OFSTED says VLEs are a 'cottage industry'...

Since the start of the year, the expectation is that schools have been moving towards the provision of a VIRTUAL Learning Environment (VLE) to support the physical school community. This is a way of extending the support that schools offer, and allowing for anytime anyplace learning...
Now OFSTED has surveyed a (small) number of schools and found that the 'technological revolution' that could perhaps have been expected (?) hasn't taken off as planned...
Ofsted’s new study of virtual learning environments (VLEs) reveals little new, re-iterating that schools and colleges have not made great progress with their introduction or use. They use terms such as "cottage industry" to describe their use and, while it’s difficult to imagine a cottage industry based on using a VLE, its obvious what they mean: amateurish would be a simpler word.
The benefits to learners are so far "not yet obvious", say inspectors. However where they were more developed, particularly in colleges, such services were able to "enthuse" students.
In most places surveyed by Ofsted, the use of such VLEs was "not widespread" and where it was in place it was often the result of the enthusiasm of individual teachers.
"We found that the exploitation of VLEs at curriculum level resembled more of a cottage industry than a national technological revolution," inspectors concluded.The report, based on more than 40 different institutions, found no example where a VLE provided a "comprehensive" range of materials for every subject.

Christine Gilbert is quoted in a GUARDIAN ARTICLE today as saying:

Some schools and colleges were using VLEs as "dumping grounds or storage places for

 rarely-used files, rather than for material that enhanced the face-to-face learning done inside the classroom".

"The best VLEs allowed learners to reinforce their routine work, or catch up on missed lessons. In those best cases, the material offered was fun and helpful. In the least effective examples, documents had been dumped on the

 system and forgotten."

Visit the OFSTED WEBSITE to read the full report (downloadable as Word or PDF)

I'm sure that there are some great Geography examples out there.

Does your school have a VLE ?
Do you make use of it for supporting and promoting the work of the Geography department ?

Does it have a particularly good Geography section ?

Do you have evidence that it is being well used ?

Tell us about it (don't be shy) in a comment below, or contact aparkinson [AT] geography.org.uk