1. The Development of a VLE The highs, the lows and the dream! Joy Gilmour Teignmouth Community College

2. Overview Aims – A learning platform for all schools. By 2008 all schools must have a VLE where students can access the whole curriculum. Learner centred personalised learning. Must be embedded, rather than installed. Whole school solution.

3. The plan From me!From the SLT Put in place training for department members to feel confident with VLE Monitor how development of VLE is progressing Develop a lesson which relies on using the VLE All staff to start adding resources to the VLE All past papers for GCSE and A-level courses to be available on VLE for students by Easter. Links to revision resources / websites available for GCSE, A- level groups.

4. So what did I have to do? Decide on subcategories in each maths category. e.g. what titles under ‘Year 7’ Show my department how to edit the VLE, add resources and alter appearance. Link our existing documents and programmes into correct area of VLE. Hit targets from SLT on revision resources.

5. The highs! Department very enthusiastic at initial meeting and could all add resources confidently. GCSE students found ‘Maths Watch’ a very useful revision tool, and this was accessed from the VLE extensively before the exams. Other schools and teachers interested in our progress. (NCETM chat room)

6. http://www.ncetm.org.uk/Default.aspx?page=14&module=COM&mode=103&COMtid=5552 Hi All, I'm really interested in this idea. A long time ago when computers were first invented we created 'starting points' that students could explore using particular programs. They would then write up their findings and develop their own next learning activity from this. In a way people were independently learning in their 'exercise book' whilst using the computer as a tool. Now I think there is more potential for using the computer both as a tool, but also as a place to record the learning journey. We're going to develop a VLE. I'd like it so that students had a half termly overview so that they could click on a topic. This would then show the relevance of the topic or what skills it developed. It could also have a forum for students to suggest themes they'd like to discuss or develop in detail, whilst covering the content. Don't know whether this will work, but I hope I get they opportunity to give it ago. My other idea was to use the computer to develop a 'quiz of the week' - the reason I thought that might be a good idea was when I went on a dictionary site the other day to look up the meanings of some words they had this quiz of the week.... and I had a go... and it was quite enjoyable.... I've noticed on some other sites quizzes are appearing.... so maybe some puzzle type questions accessible to all, or some quizzes for different year groups may be a good way forward. I have been developing the use of our VLE in the Maths department. I've had really positive feedback from staff and students. I am trialling Microsoft Class Server at the moment to set and mark assignments online. With the A level courses I also use the assignment feature - though so far I've only used offline tasks - my personal target in the summer is to develop some online quizzes etc for some of the assignments. With the A level we also have some resource sheets for Autograph investigations but at present they do not feed back their findings - though there are forum pages where they could. http://www.mathsnet.net/geometry/solid/houses.html

7. The lows! 20 minutes to access the site! Missing menus when students log on! They had to change server and platform so down for long time and then looked different! Maths Watch doesn’t work on the school computers! My department loose heart!

8. The Dream! Students work displayed for them to revise from and others to get inspiration from. Quizzes with leader boards. Personalised learning through ‘starting points’ and experimenting. Using the assignment tool for GCSE and A' level investigation.