The Long & Winding Road

Introducing a VLE

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."

Alvin Toffler.

Outline• This session• Background• Beginnings• Foundations• Personalised

Learning• Planning

• Choosing• Implementing• Training• Successes• Still to go . . . • Conclusion

This Session• Bolton School, Girls’ Division is the largest

independent girls’ school in the North West. We started a journey, 2 years ago, to change our school’s ethos: - we are aiming for confident, independent girls leaving the school ready, willing and able to take leadership roles in the wider society, determined to make a difference. We are using Information Technology as the primary vehicle for this change, rather than for it’s own sake.

• Our Learning Platform (Studywiz) is at the heart of this change.

Background• Bolton School, Girls’ Division– 130 years of academic achievement– 71st in the country in the latest tables

• Me– Almost 20 years experience– Comprehensives & ‘top draw’ independent– Inner City & Rural– Single sex (Boys & Girls) & co-ed.

Beginnings• The truth is, it didn’t start as an ICT project!• How do we enable every student to be an

independent learner, realising her full potential?

• We are a successful school – why change?• Change culture . . .

Laying the Foundation• One thing independent schools do brilliantly is

teach.• Learning is not, traditionally, so strong!• We aren’t continually buffeted by the various

initiative coming out of the DCSF – we can make long term plans!

• Personalised learning isn’t a government initiative . . .

Personalised Learning• Government initiatives:– Key Stage 3 Strategy (2001)– ‘Every Child Matters’ (2003)– Education white paper Higher Standards, Better

Schools for All (2005)– 2020 Vision (January 2007)

• Paul Black & Dylan Wiliam: Inside the Black Box (1998)

• Plato (5th Century B.C.)• John Stuart Mills (1840’s)

Personalised Learning• I’m also a trained educational performance

coach (Neuro-Linguistic Programming).• Three steps:– Know where you are– Know where you want to be– Plan how to get there

• Step 1: Know each girl’s strengths & weaknesses

Personalised Learning• Step 2: Know where you want to be.

• Students taking responsibility for their own learning.

• Staff comfortable in supporting personalised learning.

• A system where individual routes can be followed.

Personalised Learning• Step 3: Plan how to get there!

• Twenty-first century education within the constraints of a 19th Century system...

• Options• But how do you treat girls differently without

causing problems . . . ?

Planning• So that’s why we wanted a VLE!

• But there are so many different ones out there.

What do I want from a VLE?• At it’s heart, a VLE is a way for students to

interact online with their teacher(s). • The VLE has to allow for learning to be

transformed, not ‘just’ enhanced.• Becta 3-stages of integration:– Replace– Embed– Transform

Choosing• Information from:– BETT– Independent school ICT conference focussed on

VLE (Radley)– BECTA (Of course!)

• Cost– Range from £5,000 to £20,000

• Extras– MIS integration?– Bundled software?

Buy in or ‘Moodle’ it?• In the end, a choice from 3:• Microsoft solution– SharePoint, Class-Server, et.al.

• Moodle– The DIY version

• VLE Provider– Studywiz, from Etech

Implementation• Serious planning required here!• Hardware– Host ourselves• Server integrated into our system• Back-up & recovery procedures consistent with our

disaster management policy• ‘ownership’ of the data

• 5 week installation schedule – February ½ term to Easter

Implementation• Software– Very long testing phase• 6 weeks

– Development team• All ICT literate, but not all ICT staff

– First phase training from Etech• Development team renamed “Advocates”

– Introduction & initial staff training to staff just after summer ½ term term. . .

Implementation• Staff & Students– Staff then had half a term, with a lighter load due

to exam classes, to ‘play’• Over the summer, all data was wiped clear & re-

installed to allow staff to not feel worried!

– The Girls were introduced to it via timetabled ICT lessons.• Small roll-out to start with:- Years 10 & 11• Only specific subjects:- ICT, Science & Geography

Training• Cascade:– Studywiz training for ‘Advocates’– I led (lead) whole school inset• Inset days• Twilight sessions

– Departmental Inset when requested• Any member of the Advocate team

Training• Drip-feed– How to log on (All staff demonstrated this by end

of Summer term) – Whole School & Twilight– How to navigate around (Beginning of Autumn

term) – Twilight & individual with an Advocate– How to populate with resources (Target depts. by

beginning of Autumn Term.) Advocates in departmental time.

Successes to date• Extension material for years 10 & 11• Pod-casting revision material to year 11’s

(Some of our girls have very long coach journeys to school)

• Support material (particularly in Maths) for weaker girls

• Lesson notes & handouts available online (particularly in Science)

Successes to date• Video clips available online for girls to review.• Homework being delivered online in a growing

number of subjects (Differentiated material starting to develop)

• Groups of girls linked to work on extra-curricular projects (G & T team)

• Some practical lessons being videoed and streamed

Successes to date• Long term absence:• Lesson notes available online– Either from teacher or exercise books scanned &

posted as images!• Chat room turned on for these girls– Keep up with school gossip!

• E-mail system– Allows girl to ask teachers questions

(Disaster Management / Pandemic Flue planning)

Still in Development• Parental Links• Collaborative work• Links with other establishments– Universities (Lancaster in particular)– Local schools

• Global links

Conclusion• How are we going to measure the success of

it?• Avoiding pitfalls:– A clear, well defined idea of why– Careful planning– Time, both to research & to install– Support (especially of Senior Management, but

also of all staff)– A clear timescale for roll-out (We are giving it 5

clear years!)

Any Questions?