VLE (Virtual learning environment) advice and content

All schools are required to have a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) in place by the end of this year. Most have taken steps to implement a solution, bitten on the bullet, paid the big money and seen hardware and software installed.

The next step is to introduce the new system to teachers and begin a programme of training. This is precisely where administrators and advisers encounter a common problem. When you introduce the system to teachers they ask, “Very nice, but where’s the content?” True enough, often the immediately useful content is pitifully thin.

Teachers have become used to the rich and regularly updated resources on Citizenship Teacher. Why should they abandon proven resources for a manifestly inferior offering – even if they are offered some novel homework-setting facilities? The disappointment and disillusionment can be palpable – and very hard to recover from.

The whole idea of a VLE is driven by a collaborative, sharing ethos. The concept is that even if the current VLE is completely empty, staff will quickly fill it up with resources. Here at Teachit, the headquarters of Citizenship Teacher, we understand the parameters of such collaboration more than most: new material floods in every day from teachers all over the country. But our experience has shown that you need a large community, numbering thousands, to get a really dynamic, self-generating collaborative system working. Schools with a small staff are therefore handicapped. Wouldn’t it be more sensible to work collaboratively across a whole LA? Or even better, across an entire region or country?

This is precisely where Citizenship Teacher fits in – we can tailor VLE solutions for individual departments, schools, LAs or Grids.

Have a conversation about Citizenship Teacher and your VLE

If you would like to discuss our VLE content solutions, please email:

Chris Warren – chris@teachit.co.uk
Victoria Humphries – victoria@teachit.co.uk 

Alternatively, call us on 01225 788850.