Virtual Learning Environment - Essay Example

Virtual learning environment Name: Professor: Institution: City and State: Date: sVirtual learning environment Executive Summary The report will provide a critical review as well as comparison of three open source and propriety VLE software platforms. The report will provide an explanation of what each platform entails. The report will also provide the functions, advantages, disadvantages of each platform. The similarities and distinctions between the three will also be provided. It will endow with a deeper understanding of how the three platforms are essential and how they contribute to the welfare of the learning environment. Introduction A learning platform or Virtual learning environment is an education system that is based on the web. It is a social platform where teachers and students interact through chat or threaded discussions. The environment includes teachers and students meeting online through an application that is web-based and synchronous. Teachers present lessons through chat, PowerPoint or video. Students can talk with teachers and other students as well as an answer and pose questions and also collaborate with each other. The main platforms that are being used include frontier, Moodle and blackboard. Finding Analysis Blackboard It is a learning system developed by Blackboard Inc. It is a web-based server software that features customizable open architecture, convenient course management, and scalable design. All these features allow authentication of protocols and integration with student information systems. It has a purpose of adding online elements to courses that are delivered traditionally. It is used by more than 70 per cent of colleges and universities in the United States (Bradford, Porciello, Balkon and Backus 2007, p.2). The products are offered to over 2000 learning institutions and in more than 12 languages. It provides easy to use and powerful systems for educational instruction, assessment and communication. It has two major product lines; the blackboard academic suite which provides a learning system and online educational assistance. Another is the blackboard commerce suite used for commercial purposes. Advantages The potential benefits include quick feedback, increased availability, tracking, improved communication and skill building. Increased availability- the software is available on the internet anywhere and at any time. This means that students can retrieve any information they need. They can also submit assignments and exams whenever they are complete (Bradford, Porciello, Balkon and Backus 2007, p.2). The most appealing aspect is its accessibility. Quick feedback- students are provided with automated feedback and faculty-initiated feedback (Bradford, Porciello, Balkon and Backus 2007, p.3). Instant grading, as well as, instant feedback is what students are provided with. Improved communication- several features are available to allow communication of students. The options available include email, discussions, virtual classroom and announcements. The options ensure that students are current and hence it minimizes administrative work for any academic institution. Tracking- the software tracks usage of posts and courses by students and results are then in the course statistics area. Statistics on individual students and also all students can be obtained by instructors within the course (Bradford, Porciello, Balkon and Backus 2007, p.3). The grade book allows students to track their own progress. Skill building- other skills promoted by the use of the software include time management and organization. The skills help students carry on with their assignments efficiently. Disadvantages Despite the availability of many benefits, there are drawbacks associated with the system. The drawbacks include the fact that the software is hard to learn. There can be restrictions to as far as operating systems are concerned. Another drawback includes inefficiencies in the use of bandwidth especially when materials are being downloaded (Bradford, Porciello, Balkon and Backus 2007, p.4). Cost is also a major drawback. Moodle software platform This is a management system course that is free and open source designed through the use of sound pedagogical principles. They help educators create online learning communities that are effective. It is a tool that focuses on content delivery for course information, provision of free packages that users can use to participate in Moodle development. It is intended for use in collaboration, group work, sharing, critical reflection, communication and collaborative type of learning. Advantages The software provides a host of many benefits that are beneficial to the users. It provides hosting solutions that help and enhances deployment as well as ongoing support. It also provides help-desk services, which offer features that are easier to use in the real classroom setting. The software also offers online as well as onsite training for instructors (Dell 2010, p.4). A blend of instructions will provide instructors with the deliverables and skills they require to run Moodle courses. Moodle can be shaped with open source code and development team to match the vision and needs of individual institutions. Disadvantages Moodle software is not fully developed to cope with projects that are big. It is useful for small and medium colleges and universities but may not work well for larger ones. Complaints have been recorded on the experience with customizations. There is also a limitation of assessment abilities with space being the issue. Fronter software platform Fronter is based on open source that is the corner stone in low cost business models. It offers direct customer involved development of products. Customers interact with the product’s staff in order to prioritize as well as design new functionality. The software provides and also develops a leading learning environment for schools that is delivered over the internet as a service. The software is transforming schools the same way technology has transformed the society. Advantages The platform offers a simple layout as well as good primary tools (VLE p.64). It also offers good forums and an interesting design that is based on concepts of rooms and corridors. Fronter provides a world class technology environment for users hence there is no worry about storage as well as back up. Their hosting centers deal with virus scans, upgrades, and backups so users do not have to worry about them. Disadvantages External hosting is the main disadvantage of the software. It is hosted by a hosting partner who provides a wide range of hosting solutions and facilities with a guarantee on a certain service level. The involvement of an external host means inflexibility and inability to apply detailed functionality. Similarities and distinctions Similarities All platforms enable students to create a rich and well established collaborative experience. Students are able to share experiences through assignments that are thought-provoking thus enabling students to follow learning developments of other peers online. Students and instructors are able to foster learning communities that encourage various modes of participation (Thacker 2005, p.16). They enable learning to take place anytime and anywhere. Instructors do not have to jeopardize quality in the name of online education. What they can do is exploit strengths of using such platforms in order to stay connected with students. Distinctions Moodle automatically adds students to the course while with Blackboard a roster specification file is built and uploaded to trigger students to be added into the course via the roster. With Moodle, students can be merged from other sections into the course of choice by clicking on the icon students then following instructions. Blackboard requires one to send emails to all the students or those who are associated with the set group while Moodle uses forums instead. When a post is made on the class forum, the post is emailed to all participants of a class. This is applicable to only those who are in and not those who have opted out. In the case that a student does not receive mail, they can check on the unread postings since the postings remain visible. Fronter requires that the students interact with staff so that their needs can be prioritized. With Blackboard, you select a course that is listed under My courses and the result will be a course home page with fixed organizational categories and sub-categories and a single style of presentation. With Moodle, when one selects any course that is listed under my courses, the result will be a course home page with weekly, topics or social styles. In Blackboard, in case you have an offline test and you want to the grade book, you only have the choice of entering the grades into the grade book. With Moodle, you create an icon called offline activity which will enable you to supply grades for the assignment. The Moodle grade book provides a means to organize as well as view grades. Moodle provides a means to establish a quiz date which is added automatically to the course calendar. It will also display any of the upcoming events. Conclusions The platforms mentioned are meant to convey to instructors the freedom they have with the available features and tools. An array of new application developed can empower instructors to create strong online learning communities. This can be done through the multiple modes of interactions that include collaborative spaces, blogs and discussion boards. The platforms are beneficial and an integration of them will even present greater results. The new introduction has the potential to promote great student participation through a sense of community. The platforms have numerous benefits providing more reasons why they should be utilized. References List Bradford, P, Porciello, M, Balkon N. and Backus, D. 2007. The blackboard learning system. The Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 35, pp.301-314. Dell. 2010. A virtualized architecture for Moodle rooms scalability: High service levels with cost effective Dell systems. Available from:http://i.dell.com/sites/content/public/solutions/hied/en/Documents/dell- moodelrooms-wp-mar24.pdf Thacker, C. 2005. Moving beyond blackboard: Using a social network as a learning management system. Available from:http://www.tuinnovates.com/wp- content/uploads/2013/01/Moving-Beyond-Blackboard.pdf VLE. The VLE evaluation. School leadership today, Vol 43. Read More