Editure

The ultimate test of any new product or service is the customer's response. There is no tougher audience than teachers, students and parents. LearningPoint, Editure's virtual learning environment, passes with flying colours, as the user stories from The Peninsula School shows.

Creating a virtual learning environment

Prior to LearningPoint in 2000, teachers at the school used a shared drive as a central repository for resources and student records. Whilst the system enabled them to store items electronically, it had its weaknesses: the network itself was not robust and, most importantly, resources could only be accessed whilst in the school so teachers couldn't prepare work from home.

The Peninsula School sought the goal of sharing materials, improving communications and establishing a reliable central repository of resources that could be accessed wherever there was a computer and the internet.

In 2000 The Peninsula School purchased a virtual learning environment called Workbench, which later evolved into the product known today as LearningPoint by Editure.

A student's view

Reagan is a Year 10 student at Peninsula.

"I log into LearningPoint at least once or twice a day to check for any bulletins, homework tasks and requirements, and to read classroom notes. I am also involved in lots of sport and other extra curricular activities so I also use LearningPoint to keep up to date with practices, events, bus timetables and so on.

"I have always used LearningPoint as part of school life so it has become natural for me. My usage has changed over the years. For example in Year 7 it was heavily used for sport, but now that I am in Year 10 we have lots of our careers information on there.

"I log in via my laptop and select the LearningPoint icon that is on my desktop. I can do this from school, home, holiday, anywhere. It is that easy.

"LearningPoint keeps everything organised, it helps to keep all information together in the right place. Some students lose project sheets, but it's not a problem because it's always available on LearningPoint.

"It provides constant communication, and organisation. It is easy to catch up on school work if you have been away; and you can check up on extra curricular activities and not miss out on anything."

A teacher's view

Nicholas Browne is the Head of Curriculum and a senior teacher at The Peninsula School. "I use LearningPoint to host resources, link to other sites and to keep all resources, files and assessment tasks in the one place.

"I also use the mark book extensively. I find it a great function. I use it to keep a one-page summary on each student. All marks and grades are archived and stored on LearningPoint and each student and their parents have access to view their records at any time."

Nicholas explains how the mark book works. "A student submits work to me via LearningPoint, a link then appears on the mark book page. I save this, mark up their work and make my comments electronically on screen. I then save and attach the marked up work to LearningPoint, give it a grade and send it back to the student. The student can then view their own mark book. I can also use it to generate some statistics such as mean and median grades. This is also available for the parents to view at any time."

Nick also appreciates the flexibility LearningPoint brings. "If a teacher is absent they can prepare their class and put it online the night before. They can set everything up for the substitute teacher rather than spend a long conversation on the phone trying to explain everything. If you know you are going to be at a conference, you can set up work and schedule it to appear automatically at a specified time."

A parent's view

Karen is a parent and a teacher so sees the school from both sides. "Parents can view homework. They can see exactly what their child is supposed to be doing and use this to help them plan and develop their organisational skills. It takes the responsibility away from just the teacher and shares it with the parent and student."

"LearningPoint becomes a place to locate lost excursion forms, check, details about your child's participation in extra curricular activities and monitor all their homework requirements.

"It is also valuable when a child is away from school; you can look online to find out what work was done, access resources and reading material and find out what is due.

"It is also great for accessing exam timetables and looking up SACs [school-assessed coursework] for year 12 students.

"It makes information more accessible.

"The biggest benefit for parents is knowing what is coming up in regards to school work and activities for their children. It gives them a way of being involved and being able to help when needed."

Karen believes the technology supports the changing nature of parents' roles. "Working parents, particularly dads, are now kept in the loop and can talk to their children about, say, the maths project coming up or start conversations about the latest excursion. In the past, working parents missed out on that conversation because it usually happens straight after getting home from school. This way they can also initiate the discussion."

"A few years back the school used to distribute a school news flyer every week. The idea was simply to advise everybody of the upcoming events. The problem was it did not always reach home; it was left in the grounds, at the bottom of bags etc.

"Now with LearningPoint we load the e-news online every Thursday. Everyone knows to log onto LearningPoint on a Thursday to see what's happening for the next seven days."

Karen believes the technology is empowering. "There is nothing like knowing what your kids are doing. You can't be a part of their lives if you don't know what they're doing."

"Often in the Junior School you are at the school more often, picking the kids up, doing reading, but as they move into the Senior School you can often feel redundant and distant. LearningPoint gives you, the parent, a greater opportunity to be involved."