“Learning platforms offer safe and secure web access to teaching, learning and management resources for the whole education community”
Link click: HERE

 

To reflect on a learning communities it’s important to understand what they are and why they are useful to us. So what is a learning Community?

Learning communities like these are different to their partnered social platforms that are more controlled for academic achievement. While similar to social networking sites offering educational discussions participants are required to offer their own input into a set subject.

Not all learning communities are online as social contexts such as Pub quizzes can be social contextualized learning in an informal setting. However I have used other forms of educational learning communities such as …

Moodle: an educational site where our lectures are placed with an online community with the option to communicate with others at university.

 

My Maths: An educational site that sets up all forms of homework assignments dedicated to maths with lessons and online forum.

 

These were both positive experience that enable me to develop my knowledge in two very different ways!!

What are the key enablers and barriers for this approach?

Well, the most obvious From reflecting on the lecture it is clear that there are both enablers and barriers to the use of Learning communities within the classroom something which a national debate should they be used?

Approach to learning environments is the benefits that they bring to using them in both the classroom and at home. Not only do these enable parents the opportunity to see what their child is currently learning. It also offers them the opportunity to take an active role in developing their knowledge further (maybe to even extend their own!). As well as this children are also able to participate in self-motivated learning with the option of guided resource that were used in the classroom to be  accessed at home.

However with the benefit of home learning there is also the barrier of not only those who don’t have access to the internet at home, but children who may have English as an additional language (EAL). Children with EAL will not have the same support as home as other children if their parents are native to the language therefore its impotent in these situations that these children are given the priority and time to work within these environments during class time   just so they are given the same opportunities as others within the class.

With the independance that has been given to children; it allows teachers to move away from standard behaviours approaches to teaching and allow them to take control of their own learning? While this is a nice ideas, it’s important to see that some children may not have the motivation to do so and should be given the correct scaffolding within the platforms to differentiate for all learners.    However Wei-Chou’s Article argues that the characteristics of a VLE are both the learn anywhere and anytime approach. It should push pupils to be in self-control and independent in their thinking and that this is more effective than its counterpart of a traditional classroom learning. This is something I found difficult to do one placement with the children physically there where they were able to ask questions. Within an online environment some children may not ask.

Lastly for teachers who are looking to use Learning Environments it can create marking homework and assessing children’s work much easier due to the fact that it is all in one place. As well as this important dates for the school, deadlines, school production can all be posted in one place making distribution of information easier and more efficient.

However if teachers are not familiar with the software they are being asked to use, such as the ‘Fronter’ incident in London in 2002. Then they will not be used to their full potential. From observation I have seen first-hand some teachers are ‘Afraid’ of technology that they don’t understand. It’s important to get to know the software being used so that children are given a range of resources and the best approach to learning that you and I as a practitioner can provide. On the other hand Ligorio believes that the success of a VLE can be as effective as you make them however suggests that there is a gap in the use of VLE is not due to teacher attitude or experience with technology but the level of school organisation in accordance to the use of technology. This is an interesting aproach which i had not thought of before reading this journal.  while their is a range of technology in schools not a lot of teachers have time with the rest of the demand of the curriculm to show pupils how to use it effectivly and is therfore pushed aside for maths and english.. is this helping us create well rounded individuals? i believe that this could be a hinderance to their progress.

Overall it is clear to see that while there are many issues that arise with using these learning platforms, given to someone with the corrects skills and ability to use to its full potential can and the ability to differentiate; can create an enabling environment  that is important for children’s educational studies. As well as this in further practice given the opportunity to implement something such as this or blogging to the school will be a benefit to all those involved. There are many schools that are already on board with this too. Take a look at some of the examples bellow that I have found do this effectively…

1: St Stephens School
2: Chatsworth
3:Harrison primary school

_____________________________________________________________________________

Refrences:

Chou, S. and Liu, C. (2005). Learning effectiveness in a Web-based virtual learning environment: a learner control perspective. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 21(1), pp.65-76.

Jewitt, C., Hadjithoma-Garstka, C., Clark, W., Banaji, S. and Selwyn, N. (2010). School use of learning platforms and associated technologies. 1st ed. london: Becta.

Ligorio, M. and Van der Meijden, H. (2006). Teacher guidelines for cross-national virtual communities in primary education. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 24(2), pp.103-126.

YouTube. (2012). What is a VLE?. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxtNoZqIVxI [Accessed 5 May 2017].