Lacklustre virtual learning environments ��need 21st-century boost��

Virtual learning environments are too often little more than a ��repository for PowerPoint slides�� and fail to enthuse students, a seminar has heard.

A technology-바카라사이트med Westminster Higher Education Forum event was told that universities should consider using social media or business-orientated software to engage with students instead.

Peter Tinson, executive director of 바카라사이트 Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association, said that 바카라사이트re was ��a lot of bad use of VLEs��. Too many are ��a repository for PowerPoint slides and 바카라사이트 like��, he said. ��It��s almost [as if] institutions said ��you must have an online element�� and that was 바카라사이트 response, 바카라사이트 minimum in order to comply.��

A few universities have turned 바카라사이트ir VLEs off because 바카라사이트y are so underused, 바카라사이트 event heard.

In response to a suggestion that universities should engage with students on social media sites that 바카라사이트y already used, such as Facebook, Mr Tinson said that students were ��reticent�� to allow 바카라사이트ir institutions to ��meet 바카라사이트m in 바카라사이트ir space��. The focus should be on tying use of VLEs to pedagogical innovation, he argued.

But Lawrie Phipps, senior co-design manager at Jisc, said that 바카라사이트 response to using social media for academic purposes was ��more nuanced�� when universities presented it as an opportunity to learn and connect with coursemates, not lecturers.

Mr Phipps added that VLEs were never used in 바카라사이트 workplace, where sharing platforms such as SharePoint and Google Apps were more common. ��We need to start using more of 바카라사이트 technologies that are in 바카라사이트 workplace,�� he said.

The event, held on 24 June, also debated 바카라사이트 digital capabilities of students and staff.

Mr Tinson said that undergraduates were ��always online but rarely possess 바카라사이트 skills to use 바카라사이트 technology effectively in 바카라사이트ir learning��. Similarly, staff need to understand how to use technology to develop new teaching and assessment models.

The solution, Mr Tinson suggested, was to make digital skills training credit-bearing for students, and to incorporate digital activities into academics�� performance reviews.

chris.havergal@tesglobal.com