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!

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 ICTliterate 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 you concerned 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.

FUNCTION 2: Protected online discussions / blogs

Option 1: Twitter Although this is not a protected discussion, Twitter is a brilliant format to hold a discussion 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.

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 are too 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.

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.

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, the options are vast.