Jonathan Savage

There aren’t many things in life that are more fun than using certain types of VLE. Here are some suggestions for things that are more fun than Blackboard. What’s true for Blackboard is true for WebCT which, thank goodness, MMU is getting rid of over the next year or so.

Incidentally, on the Moodle front, I just noticed that my web host (Blue Host) are now providing installations for Moodle on their servers. This means that it is literally two clicks to set up a new Moodle VLE once you have paid the astronomical charge of about $6/month. And you can add to that as many WordPress/Drupal/Joomla etc installations that you want too (plus many other excellent services). I can highly recommend them.

Just found another new report from Ofsted, this time on the provision and use of virtual learning environments. The report identifies and describes the current state-of-play with regard to the nature, distribution and use of VLEs across the education sector. The survey includes a brief history of VLEs, their current deployment, potential infrastructure challenges, patterns of learners’ interaction, the motivation for staff use, the involvement of parents and, crucially, the development of content. Moodle comes out of all this very favourable. So, a quick reminder to visit our moodle courses that are here (and free).

On the topic of computer games in education, I found this very interesting paper which applies some of the discussions about informal learning in various contexts (including computer games) to the construction of a ‘public pedagogy’. This quote is an introduction to what the paper explores:

However, informal learning, at least of the sort we see in today’s popular culture, does involve teaching in a major way. It is just that the teaching it involves is not like what we see in school. Teaching in informal learning, in much of today’s popular culture, involves three things: design, resources, and what we will call “affinity spaces.” We will give specific examples in a moment. But first, we want to point out that, since informal learning in popular culture today involves teaching in this sense, it is a form of public pedagogy.

This seems like a fine idea and one that is often missing from debates about informal learning, which often seem to imply that the teacher has to abdicate their role in order to allow more freedom for their pupils’ exploration of a chosen topic. That might well be the case for some, but there is a lot more going on than first meets the eye. I think that James Paul Gee and Elizabeth Hayes have done an excellent job here. Very incisive and compelling reading.

Thanks to Alex for blogging about a new online social network for music educators. The Young Professionals Focus Group (YPFG) of the International Society for Music Education (ISME) has just launched a new online social network where music educators from around the World can come together to share research, lessons, music, and educational strategies with each other. I’ve just joined and feel very good about being a ‘young’ professional again!

Monday sees the arrival of 64 or so new students onto the two PGCE courses that we run at the Institute of Education, MMU. A warm welcome to you all!

There are a number of changes this year. Firstly, after a couple of days at our Didsbury campus all the teaching for these courses will take place at the Royal Northern College of Music. What are jokingly referred to as our ‘specialist teaching spaces’ on the Didsbury campus are being demolished for a new shining building in which little or no musical activity is allowed. So, it looks like our move to the RNCM is permanent. We have mixed feelings about that but are looking forward to the challenges it brings.

Secondly, we are developing a Moodle site for the PGCE courses. Our students will have access to all the teaching resources for the PGCE online and the site is open-access to anyone else too. Please visit the site here. You’ll need to register but its free and there is plenty of other stuff there too, including summaries of music education research, materials that focus on music and ICT, helpful guides to pieces of software, etc.

We have chosen to use Moodle rather than the university’s WebCT because we want our students to become part of an ongoing virtual music education community, not just during their ITT year but also beyond into their teaching careers. Also, Moodle is increasingly the VLE of choice for enlightened schools and universities. Recent research conducted by the British Educational Suppliers Association, shows that Moodle, the open-source virtual learning environment (which was not featured in the learning platform purchase framework conducted by Government ICT agency Becta), is emerging as a leading VLE in English schools. Read Merlin John’s recent post about this here, and the response to his post from a LA ICT advisor is also worth reading here.

So, all change on the physical and virtual fronts. But we look forward to meeting you all and trust that you are ready for a hard but rewarding year’s work!