VLE For Free
VLE For Free
VLE For Free
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 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.