Presentation from ALT-C 2011 on the move towards using thrid-party online platforms rather than institutional ones, and how this information can be brought into the institutional systems.

1. The Distributed, Web 2.0 VLE?
Incorporating External Content Platforms
into the Institutional VLE
Dr. Ian Glover (ian.glover.1@city.ac.uk),
Shane Wohlers (shane.wohlers.1@city.ac.uk)
City University London
ALT-C 2011, University of Leeds, UK – 7th
September 2011

2. Topics
• Background
• Advantages/Disadvantages of Using External Tools
• Usage of External Tools at City
• Presenting External Content through VLE (Moodle)
• External Content Presented Outside the VLE
• Recommendations/Thoughts

3. Background
2008
 Working at University of Hertfordshire on bespoke MLE, StudyNet.
 Beginning work on integrated ‘social’ platform to supplement MLE (Glover &
Oliver, 2008; Oliver & Glover, 2008).
Subsequent Findings/Observations
 Developing towards ‘Gated Community’, rather than ‘Walled Garden’ or
‘Open Space’
• e.g. Moodle 2.x Repositories
 Mostly a controlled space
• drawing in some external data and allowing some re-publication.
 Most data still held on institutional systems.

4. Advantages of Using External Tools
• Many good, free tools
 Cut down on IT costs (possibly)
• Do one thing, and well
• People may already be using it
• Wider promotion of work/ideas
 Increase visibility/’findability’ (Peter Morville, findability.org)

5. Disadvantages of using External Tools/Content
• No/little control
 Resource could change over time,
 System down at critical time
• Future changes to licensing/availability
 Ning – free service revoked
 Google Wave/Lively – completely shutdown
(The Top Ten Dead Google Projects Floating About In Cyberspace)
• Security/Privacy/Copyright/IP issues
• Additional training required?
• Duty of Care issues?

6. Principal External Tool Usage at City University London
Common Some use Growing Integrated into
Moodle modules
Facebook -   
Flickr -   
Maps/Mashups -  - 
PebblePad -  - -
RSS Feeds  - - 
Twitter  -  
Wordpress -   -
YouTube/Vimeo  -  
Trend: Content-focussed, not activity/process oriented

7. .

8. Surfacing through the Moodle VLE
• Twitter Feeds

10. Surfacing through the Moodle VLE
• Twitter Feeds
• Flickr Streams
 (Custom feature developed in-house – see Glover, 2011)

11. .

12. Surfacing through the Moodle VLE
• Twitter Feeds
• Flickr Streams
• RSS News Feeds

14. Surfacing through the Moodle VLE
• Twitter Feeds
• Flickr Streams
• RSS News Feeds
• Maps/Mashups

16. Surfacing through the Moodle VLE
• Twitter Feeds
• Flickr Streams
• RSS News Feeds
• Maps/Mashups
• Embedded video
 YouTube, Vimeo, etc.
 Semantically-wrapped videos

18. • PebblePad
 Accessed via Moodle
 Little integration
• Wordpress
 Posts brought into Moodle via RSS
 Accessed via link to separate server
• Facebook
 Some presentation through Moodle
 Mainly used as separate system
• Mobile Twitter + RSS Aggregation
(Currently in development -
http://www.cityunihealth.co.uk/ian/twitter_app)
 Intended for mobile
 Accessed via separate server
Surfacing through Other Means
Try it:

19. Recommendations/Thoughts
• Aggregate content when possible
 Pull content in, don’t push people out
• Investigate any legal/moral/ethical issues first
• Check long-term viability of platforms
• Consider how it will ‘integrate’ with VLE
 Functions exist already?
• Avoid chasing students into their social spaces
 Pick the tools based on your needs instead

20. Questions?
A couple from me:
“What are the key points in the learning experience where
external tools can add value, and what thoughts do you
have of using such tools?”
“Can we use these tools to challenge our own (and others’)
preconceptions and inertia about the types of activities used
with students?”

21. References
• Glover, I. & Oliver, A. (2008). ‘Hybridisation of Social Networking and
Learning Environments’. In Proceedings of World Conference on
Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications (Ed-
Media 2008), pp. 4951-4958 .
• Oliver, A. & Glover, I. (2008). ‘The (Possible) Future of MLEs’.
Presented at ALT-C 2008. Online:
http://www.slideshare.net/drandyoliver/the-possible-future-of-mles
• Glover, I. (2011). ‘Integrating Flickr-based Images into Moodle to
Increase Visual Appeal and Dynamism of Teaching Spaces’. In
Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia,
Hypermedia and Telecommunications (Ed-Media 2011), pp. 768-772.