What is an MLE?

An MLE is a secure, managed learning environment.
A management, teaching and learning tool which will in time, provide all of our pupils with:-

• a personalised learning space with a personal e-portfolio.
• access to the MLE from within school, at home or at any location  connected to the Internet.
• access to their personal content and other information.
• a wide range of tools for learning and collaboration.

This enables

• children to share their work with a greater audience
• collaboration between pupils both locally and globally
• teachers to share work completed in class for parents to view at home with their children
• teachers to post homework which can be completed, sent and marked online
• discussion forums
• a reduced paper trail
• and much more….

We will be setting up the school’s MLE using a company called FRONTER.  The UK Government has as one of its aims that by 2010 schools will provide students with a virtual learning environment – resources for their coursework, lesson notes and storage space.

 The managed learning environment (MLE) goes quite a bit further in setting up virtual classrooms that – in time –will parallel many of the real, physical classrooms that students attend for their lessons. These virtual classrooms are basically mini websites in which a page is the focus of a lesson or perhaps several lessons. The page may have links to documents, some prepared by the teacher, some bought like textbooks and some on the Internet. The page may also have links to video or to podcasts to bring the subject to life. Only students who attend the real class can attend the virtual class, with access being controlled by the security technology many of us know from Internet shopping and banking.

Students can “hand in” their work through Fronter by uploading work from their computer. They can – and in many subjects – must hand in work on paper as most exams still require students to write on paper! For some subjects, such as Art or Music, the teacher can use the system to record what students have done, although a traditional mark book may be just as good for now.

After students have handed in their work, they can see the teacher’s comments and guidance on how to improve. By providing resources, coursework, homework and guidance tailored to each student, Fronter provides “personalised learning.”