How to pimp a psychology NGDLE
(and why you should want to)
Matt Jarvis, Chartered Psychologist,
Learning Technology & Innovation Manager
Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) are ubiquitous in UK schools, colleges and universities
VLE technology
BUT there is little consistency in student engagement (Stiles, 2007; Ofsted, 2009)
NOR in learner satisfaction (Sun et al, 2007) or staff attitudes (Mahdizadeh, Biemans & Mulder, 2008)
The false premise of traditional VLEs
'If you knew then what you know now to be true
You never would have started this...' (Sullivan, 1985)
Why students tend to avoid VLEs
incongruent with other apps
lack of agency & interactivity
Web 1.0
They (mostly) didn't come
Why students tend to avoid VLEs
Technology is potentially a means to both enable agency in the learner and to facilitate social interaction
Studies looking at the nature of VLE use have tended to find a preponderance of static files
BUT
Having pre-determined sequences of teacher-derived interactive tools is not enough to allow agency
ALSO
Assess this site
What makes students more likely to use a VLE?
aesthetics
flexibility of use
interactivity
logical structure
quality of content
utility of content
congruence with other online apps
Congruence
Remember that the Internet today is dynamic, interactive and user-centred. VLEs have to adhere to these principles
Flexibility
At the institutional level the VLE and policies must be flexible enough to allow teachers to use it in ways that work for their learners
At the user level the VLE should facilitate choices in how it is used i.e. more than a set of resources and exercises to work through in order
Critically it must allow linking or embedding to subject-specific as well as generic external applications
IT IS NEVER ABOUT HOW MANY RESOURCES ARE THERE. IT'S ABOUT WHETHER THEY GET USED.
The NGDLE philosophy
Next Generation Digital Learning Environments
a place to do stuff not just to find it
dynamic content
Interactive content
no walled garden
subject-specific apps
opportunities for choice & personalisation
Pimping an NGDLE
just making sure we're all on the same page......
We can pimp with....
Search tools
psychology glossary
repository of classic articles
Document display
Evaluation tools
Interactive video
Interactive choice trees
Interactive blended or flipped learning modules
Simulations
Time-distributed Flashcards
i-Frame generator
h5p: an online content generator
Pimping the NGDLE
By Matt Jarvis
