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New learning environment
07 March 2003  I  Riina Vuorikari
MyDream Virtual Learning Environment
What if the sky was the limit to design a Virtual Learning Environment? What kind of features you as a teacher would want to have in your Dream VLE? Surprisingly, a group of European teachers didn't want to have the moon from the sky nor James Bond like high-tech in their classrooms, but reasonable features to make learning possible in the future global community.
"Our dreams become sustainable features"
A workshop on Future Classroom took place in Brussels as part of Schoolnetworks conference. A group of 60 teachers listed following features that "MyDream VLE" should have:

Access

  • Everyone has access - laptops for all
  • Wireless networks
  • Wireless communication
  • Great capacity to download information (sound, films) in order to study them fast and properly
  • Platform for younger children who are not yet able to read
  • Special training for children with special needs
  • Age-dependent lay-out, choose a design according the age group
  • User friendly

Communication and Collaboration Tools

  • Community Creation, provides a sense of community
  • Easy grouping
  • Sharing ideas, voting, games
  • Parents connected - real time video-conferences
  • Parents could access documents, children�s� results, timetables
  • Questions to/from teachers to pupils
  • Video conferencing
  • Sharing resources

Tools

  • Provide a variety of simple means for displaying work
    • Sound, graphics, etc not just text
  • Inside VLE students could produce ready-made products like Web pages
  • Automatic generator of courses
  • User-friendly editor tool for creating material
  • Ways to build good content, e.g. Templates to build Flash animations
  • Easy to build links
  • Asset banks of images and animations to pupils and teachers can build content
  • Assignments, clear structure to show possibilities
  • Automatic generation of tests, quises, assignments
  • Assignments that involve teacher and student creativity
  • Options for finalising pupils' findings in the "Internet-ready" format
  • Automatic translation system

Tools for knowledge building

  • Cooperative learning
  • Logical thinking, intercultural exchange
  • Collective brain-mapping
  • Process oriented more than product
  • Illustrates the way the work has been created
  • Portfolio ready
  • Package to direct the learning process so that students have ownership, and that teachers contribution/assistance is more efficient and fair

Tracking of pupil's progress

  • Have a possibility to control activity of any student
  • Teacher able to follow/assess the learning process as well as the final product
  • Assessment tools for learning progress
  • Information assessments

Training and cultural changes

  • Teacher acceptance/comfort for using the VLE is important
  • Explanations/examples for teachers on how to use the tools.

Interoperability

  • Compatibility between different VLE � product could be shown at every existing VLE
  • Flexible
Links provided during the workshop:
Workshop leaders:

Web Editor: Paul Gerhard
Last changed: Monday, 20 June 2005
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