Why would I want to use a VLE?

Here are just 10 good reasons to get involved in a VLE:

1. It provides an excellent context in which to design the curriculum for the module or subject where planning the order of content, learning activities and assessment strategies have to be carefully thought out.
2. Given that most students now work part time and are often not on the campus, it’s an excellent way of being able to communicate with a number of students, or all your students, outside of normal class contact times (A Martini characteristic – “any time, any place, anywhere”!).
3. According to the national law benchmarks, students are supposed to be familiar with using legal databases, search engines and other means of electronic data collection; all or any of these can be designed into a VLE.
4. They allow a practitioner to bring together in one place a variety of powerful resources, such as tasks and formative feedback, and links to law reports, statutes and journal articles, all aimed at adding value to student learning.
5. Large amounts of information can be made available to large groups of students, including them having easy access to resources such as a record of their own marks and online discussions, library catalogues, study skills help, past examination papers and other aids to learning.
6. They can go much of the way to freeing the practitioner from the role of ‘information transmitter’ and allow space for the more important functions of motivating students and designing more interesting and interactive tasks, to encourage them to look more deeply into the underlying issues in a topic or subject.
7. Group work and discussions can be easily facilitated within a VLE. Students who may be too intimidated to contribute in face-to-face contact may be happy to add something electronically.
8. New forms of assessment become possible, for example though the use of discussion fora or the evaluation by students of the resources assembled in the VLE.
9. Student progress can be more easily checked through the ‘tracking’ function found in most VLEs.
10. With appropriate support mechanisms, distance learning is very much easier to manage through a VLE.

Last Modified: 4 June 2010