infoKit Pathfinder
New User
This pathway aims to guide tutors who are new to using a VLE. At this early stage, rather than attempt to use all the facilities that your VLE offers, you should pick those that are most appropriate to your current needs and those of your students. If you have a particular problem that you wish to solve by using a VLE, then you may find the case studies in the first section particularly useful.
We suggest you start your journey with the following sections:
| Main Heading | Sub Heading | Section | |
| Introduction to VLEs | Virtual Learning Environments | All sections | This provides a general introduction to VLEs and describes the functionality that is usually available in a VLE to you, the tutor, and your students. The advantages of the integrated online tools in a VLE from the tutor perspective are discussed and a number of scenarios are provided where VLEs may help to solve some issues that you may have as a tutor or a member of a teaching team. It includes an overview of the theories underpinning the use of a VLE. Special Educational needs are also discussed in this section. Case studies and voices of tutors who have used a VLE are available. |
| Computer-mediated conferencing | This provides a complete overview of CMC and how it can be integrated into your course. In the 'Examples of CMC in Practice' there are links to grounded guidelines and case studies which draw upon a wealth of experiences. | ||
| Features of CMC | Advantages and disadvantages | If you have not used CMC before this gives a short list of the pros and cons of CMC | |
| e-Assessment | After reading the first section, you may be considering using e-assessment. These sections will help guide you in this decision: | ||
| What do we mean by e-Assessment | This section challenges some of the commonly held assumptions about e-assessment (the assessment will be objective, the assessment will be limited in the type of question to multiple choice questions (MCQs) and the assessment can only test recall or low level learning outcomes). | ||
| What do we need to consider? | Advantages and disadvantages are considered here. You will need to be aware if these in your making your decision. | ||
| Reasons for Use | This section discusses the many reasons why you might consider using e-assessment, for example motivating students to learn, and encouraging them to practice skills. | ||
| Designing for Sustainability | Design Issues | The five sections related to this area provide an overview of how a VLE can support blended learning interactively. It is worthwhile spending time working through this area and thinking how you can embed the use of the VLE in your course. | |
| Designing sustainable and scaleable courses | The 7 steps to developing a sustainable course using a VLE. This provides a practical guide to each of the stages of course development and links to the use of a VLE. | ||
| Evaluating your practice | After you have started to use a VLE, in a more interactive way, it is important to take time to gather feedback on your course through student and peer feedback and to reflect. How did the changes you implement affect your course delivery? What did the students like or dislike? What didn't go so well and what would you change for the future. This section is an introductory section on evaluating your practice and the resources and links will provide you with links on this reflective journey. You need to plan the evaluation at the start of your course so don't leave reading this section until after you have started to use the VLE. |
Next Steps:
After gaining some experience in using a VLE in teaching and learning, you may wish to develop your practice and start to use e-assessment or CMC. Use the feedback from your students, together with the module objectives to guide you in your next steps.
