VLE Evaluation (Ian Simpson) April 2013

VLE Evaluation (April 2013)

Edmodo Sharepoint Moodle GlowSummary Social networking style VLE SharePoint is used

internationally to create a platform where teachers, students, and parents can share information. Also, school administrators can streamline a lot of what they need to do on a regular basis. (http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/sharepoint-server-help/videos-sharepoint-in-education-HA102040592.aspx)

Programmer’s choice Scottish schools standard

Pricing Free As per Evoke contract Depends on whether hosting moodle server locally or hosted by external company (UK based: http://www.e-learndesign.co.uk/shared-hosting/ ). Approx £1000 per annum for 1000 pupil school + setup fee.

Approx. £30,000 per annum

Advantages Free system Unlimited storage space

for each user (pupil or teacher)

Direct messaging between teacher and pupil – allows for learning dialogue

User-friendly social-media style interface. Pupils are already familiar with this

No programming required to set up

Workflows Team workspaces Coordinated calendars Notifications Document organisation Blog and wiki templates Change management of files Different access levels for file

viewing / editing Microsoft Office (web)

applications embedded within Sharepoint

Highly customisable Content can be scheduled

to appear on a particular date

Local / UK hosted storage options – covers data protection requirements

Large user group Collaborative tools

embedded within VLE Access to Education

Scotland resources Very secure storage using

Shibolleth authentication

Ian SimpsonRGC 2012, 2013

http://www.e-learndesign.co.uk/shared-hosting/



http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/sharepoint-server-help/videos-sharepoint-in-education-HA102040592.aspx




App Store is active in US, coming to UK in 2013/14

TrustE approved for data protection

Content can be scheduled to appear. Posts can be saved to library for repeating content next session

Large user community offering CPD resources

Keyword searching (according to Evoke)

Disadvantages Content needs to be hidden / added manually within each group as appropriate

Automatic marking of tasks is flaky and sometimes inaccurate

Cloud storage in US – data protection implications

Collaborative tools – 3rd party e.g. Google Docs

Workflows need to be created by software development company

Storage limited to internal network devices

Without proper planning, group hierarchy can become complex

Limited collaborative opportunities

Needs programming knowledge to set up

Learning curve for user interface – more complex than Edmodo

Slightly expensive Collaborative tools – 3rd

party e.g. Google Docs

Complex user interface Clunky integration with

file management (Glow’s own Sharepoint?)

Limited number of webparts available

Very limited cloud storage (5mb file limit) in some authorities

Phased out December 2013

March 2012

I’ve only been able to use Edmodo and Moodle personally and have used Glow from 2006-2011 sporadically. In my opinion the drive for VLE needs to come from the teachers as each department may use it differently. I think that providing the school with a large system with many different ways to make use of it will initially confuse and could put departments on the back foot. They will need time to learn the system and to think about how they are going to use it to improve their individual classroom and because of the lack of instant impact may take longer to take advantage of the features we’ve paid for. This is what happened when Glow was rolled out to schools in Aberdeenshire and the apathy continues in many Secondary schools although Primaries seem to



have adopted Glow very well. For example, parental access to Glow is rumoured to be available later this year despite Glow being available to pupils since 2006/7.

I think that if we offered Edmodo as the initial solution departments could make use of it immediately as cloud storage for their classroom resources, allowing pupils 24/7 access to the files they need. Folders can be adjusted later and made available to individual class groups or made public to all. This could take pressure off the school file server (although a backup would be required in case of loss of Internet connection).

Update April 2013

Blackboard comparison has been removed in favour of Sharepoint.

Existing Glow functionality is being phased out in December 2013 and replaced with a new system. This system will apparently be available to all schools in Scotland (state-funded and independent) for free.

Use of Edmodo within Robert Gordon’s College has increased significantly since the start of session 2012-13 with Computing, Chemistry, Physics and Business Studies teachers joining the subdomain and setting up their own class groups. There have been over 4200 individual logins (not including mobile devices where logins persist if the app is used) by teachers and students since August 2012. Staff training has been delivered on a 1:1 adhoc basis or via departmental meetings. Feedback from staff and students so far has been positive. Edmodo has been unavailable on one occasion this session for two hours. There are occasions when posts do not appear in Edmodo groups but this may be due to the fact the school uses an obsolete version of Internet Explorer.

The Sharepoint solution for RGC may offer a more structured solution for providing pupils with access to lesson resources however it lacks the ability to schedule the appearance of an individual file or groups of files offered by Edmodo. With regard to collaborative features in Sharepoint, this may be limited to having access to the same files or folders but staff and students would not be able to edit at the same time (as is possible with Google Drive / Google Documents).

I think that Sharepoint could be a great fixed entry point for students. Department and extra-curricular group pages could be easily accessible from their own home page. Files could be structured more meaningfully than is currently possible with the network drives and, if keyword searching is made available, students and staff could find related information much more quickly. Blogs and wikis could be created by users which could provide appropriate evidence for Curriculum for Excellence levels as well as enable creation of individual ePortfolios which move with the student as they progress through their education at Robert Gordon’s. However I’m concerned that Sharepoint’s form of collaborative working will restrict teachers. Edmodo does not offer a more



suitable alternative at present as both solutions allow group discussion, however a service like Google Drive where multiple users can edit the same document at the same time seems a much more desirable option.



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Edmodo √ √ √ √ √ * √ √Moodle √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ / √ √

Sharepoint - √ √ √ √ √ √ √ @ - √Glow - √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ - √

* Edmodo introduced embedded Google Docs in March 2012 which can be shared and updated by multiple users. @ Sharepoint offers access to shared files and folders only.



The text and images below were gathered during research. Please ask I Simpson for further explanation if required.

Pricing Estimates

Edmodo – Free

Moodle - Diamond Moodle Hosting

A system for larger institutions and training organisations. Typically this will support up to around 1000 users (depending on activities in use) up to around 50 active courses.

The main features are as follows:

10GB space for your files

Yearly price: £895 + VAT

Blackboard –

http://www.emergingedtech.com/2010/11/moodle-2-versus-blackboard-brief-comparison/


http://www.emergingedtech.com/2010/11/moodle-2-versus-blackboard-brief-comparison/


Access to homework diary and grades











Blackboard

Guest access http://blackboard.abcol.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp


http://blackboard.abcol.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp








http://www.pearltrees.com/#/N-play-url=https%3A%2F%2Fexperts.missouristate.edu%2Fdisplay%2Fbb9%2FCreating%2Ba%2BRandom%2BBlock%2Band%2BAdding%2Bit%2Bto%2Ba%2BTest&N-f=1_4656646&N-fa=4319571&N-p=38566035&N-play=1&N-s=1_4656646&N-u=1_526164





Moodle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hrLNbifiGQ – Gradebook in Moodle 2.0


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hrLNbifiGQ