VLE 2.0

Martin Weller

Outline• Current VLE situation• Succession• Examples• VLE 2.0• Some questions

What’s wrong with VLEs• They are content focused• They have no strong pedagogy• They are based around a teacher-classroom model• They combine a number of average tools, but not the best ones• They do not feature a particular tool• They operate on a lowest common denominator approach• They do not meet the needs of different subject areas• It is difficult to exchange content between them, despite claims to

interoperability

Current state of play• OECD/OBHE 2004 survey in 13 countries• All had VLE• 37% have institution-wide VLE• 90% expect to have single VLE in next 5 years• 52% use commercial system• Rest use combination of in-house and open source• No institution had just OS • 31% had portal• 6.6% had CMS

What is changing• Open standards –a dilemma for commercial VLEs? • Convergence of functionality – little to choose between commercial

and open source options.• Reliability of open source solutions• The battle over patents

Why have VLEs been adopted?

• Because they do not require big changes in practice• A content management system requires:

• Most content is available digitally • Content is in appropriately sized chunks • Reuse of material is encouraged • E-learning plays a significant role in the overall educational strategy

Plant succession

Technology succession“technological environments are not merely passive containers of people but are active processes that reshape people and other technologies alike” (McLuhan 1962)

Some examples• UKOU – SOA, with Moodle• SUNY – SOA with LAMS + Portal• NZ Open source - Moodle

Web 2.0• Both an approach and a set of technologies• Web as platform • Harnessing collective intelligence • Evolutionary development• Lightweight programming models

VLE 2.0• How would a VLE 2.0 be

constructed? • Service oriented• Tools tested and released• Standards based• Unique/local

configurations• Incorporate external tools• Pedagogy aware• Personalised

• What does web 2.0 education feel like?

• Students as co-creators• Reuse• Less rigid boundaries• Social

VLE 2.0

Lightweight programming

Continual updating

Students as co-creators

Harnessing collective intelligence

Social software

Open architecture

Reusable content and components

Personalised

Based around services

Scott Wilson

Some questions• Is a VLE 2.0 a VLE at all?• What are the implications for support?• What are the implications for teaching?• What are the technical issues?• How does it fit with portals, CMSs, etc?

Known unknowns

Known knowns Creating content based courses

Use of forums

Pedagogy

Newer technologies

Known unknowns Impact of web 2.0

Impact of digital natives

Impact of open content

Creating affordances

Impact of patents

Unknown unknowns Technology