A Virtual Learning Environment : Led and Loved by Infants

A Virtual learning environment? For five-year olds?

For all learners to be able to access an online personalised learning space by 2008 is an ambitious target (DfES, 2005). To apply this target to infants aged between four and seven years old, is even more ambitious and as yet has no pedagogical definition. It is relatively straightforward to enable an infant-aged child to use a computer, but being a teacher of high expectations I found myself asking how a five year old child could use a VLE independently whilst still maintaining integrity of skills progression across the curriculum? I haven't fully found an answer to this question yet, but I'd like to share some examples of some of the practice taking place within the community of Ranvilles Infant School.

VLE readiness

In order to generate a clear picture of the interest and capability of families to use a VLE at home, I undertook a survey of home Internet provision of the children at Ranvilles Infant School. The results can be seen below, and show a number of interesting factors; a rising number of homes with broadband access which is parallel with the age of a family, and the large number of children who have home internet access given that we live in neither a disadvantaged or affluent catchment.

Of those who had Internet access, 100% of respondents indicated that they would like to try, and would be happy to support, online homework provision, and so this is where we began our VLE journey. We chose to begin by using online homework rather than school based activities because of two reasons. Primarily we are a school which embeds family involvement within all of our provision, but also because this would enable the smallest children to have one-to-one support when they first began to use the VLE.

A Starting Point - Pilot Children

We invited eight children who were particularly IT-literate and who had particularly supportive families to undertake a pilot homework example which was designed to be as similar as possible to the paper-based homework given to the rest of the cohort.

The feedback from this homework was positive; ' . . . really enjoyed doing the online homework and has been asking for more. It was easier for him as he didn't need to worry about handwriting and he could have easily done more at one time. Once I had logged him on he worked independently and in fact followed the screens easier than I did! I think he found doing his homework this way more exciting and enjoyable. I think it is a good way to learn.'

So, accordingly we began to provide homework of this nature for all children in the Year 1 cohort. The activities included simple maths puzzles and phonics wordbanks (through forums). We also began to use more open-ended activities such as placing the diary of our class pet online, which can be seen here.

We found that around 80% of the Year 1 cohort were accessing and taking part in online homework activities, and a large proportion of these children were accessing the VLE more than once a week for their homework, in order to look at what other children had been adding. In many instances it became apparent that children were carrying out the same task a number of times, which simply did not happen with paper versions of the same task. This range of task repetition can be seen below.

We also found that the links to websites which we provided were being used frequently by a large number of children. Some children had accessed the VLE over six hundred times during the first six months of our project, and this was not unusual.

A Digital Divide?

However, there are naturally a number of children who were not able to access the Internet at home, and therefore not able to take part in online homework. By looking carefully at the children who were not accessing the VLE at home, it became apparent that the issue was not one of a digital divide, for there were a number of children who were gaining Internet access from places other than their homes (such as Disneyland for one particularly keen child!) but instead an issue more concerned with the engagement of families with the child's learning process. In other words, many families who did not have Internet access at home found alternate ways of enabling their children to take part. This said, I was very keen for the children who were not taking part in online homework, for whatever reason, to be able to be part of the project within school as this new initiative caused a great deal of excitement within the class. Therefore, children were provided with time during the day where they could work independently, with a friend, or with me, to carry out their online homework activity. Critically, these children were not asked to carry out these activities during their playtime to avoid them feeling as if they were somehow being punished by their lack of home connectivity.

Topic Resource and Activity Centres

This academic year, we have continued to use our VLE to provide online homework for children in both Years 1 and 2, and have also begun to use Education City to provide online homework options for children in Early Years.

However, to build on our success we have been embedding our VLE into classroom activities in the same way that any other tool; pencil, book or paint, might be used. As a result of our curriculum being entirely project driven we set up 'Topic Rooms' within which resources and activities were housed to complement traditional classroom activities. Children now access a different area of these 'rooms' each week depending on the weekly theme and will find access to websites, webcams, video and audio clips, forums and quizzes based around the weekly objectives, and the resources used by teachers and children on our SMARTboards (such as PowerPoints, web links, games and so forth). An example of one such forum can be seen below, where children were invited, pre-topic to identify what they would like to find out about. Later in the topic, once children had accessed a range of resources; online and otherwise, they were able to answer each other's questions, which enabled children to peer-teach effectively.

Currently, Year 2 are using the VLE comprehensively within and outside of school to enhance learning. The teaching team ensure that each project is clearly organised within the VLE with plenty of activities and resources provided for children which will appeal to all interests, and which do not all depend upon reading. We ensure that any electronic resource used within the class is accessible by children so that they can revisit as often as they wish. Children regularly access the VLE within and outside of school hours (the most popular time being around 4pm), and are able to access learning resources and activities before, during and after they are covered during class, bringing us a step closer to a personalised learning space. We have also been sharing our collaborative projects for the past year, uploading interactive images, talking books, short videos and other outcomes which have been created by children as part of their classwork so that we can share these with families.

The current Year 1 cohort have been using our VLE for homework, and to aid self-assessment through the combination of sound and image recording. Our Early Years team have just introduced online class pet diaries which are being received with great excitement. This staged approach to usage by teaching staff, children and their families is important to enable all users to gain confidence in this relatively new style of learning in order that users are not overexposed to a new tool before they are comfortable which would inevitably lead to problems.

Staff Engagement and Responses

As more of the school staff are becoming involved with our VLE, we are increasingly keeping our school diary online, creating resource centres for teaching teams to collaborate with increasing ease, and we have begun to share our work with other schools through inter-school projects.

I am frequently asked by visitors to our school how much time is involved in creating an effective VLE. I find this difficult to answer as I am now engaged with the VLE in a wider context than my teaching role, and so I usually refer this question to a colleague who is simply using the VLE to support teaching and learning within our school. The answer however is encouraging; that by using the collaborative nature of a VLE, workload is actually less once the initial tools and skills have been mastered.

The staff of Ranvilles Infant School have been outstanding in their encouragement and support of our VLE, as they are with our entire school environment, and in a less collaborative place this would not have been nearly as successful. Prior to the initiation of our VLE I undertook a survey using the Becta Self-review framework, and have repeated the same survey recently. The comparative results can be seen below, and show a distinct increase in the school profile by all of the teaching staff.

It should be noted that although the implication is that the VLE implementation has caused these improvements in staff judgments, there are a number of other factors which have also contributed. During the research period ICT has received a high profile within our school, being invited onto the ICT Register of Specialist Schools and Academies, and having many visitors to the school to see our VLE in action. These events are linked to the VLE implementation but may have indirectly influenced the staff judgments of our school by mere association that as ICT is high profile there must be good provision.

However I find it both interesting and exciting that the biggest positive changes in judgments are in terms of professional development (1d), personalising learning (1e) and extending learning opportunities (1f). These key areas really drive the other areas forward, and reassure me that the VLE has made a profound difference to either the strategic development, the perceived development or the confidence levels of staff regarding development.

Implications for school development

Through the process of embedding a VLE into whole school provision, it becomes clear that there are a number of implications for school strategic planning. There are the more obvious implications of enabling staff to become trained in using the chosen VLE product, and to practice the skills that they have learned, but there should also be a strong pedagogical influence when staff are receiving this training. If a school is to fully utilize the tools which VLEs offer, then the school environment within which the VLE is being implemented must consider how these tools can enhance current provision rather than just become a passing novelty. The use of a VLE has the potential to engage and motivate children, to enable children to become more independent learners and to become more collaborative learners; all skills which are important for children to develop, and the activities which children are using a VLE for must embrace these philosophies.

Ranvilles Infant School where this project takes place has the good fortune to have a strong and inspirational leader, and a reputation for innovation and creativity (Butcher, 2007, p.3). Whilst this environment is naturally conducive to projects like this one being successful, it is vital that all the users, including management, fully realise the potential that a VLE has to offer (Twining et al, 2006, p.71).

Implications for Local Authorities

One of the recurring questions which I have been asked at conferences by teachers and managers looking to begin their own VLE journey has been to ask how much time has been spent setting up a school VLE. It is interesting here then to consider the reflection by Twining et al (2006, p.5) that this kind of change requires 'associated changes in pedagogy'. I rather feel that to engage with any new tool or approach to learning, time will need to be spent becoming familiar with it in principle and practice; the hesitancy of so many to begin VLE based learning is probably more due to reluctance to engage with change in general rather than with a reluctance to engage with the tool itself. Managers ought to be aware of this when making strategic plans for the implementation of a VLE. RM, one of the Becta-approved Learning Platform suppliers (2006c) themselves report that over 70% of the costs involved in VLE installation relate to people (RM, 2006). Therefore I would recommend that Local Authorities allow sufficient time (whether this be funded, or within training provision) to consider how best they can use VLE tools to support the learning in their classroom; this is not a one-size-fits-all approach; each teacher must decide for themselves in order that best use of the VLE is made.

A second recommendation to Local Authorities is to provide the means by which schools can work together, sharing ideas and where appropriate sharing a VLE. Broadie (2006) rightly argues that 'the knowledge is being discovered in individual schools and mechanisms for sharing this knowledge are insufficient'. Hampshire County Council have a number of enthusiastic teachers within key curriculum areas; Lead Professionals, who meet together to share expertise and resources. This information is then shared with other teachers within school cluster groups, and this form of sharing professional expertise is, I believe the most effective because teachers can share practical advice and support, and know individual teachers well enough to be able to return to them to ask for further advice and support when necessary.

This kind of inter-school working also allows for collaborative projects using the VLE, including transition programmes. For example, I have invited another infant school to use our VLE in order that we may share children's talking books, and I have trained staff from our feeder junior school in order that when our current cohort of children progress to their school, the VLE provision will still be there. This practice needs to be extended so that children build on their VLE skills in the same way that they build on skills in other areas of their learning, and in order that staff who already know each other share their skills.

Salmon (2003) provides an excellent guide to the process of becoming confident with VLE use, and I would like to elaborate on this in my third recommendation. Local Authorities could provide a suggested practical route to schools use of a VLE. A suggested route could be as follows:

• Begin by simply inviting children to access the VLE to view messages or pictures;
• Continue by inviting children to use simple tools which equate to an answer and response, for example a quiz, sending a message or posting to a forum;
• Expand children's usage by providing opportunities to contribute more freely; providing an open forum task or weblinks;
• Encourage children to respond to peer's contributions; replying to other children's forum entries;
• Empower children to choose their own activities by providing a range of activities and tools from which children can choose in order to work towards self-directed activities.

Implications for National bodies

Given that momentum is building for schools to implement their own VLE, schools will increasingly visit websites provided by bodies such as Naace, Becta and the DfES in order to find freely available information about schools similar to their own who are already using a VLE so that expertise can be shared and support sought. However if these bodies do not update their information this important form of support will not be available to the people who need it most; classroom practitioners, and if practitioners do not have support such as this, it is less likely that the VLEs will be used in ways which make learning experiences more valuable for children, and more likely that simple administrative tools will instead be used as this is where more examples of VLE use are available.

In addition, as methods of assessment are moving away from right/wrong testing models, I would recommend to the DfES that VLEs are used in order to gather evidence for comprehensive assessment which therefore avoids testing. e-portfolios, potentially provide a way in which this can take place, but will need to be effectively linked to National Curriculum coverage and attainment levels. The DfES and VLE suppliers ought to work together to find an effective solution for this kind of assessment evidence collection. A classroom practitioner should ideally be able to photograph, scan or record curriculum and/or assessment evidence which can be easily linked to curriculum coverage and attainment in order to maintain an accurate portfolio for each learner for the whole curriculum. With the freedom of VLE usage, multiple contributors should contribute to this record of achievement thus beginning to open up true extended schools for all educational establishments, not just for specific age groups or subject areas.

Implications for VLE suppliers

There is a lot of development necessary for all of the suppliers of VLE solutions until there is a truly infant friendly product which maintains an integrity of skills development and learning enhancement. There are a number of solutions which are 'infant friendly' but I do not think that they provide enough challenge for the audience which they are aiming at. However, I am heartened that there are a good number of suppliers who are listening carefully to the needs and ideas of classroom practitioners, and I would predict that this next year will see a great deal of development specifically for a primary audience from a number of key suppliers.


The project has been supported and managed by EdICT as part of the
Hampshire Learning Management Strategy.





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