5.7. Case studies from the JISC Landscape survey
The Managed Learning Environment Activity in Further and Higher Education report (Landscape Survey), supported by the JISC and UCISA, includes a number of case studies of MLE development. Summaries of some if these are given below. Integration was mainly done in-house with support from the various vendors.
5.7.1. University of Birmingham
In 2001/02 the University of Birmingham implemented WebCT as its campus wide VLE. This is linked to three different software packages that are used for assessment:
QuestionMark Perception is used in various parts of the university to create assessments
Respondus is used for the creation of question sets that are then loaded into WebCT
TRIADS is used for highly specialised assessment.
In September 2003, it is anticipated that Personal Development Portfolios for students will be piloted and managed via the MLE.
In the future, it is anticipated that the Portal Project, which will encompass MLE development, will offer additional services such as online student transcripts, the exam paper database, events calendar and the library catalogue and its associated facilities.
5.7.2. University of Brighton
The institutional MLE, called Studentcentral, was implemented early 2002/03. Students have a single sign-on and have access to course material, study management pages, student services, email and library facilities. The MLE was designed to be a tight-coupling between the VLE (Blackboard), the digital library, the student records / course module systems and other administrative systems containing information relevant to students.
5.7.3. University of Dundee
In September 2003, the university implemented an MLE comprising of 2 VLEs, the personnel system, student management system and QuestionMark Perception for computer-aided assessment. Blackboard is used by the majority of staff and students with MESIS being used by the medical and nursing schools. The university plans to have a fully integrated MLE in place within two years (2005/06).
5.7.4. Institute of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC)
UWIC implemented a VLE (Blackboard) 3-4 years ago and has now integrated it with its student record system to enable online enrolment in courses and course development.
Repeating the Study
The 2005 Study of Environments to Support e-Learning was undertaken to update the picture of issues of integration of business processes, services and systems in support of learning and teaching within UK Further and Higher Education institutions.
The study was completed by JISC and UCISA from a consortium of research organisations led by the Social Informatics Research Unit at the University of Brighton, and was overseen by a Reference Group with key sector representatives. The key tasks of the Reference Group were to ensure that where questions were made there was a clear progression and justification from the previous survey, and that changes in the sector were appropriately reflected. The most obvious change was the shift in terminology from MLEs to environments which support e-learning. The research methods included a national survey of all FE and HE institutions attracting an overall response rate of 32%, and consultation with key stakeholder groups.
