Virtual Learning Environments

[NadiSel]

The school my kids go to are rolling out virtual learning environments (VLE) across the lower & upper Primary and Secondary schools. A VLE for those not familiar is where school work is set and done over a computer. I understand that the world of the future is all going to be ruled by computers but I do have some concerns:

1. Less emphasis on handwriting skills.

1. Less emphasis on spelling and grammar as the computer highlights mistakes and offers corrections.

1. Even for school languages, it's too easy to use Google Translate to do homework.

1. Whilst 'doing homework' it's too easy to get distracted with instant messages coming in from friends.

1. Where I used to be able to see how the kids had done by reading the feedback that the teachers had written in their notebooks, I can't do that anymore. Some teachers mark the homework and provide or scan in their feedback into the VLE. Many others don't.

1. The kids now spend 4 hours a day staring at a very small screen because the school has naturally gone for a low spec laptop/tablet combo. What is the impact on their eyesight.

Now I'm not a Luddite - and to balance the argument I think the VLE is great for giving additional work, or for giving access to reference material or for allowing work to continue if they happen to be off sick. It also allows a whole experience i.e being able to view video clips, musical lessons, play educational games etc. And of course the school will be able to proclaim how it has saved on tonnes and tonnes of paper, printers, photocopiers and printer consumables, and how good its Green credentials are etc

The key for me is having a clear strategy for its introduction. Will it augment traditional reading/writing skills or will it totally replace them?

So what are the feelings of parents who have experienced this at their school? Has there been any reputable studies into this? How do your kids feel about it?

It is in addition to normal school work, not instead of it, isn't it?

And as a parent you can log in and see all your children's progress, notes, records, etc

A well used VLE is fab.

DCs school was a VERY early adopter.
Partly because several years ago they had a catastrophic fire that resulted in the school being shut for the Spring term
the Year pupils were set homework and assessments and revision all online.

Results did not dip that year, or later years

The interesting thing with VLEs and things like MyMaths is that the teacher has data on how the child has worked - how many minutes between each answer, how many tries, what other tabs were open

and the exception programmes pick up those kids who are being over helped and those who are utterly lost.

BUT
it is an aide to good teaching, not a replacement.

Caronaim - I guess that's my prob with it - I don't see the progress, notes, records. Whilst I can log on - I don't see any of the teachers markings on the VLE.

TP - thank you. I knew that the progs recorded how many tries it took, but I could not see that the teachers would have the time to work thru' stats to determine indiv problem areas. If they use an 'exception prog' then I guess this will all be done for them and an alert sent to them?

But what about the spelling, grammar, handwriting. Could you notice whether they had these skills when performing without the computer?