There are various solutions that can fulfil these essential requirements; however the future of the VLE already appears to be evolving out of Microsoft’s SharePoint™ Learning Kit, which is managing access to numerous third party applications for education including Akhter’s Vidflow - video on demand solution. Applications built on SharePoint™ continue to expand the opportunities for employing dynamic learning materials whether in the classroom, school library, or learning at home via remote access from the school.

With SharePoint™ set to form the backbone of new application growth, it is an obvious route to ensure that the VLE proves a lasting investment. The challenge is to select a supplier, who will implement a VLE based solution to fit in with school resources and requirements both for today and the years to come. On-going financial costs, tie-in to suppliers, and the scope for accommodating changing school needs and incorporating new applications all need to be considered in choosing the VLE and selecting a supplier.

Key facilities that can be incorporated in the VLE include:

• Work assignment and grading
• Document collaboration
• Internal glossary Wiki of school information
• School Calendar – saves management time, supports co-ordination and cuts paperwork.
• Discussion forum by any topic
• Alerts to changes in documents
• Class attendee lists
• MySite – with personal and public access
• Key word search over school network
• Local and remote access for Teachers, Pupils and Parents
• Intranet and Internet access
• Video on demand (Akhter Vidflow)
• SIMS connectivity

Akhter’s VLE Implementation

Long before the release of SharePoint™ Learning Kit, Akhter had to set about creating the infrastructure and tools to deliver a VLE solution safely and securely and seamlessly within the school environment.

The powerful technology of SharePoint™ allows experienced developers such as Akhter to implement bespoke working environments for individuals and teams within organisations.

Products such as “Akhter Vidflow”, provide Video on demand, and a variety of Web parts produced in-house by Akhter, deliver learning resources direct to the user. Having already devised systems of delivering work and resources to students, these have been combined with SLK in a solution for education that is simple to use and secure whether the student is in school or working from home.

A full implementation integrates the schools administration system, allowing administration and teaching staff access via a common interface.

From Consultancy to Solution

The key to ensuring an effective, easy to implement and trouble free installation is in the planning and preparatory process. Akhter are geared up to provide a solution that fits around schools requirements, rather than introducing a predefined answer that imposes requirements on the school to change. Schools working with Akhter receive full support throughout minimising teething problems, resulting from changes to management processes. Akhter provide a Learning Platform that evolves to meet new requirements.

The first stage is determining the group and individual access boundaries via respective certificates that define limits to user access and times when access is permitted.

A series of structured and systematic approach to planning ensures that

the solution considers all essential facets and people involved.

Typically the Akhter process will follow:
Group meeting - Scoping Day - Rollout proposal - Definition of Requirement - Determine Project Milestones - Training – Learning Schedule - Going Live.

Akhter regularly handle non standard demands to suit the schools requirements and upgrades where required.

The Power of Sharing Information

Akhter’s VLE solution can be rolled out across schools and colleges. A single login provides full access to all permitted areas for an individual student and various security levels can be set-up for teachers, students individually or as groups.

Parents have the opportunity to be active in their child’s education by reviewing their work on a read only basis, as well as providing valuable information to LEAs and prospective employers. The diagram that follows shows how a “SharePoint™ Based Connected Learning Community” could look.

Integrating online video such as Akhter’s Vidflow, with the Akhter learning platform, creates a powerful facility that supports the DfES aim for all schools to implement access to e-learning. Multiple choice questions can be run via SharePoint™ on the class material delivered, with results available immediately as tables and/or graphs. Teachers can quickly identify areas that need further teaching time, and get feedback as to how individual students are progressing.

The system supports the creation of websites, for groups and individuals, to promote collaboration and the sharing of files and resources. Students can work together on documents, tasks and projects. The environment is designed for easy and flexible deployment, administration, and application development.

Windows SharePoint™ Services is part of Microsoft’s Windows Server 2003; so many Schools will already be in possession of it. If you do not already have Microsoft Windows Server 2003, an upgrade will not only give you SharePoint™ Services, but a more efficient, secure and stable operating system for your organisation.

VLE Advantages in Schools

Better Processes - Teachers share resources by granting access to their timetable, calendar, contacts, web links, discussions, issues lists, announcements, files and more.

Better Discoverability - Students and teachers have a single Web-based environment with built-in search capabilities.

Easy Access and Monitoring - Web sites with document storage and retrieval have check-in and check-out functionality. Amendments can be tracked and users can receive alerts when existing information or documents have been changed, or new are added.

Better Communication - Microsoft Office Live Communication Server provides users with instant communication, whether by video or audio, and Microsoft Office Live Meeting enables students to discus topics or collaborate with one another or teachers out of hours.

Enhance sites using Web Parts and Templates - Site owners and users can add new features to their sites using Web Parts. Well designed lists and entire sites can be saved as templates and reused.

Powerful Management Tools - SharePoint™ empowers ICT Managers with tools to track which sites are created, who owns them, how long a site has gone unused, and so on. They can enforce quotas for sites, students and storage; block certain user actions and delete neglected sites.

Speed and Reliability - Several servers can run the VLE “clustered” together to improve availability and provide uninterrupted access, if one server fails, maintaining reliable services under peak load.

Personalised Portal - A personal experience is available through “My Sites”. A “My Site” is your own portal with news, links, documents, applications, and other lists of information that are important to you. Your “My Site” also has a public view, enables you to share these personalised lists with others.

Managing Assignments

The Akhter VLE enables teachers to assign, deliver, collect and grade assignments to students with minimum fuss and administration. Where documents are fully SCORM compliant, so you can use SLK to mark assignments based on content imported from other sources and collect the results data for analysis and student development.

A typical SLK process:

• The teacher imports any document into a SharePoint™ document library.
• This document may then be assigned to the members of that SharePoint™ sub-site. Students can assign resources to themselves if they have permission.
• The student is notified of a pending assignment
• The student then attempts the assignment and submits it back to the teacher.
• The teacher is notified that one or more assignments have been returned.
• The teacher can then grade and return the assignments.
• Student assignments can be automatically marked and graded if created within a SCORM compliant content package.

Akhter set up the deployment mechanism is setup on the SharePoint™ environment, which allow users to work in a web environment. An SQL database is used to store and track the documents and grades etc. As a learning environment this enhances the teacher and student interaction and makes it simpler, more interactive, easy to monitor and maintain.

With previous versions of VLE the lack of resources limited scope for success. Now that content is not a problem, teachers can go online and download from resources that include video.

Once the Work is created, stored within SharePoint™, assigned using SLK components, completed by the student, submitted for assessment, graded and sent back to the student for review all electronically. Any stage can be accomplished internally or externally to the school. This creates a paperless work environment. The diagram depicts a typical scenario. This is where Akhter collaborate to create the infrastructure, security and customisation.

By a combination of deploying electronic documents, video and all the resources afforded by SharePoint™, a more engaging learning environment can be created.

Choosing the Route for Independence

Akhter recommend that schools manage their own VLE system in-house. The independence of hosting SharePointTM from the School ensures that ICT/ Network Managers retain full control of data and can evolve their system without delay. With Akhter, school ICT managers retain their expertise in-house and can readily adapt to accommodate future needs.

Another advantage in managing the VLE in-house, is that schools avoid on-going hosting service costs that are often levied on an annual per pupil basis. Where initial set-up costs in some instances can be higher, tailoring the system to suit the school, independence to adapt, and no hosting annual fees mean that long-term the independent solution will ultimately prove the best value.

Specialist advice or more information on Akhter’s Virtual Learning Environment can be obtained by contacting Akhter on 01279 821200 or via email on sales@Akhter.co.uk.