E-Learning Spaces: Examples of Good and Bad Designs
Whilst considering possible examples of well-designed sites, the first school I thought of was Christchurch Primary School as it was the school I attended and completed a voluntary placement at. I immediately thought of this school as I am aware of the excellent level of education it provides its students being rated “Outstanding” by Ofsted as well as having exceptional ICT facilities for students to use. Whilst going through their website I liked several features including the bright, clear and structured format which is immediately evident on it’s homepage. I also warmed towards the welcoming home page as it allows users to select a language. A big proportion of students who attend have EAL so this assists parents enabling them to keep informed about their child’s education in a way they can understand. It additionally has different areas for Staff, Students and Parents. A feature I particularly liked was the ‘parent view’ page which gives parents the chance to tell Ofsted what they think about their child’s school so the school can be thoroughly inspected.
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On the other hand, I also looked at another primary school which is fairly local to where I live. Snaresbrook Primary School is a fee paying school and by the looks of it’s website, a stereotypical private school it is. The lack of vibrancy and colour does not reflect a primary school, whilst looking through the website, it seems quite impersonal and does not provide opportunities for children to engage and access materials from home. Neither does it display any recent updates of children’s work or show anything which reflects a fun learning environment. In my opinion, the website is far too structured and seems to be active as a business opportunity rather than a website which celebrates the achievement’s of the school and the students that attend it.
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Hello – You make some interesting observations here. Could you make this more appealing by adding screenshots of the websites?
Thank for the recommendation. I have now added screenshots of the two websites which illustrate my thoughts.
Aisha after looking at good and bad VLE’s would you use one in school?
I would, however, I would use it to support the child’s learning and be the secondary source of teaching and learning. VLE’s are great ways to formatively assess what children have learnt and allows the teacher to gather data on this easily. But, I would ensure the VLE is successfully updated and maintained as if its not then it would not meet a child’s learning purpose.