It was good to see technology in education being covered in the Expanding Education/VLE article in the July issue of PCW. The article missed the whole point of the use of this technology in schools however. 1) It is not a new technology, it is an old one. VLEs in one shape or form have been used in higher education since the early 1990s. 2) It’s a learning solution that has been designed for post-18 distance learning. 3) Schools have no choice - DfES policy says we all must have a Learning Platform by 2008 and that the strength of this technology lies in the potential for a more personal experience of learning for pupils.

The challenge for schools is to develop a suitable model for classroom use of VLEs. How do you use a software solution that is built upon an anywhere-anytime-flexible model of teaching and learning and use it in a system that is 9-4, classroom based and anything but flexible. If VLEs are only going to be used as a storage facility for lesson resources (the way in which they are most commonly used in higher ed) then there are better solutions for this.

10 out of 10 for featuring education (let’s see more of it) but 6 out of 10 for an article that could have done more justice to the current debate about the use of VLEs in schools.

Jim Fanning