1. What our students have to say about VLEs
Palitha Edirisingha, Richard England & Mike Lovell
University of Leicester, UK

2. Supported by the University of Leicester Teaching Enhancement Fund

3. Department of Geology Student profile
c. 70 students per year taking a variety of first degrees in Earth Sciences
15 % mature (22+) students
60% male 40% female

4. Lectures ‘Traditional’ teaching Practical classes Fieldwork
Technology based science

5. Project Aims
Provide Blackboard resources for all modules
Assess student use of Blackboard and their views of e-resources
Questionnaire (44/52)
Interviews/discussions
Target use of e-resources to meet student and staff perceptions

6. Student access to and use of technology
All students have access to a computer but not all have an MP3 player

7. Internet use

8. “you have photo documentation of what you did, and where you went and physical evidence of what you saw. And you’ve got it and can actually print it out and put it in your reports or within your notes, so that it links… to get a bigger relationship.”

9. MP3 players and phones
From interview:
“…are interested in using MP3 players and phones to upload audio and visual media for revision”

10. Uses of Blackboard

11. Communication Bb Discussion forum
“It takes a while to find some things…
…I suspect it might get used a bit more.”

12. Communication
Most students see each other every day

13. Summary Students value Blackboard - particularly for revision
Students are using the internet for exchanging photos and discussion
Scope for using discussion facilities in Bb - Dept needs to make this more accessible - but students see each other regulary
VLE is not a substitute for face to face communication

14. Action
Students are using Flickr – include similar online resources into Bb modules
Develop module/topic specific wikis – student led learning environment?
? Develop online communication – it might be used if it were more accessible (Bb page design)