This short article aims to highlight the background, key features and current vision of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) project at Ranvilles Infant School. The full version of this research project is available through the University of Winchester library: Aubrey-Smith, F.S., (2007) 'How the implementation of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) can affect the strategic development of a whole school. MA(Ed) Dissertation. University of Winchester.'

Students who perform very well in some subjects can often, inexplicably it seems, do poorly in others. This is a common problem in almost every school in the UK. In fact, when compared to virtually every other developed nation, the UK performs very badly in terms of varying standards within schools. Tackling these differences has become a focus for many schools.

The use of ICT for performance data is fast becoming an issue as important for ICT professionals as its use in the curriculum. There is a wide gap at present between the 'Data-Confident' schools that use performance data systemically and know themselves well, and schools that use data in a more basic, functional way. The changes in the way that 'school standards' are being viewed require schools to demonstrate that 'Every Child Matters' rather than just those who gain five A*-C grades. New data analysis tools are simple enough to support action research by all teachers into their pupils' performance. Schools could demonstrate the consistency of provision by publishing measures of 'Within School Variation'.

In 1988, while teaching a professional development course for teachers concerning the use of telecommunications in education, I had an experience that changed me irrevocably. I had just finished describing the expectations for the final project, when a student raised her hand and asked if she could produce a video instead of writing a paper. The question caught me totally off guard. As I paused, mouth agape, I could feel old thinking and new paradigms chafing against each other like psychic tectonic plates. Watching a video was easy enough - but evaluating it as a school assignment? In the end, I told her that I would be happy to accept a video. In reality I was troubled by the fact that my print-based education had not prepared me for that moment or for the many moments like it that were sure to come.

The term 'e-portfolio' is perhaps the greatest misnomer of the century - it is neither a folio of work, nor is it portable. Added to this confusion, various creative minds have added all sorts of bells and whistles to what is essentially a good idea, making it potentially an absolute behemoth of claimed functionalities - few of which can actually deliver what students in schools or universities need.

Times they are a-changin' in the world of education and one of the latest set of reforms are targeted at improving the curriculum for 14 to 19 year-olds. The first 36,000 students are due to begin studying brand new Diploma courses from 2008, and schools are starting to plan how they will implement a whole raft of changes that the new curriculum will bring.

The boundary between traditional assessment criteria and so-called 21st century skills is more imagined than real; because there is a lack of understanding of general assessment tools and principles in the context of educational technology and, in particular, of Web 2.0.

Assessment for learning is one of the current buzz phrases in education. I have to confess to being under-whelmed. When I first heard a senior colleague chanting the assessment for learning mantra upon their return from a Primary National Strategy meeting, holding it up as a higher level of competence to which we could only dream of aspiring, I panicked. What was this mysterious nirvana that had been created?

Over recent years the Government has put an increasing emphasis on assessment to identify success, and to target funds where they are required. Now it is seeking to use assessment data to improve the teaching delivered to individual pupils. Against this background, NFER's e-assessment project focuses on how e-assessment can contribute to this shift in emphasis.

If you understand the image above, then you understand the crux of this article: more and more, images are being used to communicate ideas once reserved exclusively for text. For more information, a text-based explanation follows.