Category: Online Courses

The massive explosion in online learning platforms and finding alternative ways of presenting teaching courses has meant a greater reliance on VLE software for many providers.   The term just means virtual learning environment and generically describes a totally integrated system allowing learners, parents, teachers and other providers involvd in education to participate via the web based applications.   The resources are designed to enhance an revolutionise delivery of education and the management of it.    It has streamlined what could often be seen as a hotchpotch of systems within one area.  So VLE software is a tremendously powerful tool to allow the administation of learner engagement – giving them managed access to learner information to track progress and achievements.   The ability to integrate with external networking technologies is a truly exciting and promising step forward.   As more VLEs are becoming established in educational institutions as a means to structure and deliver content and learning activities.

We hear a great deal about virtual reality in the gaming and entertainment arena.  This wizardry has really taken the world by storm in the last four or five years and instead of being the preserve of the ultra rich and savvy, it’s now open and available to every Tom, Dick and Harry in the high street.   However there is another virtual environment that has evern more impact.  Indviduals can register with very good providers of VLE, virtual learning environment to convey all the modules needed for say a hospital nutritional screening programme, the training of staff to be able to operate within those disciplines is immense and a dedicated learning environment is essential.   The use of a VLE is usually allied to an existing MLE – managed learning environment and again these are tailored and finely honed to suit the industry area – be it medical or educational.  A MLE is a secuire web based system which is completely managed by the supplying team and it takes a huge chink of organisation out of the buyers system.

There are so many different ways of learning.  The old fashioned having just teacher at the front of the class with the chalk board, or blackboard as it was known originally, has a tendency to turn students right off learning.  The dullness of some teacher presentations is a problem – that monologue can seem like a long stream of being talked at rather than to.  The beauty of online e-learning is the variety of presentations, be it a click and respond or simultaneous one to one engagement over video – there is something happening all the time to encourage thought processes whilst emphasising the subject matter.   Virtual learning enviornment is a set of teaching tools which have been developed to really boost the learner’s experience by involving all sorts of other facilities such as computers, curriculum mapping and means of breaking down the curriculum to be able to track and assess.  Online support for and from teachers via email, threaded discussions.  The teacher has additonal user rights and will create or modify the curriculum contemt so as to enhance and track the student performance and result.