Today the Headteacher and I began our Learning Platform training. We went their with apprehension - I had already heard lots of teachers berate the service we are being "provided with", and the Headteacher had to decide whether to justify a £900 cost each year for the service.
Well we were quickly told that by using it we could (and I quote)
"show your staff the wonders of fronter"!!
These are some of the wonders that we were being offered. We can have the ability to...
- make rooms - well, our website already lets us post work / articles in categories (we could rename them rooms if we wanted
- showcase pupils work, (but only to those are allowed to access the LP) - we showcase work to the world, not just the authorised class, and receive comments from as far as New Zealand
- store resources centrally - we can load files onto our website / wiki and link to them already
- upload pictures quickly - not as quick as we can to the website, even via a mobile phone whilst on a field trip
- have a forum, that is completely unmoderated - mmmm can you see the issues there?
- have different pages for different classes - we already have on the website. We call them "class areas"
- create topic resource links - have you seen our weblinks page on the website?
- load audio to a "room" - we can put audio on any page, even in an RSS feed, and we also send them to iTunes too
- message each other, (with no log support to check conversations) - our wiki records all comments passed (including those later removed)
- make tests - damn it. Something we can't do; but surveymonkey does that ;oP
So there you - we can pay £900 for the ability to make tests, votes and quizzes and have unmoderated conversations, or stick to our current solution (costing us around £100 a year). What would you do? We've got to make a decision as to whether or not to go with it.
As you can imagine I was not impressed with the day, as my flurry of tweets throughout the day will show if you read back through them. I know that some schools are not pushing tech like we are doing in some areas, I know that some schools don't have staff who can build websites, and I know that in some schools they don't yet have a website but please - the LP creates websites that look like something that was designed in the mid 1990's as the internet permeated into everyday life and comic sans, blocky clipart and jumbled sections filled pages. The LP doesn't allow creativity in the design of "rooms". Everything has to sit in a box, automatically sized by the system, not the user.
I want to be able to choose HOW the LP looks and HOW it works. I know what works with children - I teach them - so I want to be able to put my ideas in, not choose from a list that some faceless business website designer has dreamt up. Am I asking too much?
So there you go - day one of the training, and I *should* be back for more on Monday, but will I be there?
