Development of a Physics Department VLE

STEM BURSARY – FINAL REPORT

W. FOWLES

ROYALSCHOOL, ARMAGH

Development of a Physics Department VLE

The decision was taken to develop as far as possible the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) of the Physics Department of the Royal School Armagh.

The facility had been established in December 2009 for the entire school and I had already laid the foundations of the Physics Department’s area within this.

The original aim was to upload the various teaching aids, normally Powerpoint presentations, to the VLE. These files were then available for pupils to download either in school or on their home computer. This had already been achieved, but originally it was decided to adopt the Weekly format whereby the materials required for each week were displayed on a calendar. This, it was later realized, caused problems if the teaching itinerary became disrupted in any way and in any event this approach necessitates updating every year. Instead, the Topics format was adopted, as this is independent of dates and does not need adjusting from one year to another.

Pupils have responded to the VLE in a very positive manner. Once the teething problems such as ensuring all pupils were, in fact, enrolled within the VLE, were overcome, they found the system very simple to use – provided, of course, that the structure employed by the teacher was itself simple in its basic layout. The VLE is essentially a website with a facility for downloading notes, etc. and as is the case with all websites will work best when the structure is kept simple. Pupils were able to download notes to their own computer and bring the notes to class in handout format, thus saving valuable time in class when the topic was taught and the notes projected and discussed.

The pupils were invited to complete an online questionnaire, constructed inGoogle Docs and accessed via the VLE. The questionnaire asked if the pupils found the VLE easy to navigate and if they found the access to notes online useful. A very positive response to these ideas has confirmed the success of the VLE, together with continued examination success.

The knowledge and experience gained during my time working on the Physics VLE to date will be available to any other staff keen to develop their respective departmental VLE. To this end, a staff tutorial session was held during the INSET on Monday 30th May 2011.

I found this activity to be a very useful means of developing the Physics Department’s VLE. Working with staff from other establishments, in particular Mr. Peter Hagan from the Physics Department of St. Patrick’s BoysAcademy in Armagh and Mrs. Averil Morrow at the Clounagh Centre proved very helpful. The former advised on the adoption of the Topics format as opposed to the weekly format and the latter provided detailed advice regarding the construction of quizzes for pupil assessment.

Overall, the VLE developed considerably during this activity.

I aim to continue the development of the VLE, especially with regards to quizzes for online pupil assessment. It is hoped to establish a collaborative project with St. Patrick’s Physics Department and I should be in contact with the Clounagh Centre again.

W. Fowles