIWYG or HTML code.
• allows asynchronous discussions or live (synchronous) chat
• has e-mail/internal messaging features
• offers some sort of calendar or schedule
• can set a test or survey of the users
• can make announcements
• has the ability to manage URL’s
• includes a grade book
• can work with different file types not just own
• users can post their work to their tutors
• some VLEs offer access to both WYSIWYG and HTML input
• tutors can set group work and or selectively release material to students
Primary VLEs


Frog
DB Primary
Kaleidos
School Anywhere
Moodle

Activity

Make a list of six essential features of a VLE.
Choose those which you consider to be most relevant.
Measure the VLE which you have access to (possibly through your educational establishment) against this list. Decide how effectively the VLE supports your chosen features. Make suggestions for improvement and give it a final score out of 36 (six points maximum score for each feature).
If possible gain access to another VLE for comparison, or read the reviews or adverts for other VLEs. Assess this in a similar way.

Objectives
To have an awareness of what features are considered appropriate for a VLE.
To be able to objectively evaluate a resource, justifying reasons.

Key points
Try to think of the objectives of the VLE when making your evaluation. How well does it achieve these?
Try to think about the needs of the tutor and the needs of the student. Do the same facilities serve both?

Success criteria
Have you supported the score out of six with clear reasons for the score?
Are you more aware of the features of VLEs which are available?

Books

Gillespie, H. Boulton, H. Hramiak, A.J. and Williamson, R. (2007) Learning and Teaching with Virtual Learning Environments, Learning Matters, Exeter. ISBN 9781844450763

Lankshear, C. & Knobel, M. (2006) New Literacies:Everyday Practices and Classroom Learning, University Press, Maidenhead, ISBN 033522010x

Holmes, B. & Gardner, J. (2006) E-Learning: Concepts and Practices, Sage Publications Limited, London, ISBN 141291117

Salmon, G. (2000) E-moderating: The Key to Teaching and Learning Online, Kogan Page, ISBN 0-7494-4085-6

Useful URLs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_learning_environment
Always an interesting place to make a start

http://ctlet.brocku.ca/webct/LMS_Options_and_Comparisons
For comparing different types of VLE’s

http://excellence.qia.org.uk/page.aspx?o=ferl.aclearn.page.id99
Provides help in deciding which VLE to adopt

http://schools.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=lv&catcode=ss_lv_lp_03
Becta’s links to items on LPs’


author: Alan Rodgers