This is an integrated environment of all the online tools you will need for studying, and may include course information, online resources, e-mail and discussion boards, blogs, wikis, podcasts, instant messaging and video conferencing. You may be able to submit your work for final assessment over the VLE and you will usually find your tutor will give you feedback on your ongoing work through the VLE. There are a number of commercial sys-tems such as WebCT and Blackboard although many universities are now swapping to Moodle. Moodle (www.moodle.org) is an open source VLE which, unlike standard VLE systems, means that it can be constantly refined by its community of users. This part of the chapter cannot show you how to use your specific VLE – you need to find this out at induction, as all systems vary – but it will give some advice on how to make the best use of various components so you can interact and work collaboratively with others.
If your university or college uses a VLE then you will need to be able to do the following tasks, so check they are covered in any training:
I Activate your university account using your enrolment number.
I Log in to the VLE using a username and password.
I Navigate around the system.
I Access and enrol on your own modules.
I Look at the range of online resources available.
I Know where to go for help and support.
Podcasting
The term ‘podcast’ is derived from the words iPod and broadcast, and refers to a sequence of digital audio files which can be downloaded from the internet, transferred to a mobile device, such as an iPod or MP3 player, and listened to at your convenience. You need to subscribe to receive a podcast, rather like you might subscribe to a magazine, and it is delivered at regular intervals. Podcast technology also allows you to publish audio content onto the web yourself. This is simple and affordable although you will need an internet connection, some recording software or a digital recording device, and you may need some training. One of the main bene-fits of podcasts is that you can listen to them in otherwise ‘dead’ time on your mobile phone, PDA or iPod. In addition, recording your own podcast can really contribute to your studies and transferable skills such as presen-tation and communication.
If you are not already familiar with the underlying technology then podcast-ing can seem inaccessible. To use it you need a portable audio device which you connect to a computer. You then log on to a podcasting sub-scription service and then subscribe to the site’s feeds. You will need to have sufficient bandwidth to download the podcast.
How you actually subscribe will depend on the podcast software you have chosen. You may have heard of podcast software such as iTunes (www.apple.com/itunes), Juice Receiver (www.juicereceiver.com) or Doppler (www.dopplerradio.net) which are currently free. Alternatively, you could subscribe using a web-based feed reader such as My Yahoo or Google Reader. Again, these are free, but you will need an e-mail address to create an account.
If you have not experienced downloading a podcast before, try Activity 6.
ACTIVITY 6 Download a podcast
Log on to www.google.co.uk and set up a Google Reader account.
Now log on to www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/directory/ and choose a podcast you would like to subscribe to, following the instructions.
Either listen to the podcast on your computer or on a portable player such as an iPod, mobile phone or MP3 player, from the connection made through the USB port on your computer.
Blogs
The work ‘blog’ is a contraction of the word ‘weblog’. Blogs are different from other websites in that they are often the comments of an individual on a topic of their particular interest. They are updated frequently, encourage
readers to contribute their views by leaving comments, and can be sub-scribed to. Other blogs function as more personal online diaries; these are less useful in the context of academic work. In the past blogs have been mainly text based but increasingly bloggers are using pictures, video clips and sound. The collective community of all blogs is known as the ‘blogos-phere’, and several search engines are available such as Bloglines (www.bloglines.com), BlogScope (www.blogscope.net) and Technorati (www.technorati.com).
In terms of academic collaboration and communication, a blog can be a great tool in reaching a project group, a team, or an audience that is spread across different locations. This is particularly useful for groups of work-based learners. It can also serve to enable collaborative work and engagement during those times between face-to-face tutorials and lectures.
Blogs can also be very helpful for knowledge management. Rather than trawling through inboxes for e-mails that were sent months ago (or long ago deleted) the use of a blog’s search feature can return past documents or opinions from your online community. If a discussion of a topic or project is your only aim, however, you may not need to look any further than using the discussion forums software that is available on your VLE.
Blogs are increasingly becoming a source of genuine academic discussion, peer review and knowledge sharing which could be invaluable in your study, if treated with care. Experts blogging on almost any subject can be found, either via a search engine that searches blogs like Google, or by a search of specialist engines such as Technorati. This is prompting new and useful dis-cussions between academics across the world, who might never otherwise have become aware of each other’s work.
ACTIVITY 7 Use a search engine
Log on to technorati.com and use their search facility to look up a subject you are cur-rently studying.
If you would like to try blogging for yourself you will need to download spe-cialist software, known as a blogging platform. There are a wide range of these; some are free while others are available by subscription. The easiest way to start is with a hosted blogging platform such as Blogger (www.blogger.com) or MSN Spaces (http://spaces.live.com). These have the advantage of being simple and free, but if you want a greater degree of control, or to use your own domain name, other options exist such as WordPress (http://wordpress.org) or Movable Type (www.movabletype.org).
Wikis
Your VLE is also likely to enable you to use a wiki, a website that can be built collaboratively by a group. With a wiki you can share and collaborate on doc-uments without any special software and with the minimum of training. A wiki can be considered as work-in-progress; one person might post a rough docu-ment online and then all the others in the group can read, correct and contribute to it in real time. You can use this to support group assignments or to collaborate with others in sharing resources. The most commonly used wiki is Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org), an online editable encyclopaedia, although as we have noted above, this should be used with caution.