VLE for Free

8/6/2019 VLE for Free

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Making a VLE

for FREE!

VLEs provide a vast number of functions. The main ones include:

Sharing resources in a secure area - both for students and teachers

Protected online discussions / blogs Email

Hand-in functions for students to submit work to teachers

Class / faculty areas

This document deals with how you can achieve each function for free using Web2.0

products. I have tried to give a number of options for each function. The list is not

comprehensive and instead is a reflection on my experience this year, the Web is

changing on a daily basis so this will only be up to date on its date of publication

and probably not even then!

If you want to do this you will need 2 important things:

1. An SLT who are brave enough to unblock key websites

2. A few keen staff who can act as pioneers

Good luck!


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FUNCTION 1: Sharing resources in a secure area -

both for students and teachers

Option 1: Google

GoogleApps for Education provides a free suite of applications. One of these is

GoogleSites. Very easily sites can be created that allow you to upload documents for

others to see. The web-based software is designed for ease of use, for some ICT-

literate people this is a restrictive function but for most you will be surprised at how

quickly you can make something thats effective. This is so simple my mother has

now even created her own site for a social club she runs!

Uploading documents is particularly easy using the Filing Cabinet page type as you

can literally click on the Upload button and find your file to upload. For those of youconcerned about the appearance of your page, you can make something look a bit

prettier by uploading files to GoogleDocs and then creating links to these on your

GoogleSites (see previous blog).

Once your sites is created change the Share settings to something appropriate. If

you have copyrighted material (you probably do) share it only amongst your

workplace, if you arent worried about this share it with the world!

Option 2: @LiveEdu

Similar to Google, Microsoft also provide a free cloud-based service for schools. This

isnt as advanced as GoogleApps as the collaboration is more limited, however, it

does give you the option of storing files on the Microsoft SKyDrive so anyone can

access. This might be preferable to some as it does mean that the files stay in a

Microsoft format rather than trying to convert to a GoogleDoc.
http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/edu/http://kenradical.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/googlesites-designing-the-ultimate-website/http://www.microsoft.com/liveatedu/free-email-accounts.aspxhttp://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/edu/http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/edu/http://kenradical.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/googlesites-designing-the-ultimate-website/http://kenradical.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/googlesites-designing-the-ultimate-website/http://www.microsoft.com/liveatedu/free-email-accounts.aspxhttp://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/edu/


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FUNCTION 2: Protected online discussions / blogs

Option 1: Twitter

Although this is not a protected discussion, Twitter is a brilliant format to hold adiscussion as its using a social network that the students will be familiar with.

Students will need logins but this takes minutes. Additionally this is probably a

better option than Facebook as it is more difficult to comment on others. Once

the logins are ready just give the kids an appropriate hashtag, e.g. #StalinWW2 or

something similar and then let them go. Use either the search function in Twitter or

something like Twitterfall to show it on the board. Probably best for a synchronous

discussion. My colleague blogged about this here.

Option 2: GoogleGroups

Another function of GoogleApps for Education is GoogleGroups where you can hold a

discussion and is very easy to set up. It is a bit clunky in appearance though and can

mean a plethora of emails are sent to you informing you of posts. However, this can

be managed by changing the Email Settings of the group. This can be totally

protected and is probably best for asynchronous discussions. The only downside is

how long it will take to set up the groups, but once its done its done!

Option 3: GoogleDocs

GoogleDocs can also provide a very quick and easy online discussion that is

protected or shared to only those who you wish. Simply create a blank document

with a key question and share it with your students. This is stupidly easy but one

downside is that edit rights also mean delete rights so you have to explain to the

students the boundaries of the activity. I have blogged about this here.
http://moretalklesschalk.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/twitter-in-the-classroom/http://kenradical.wordpress.com/2011/06/08/fun-and-games-with-googledocs/http://moretalklesschalk.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/twitter-in-the-classroom/http://kenradical.wordpress.com/2011/06/08/fun-and-games-with-googledocs/


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FUNCTION 3: Email

Probably the easiest VLE function to fill. All of the following provide free email that

is secure and has a vast storage facility. For those of you who have restrictions this

is a whole new world where you dont have to delete emails as the attachments aretoo large and can actually save them!

GMail

Hotmail

YahooMail

GMail is additionally one of the features of GoogleApps for Education and can be

managed on a whole school level. Ive not personally used it but I understand that

@LiveEdu does the same thing.
http://mail.google.com/http://mail.google.com/http://hotmail.com/http://hotmail.com/http://www.mail.yahoo.com/http://www.mail.yahoo.com/http://mail.google.com/http://hotmail.com/http://www.mail.yahoo.com/


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FUNCTION 4: Hand-in functions for students to submit

work to teachers

One of the trickier functions to emulate for free, this may take time to set up. But

its still possible and free!

Option 1: Edmodo

Edmodo is a free social networking site for schools. It looks very similar to Facebook

and Google+ allowing you to post messages, links and the like to classes, students or

whole school. Additionally it has an Assignment function within it. You can set

assignments with due dates and students can then attach work and send it back to

you for grading. For free! Full details on how to do this are available here.

Option 2: GoogleSites

My school have gone GoogleSites crazy so I have been considering how to build in a

hand-in function with this system. I have come up with two solutions. On your

faculty site link to a separate sub-site for each class. Within this site include a

Filing Cabinet page and allow your students to be editors of the site. This way

they can upload their work and it will be sent to you. Another solution could be to

use GoogleForms. On your site embed a form with entry boxes for name, class, date

and then link. Get the students to either add a link to their GoogleDoc (if thats how

they did it) OR DropBox or similar cloud-serving website. If done correctly the form

will then collect all this information into one neat spreadsheet for you with all the

names and links. This is not the easiest process and students will need to taught

about saving their work in a cloud, however, as with the other bits above once

youve done it once its done.
http://www.edmodo.com/http://help.edmodo.com/userguide/#assignmentshttp://www.edmodo.com/http://help.edmodo.com/userguide/#assignments


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FUNCTION 5: Class / faculty areas

One of the functions of a VLE that is loved by many teachers is that you can have a

class or faculty area where you can host resources or blogs or learning journeys. This

is a very easy thing to reproduce for free.

Option 1: GoogleSites

As mentioned in the Function 1 section you can set up a GoogleSite easily and this

can serve all your needs in terms of building in resources and things unique to your

class. The only downside is that you may not want all your students to have access

to your site so either create your class area as a sub-site or try one of the options

below. Again as mentioned above this can then be protected by changing the Share

Settings.

Option 2: Blog

To emulate the learning journey or blog element of a VLE the best option is to set

up a blog. Numerous websites offer free blogging space. Wordpress is probably the

prettiest and most flexible but is not protected, however you can choose to be an

editor and approve any posts from your students. Blogger on the other hand can be

made private to only people you choose and is therefore one of the best options as

you can set up your whole class and give each student a week in which they have to

blog. You can attach resources, link to video or embed Web 2.0 products, theoptions are vast.
http://wordpress.com/http://www.blogger.com/home?pli=1http://wordpress.com/http://www.blogger.com/home?pli=1

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