This was a proposal for a Keynote I was asked to give at an event soon, but as is the common issue these days their budget bit and they couldn’t go ahead.
I was asked to give an overview of e-learning and the learning platform vision, too good not to share as it was looking like a nice neat little presentation, book me if you’d like it at your event.
1) Forget the VLE, or at least stop obsessing about just the VLE; think Virtual School- not just web based learning for learners but web based work for teachers, non-teachers and web access for parents- make the virtual school strategy integral to planning for the whole school strategy. VLEs aren't the only way of delivering this and aren't good at some of it, think a single portal with a range of tools accessed, perhaps including your VLE.
2) Teachers don't only teach- think paperless office, communication and collaboration tools for their internal and external work
3) Parental Engagement, don't let the loss of Becta and a change in government divert you from Parental Engagement through new technology, it's the easiest way to raise attainment without making the school change- empower the parents by engaging in what their children do at school and see your results rise and the parents support you more.
4) Go beyond 'anywhere anytime' learning but think also 'any device'- the rise and rise of student owned mobile devices and wifi is a tide not be held back but harnessed. The ridiculous mobile phone press storm from Oct 09 shows how out of step society is with its own understanding of the potential of the technology we all have access to, also the internet is increasingly accessed through games consoles and TVs and web access is growing all the time.
5) Move beyond e-learning; e-teaching is the future; live on-line collaboration between teachers and learners and learners with each other through web2.0 technology is how new technology can really boost learning, putting paper worksheets and text book pages on a screen doesn't change much other than accessibility, web2.0 changes everything.
