Resources: human capital, time and space for schools of the future - Teaching with Technologies: The Essential Guide - page 176

These teachers described two kinds of use of online learning environments: vir-
tual learning environments (or learning platforms) and personal learning environ-
ments:
· VirtualLearningEnvironments (learningplatforms)areclass-teacher-institution-
focused (push) and use a delivery model: resources are structured and organized.
· Personal Learning Environments are person-focused (pull) and use a personal-
ized learning model: the learner is free to select, choose, control resources
and learning experiences.
Teachers conceived the online learning platform as a tool that served and linked two
learning phases:
· In phase 1 the Virtual Learning Environment (learning platform) builds inde-
pendent learning in the first phase of learner use and generates familiariza-
tion with the wider collaborative features of online learning.
· In phase 2 the Personal Learning Environment emerges out of the learner's
initial VLE experience and enables the learner to draw together the resources
and materials relevant to them.
To achieve this transition, these teachers of older learners emphasized that the
most important lesson for the learner is 'learning how to learn' in the earliest stages
of education - ' [Learners] need to know what each tool does and how to use it '. They also
emphasized the changing role of the teacher - from the director of learning to the
facilitator of learning - the teacher's role being not only to teach subject content, but
also to teach learners how to learn, to encourage lifelong learning and to support the
learning process.
The introduction of a learning platform that promotes independence was recog-
nized as a challenge to teachers who are still questioning the need to change their
role from teacher to facilitator. Because this shift is uncomfortable for some, they
argued that teachers need tools to support that change in role. Consequently, both
for teachers and learners the design for learning approach to the learning platform
should emphasize less 'push' and more 'on demand' resources.
Learning platforms need then to be designed for teachers as expert learn-
ers with provision for a continuum of learning and flexible pedagogy. Teachers
contributing to the Education Futures research conceptualized the platform as a
framework to hang tools and resources from: a virtual learning kiosk where teach-
ers know what to expect of the products available. In this learning environment
teachers and learners needed to be able to identify which tools will support their
purposes.
As primary schools do not have the same levels of technical support as secondary
schools and colleges, tools must be easy to use. Teachers do not have time to read a
manual. Software that was simple to use and had a strong pedagogical underpinning
was highly praised by primary and secondary teachers.