20

great things to do with your (Frog) VLE!

Some cheap & effective ideas to engage staff & students with any VLE.

1. PEER MENTORING - Use forms to allow younger students to ask technical
questions to older students - great for transition, A level recruitment,
revision, etc.

2. ASK THE EXPERT Same as above, but the peer mentors are staff experts
in each field, eg, e-learning, AFL, differentiation. Good way to make
teaching & support staff feel valued and share good practice.

3. TUTOR GROUP BLOG Make a page that allows head of year to set a
thought/question of the week for tutor groups to respond to, then
show the best responses in assemblies great way to engage a year
group with big issues.
4. EDUCATION NEWS Add several RSS feeds from education websites to a
page keeps all staff up to date with the latest news and events in
education and requires no maintainance.

5. NEWS BLOG Set up a simple blog (eg, in Wordpress or similar) and get
students to use it to share the latest news in a subject area, eg, Science
really good way to stretch students of all abilities.
6. VISUAL DICTIONARY Use a flip camera and build a simple page to
display short movie clips brilliant idea to build up a video dictionary
for sign language clubs, MFL units, Maths techniques.

7. IAG PORTAL Organise all the relevant links onto 1 page and throw in
forms to automatically set up careers or work experience
appointments.

8. EXAM NEWS Build a simple page to display exam dates, instructions,
revision sites and a form for emergency questions.

9. YOUNG DESIGNERS Use tools to display best work in subjects such as
DT or Art, and allow rest of the class to vote on their favourite.

10. TOPIC FEEDBACK Set up a basic survey for feedback about a teaching &
learning unit in a subject add a different title and logo and recycle it
for other topics.
11. BIG EVENTS Use some of the voting & comment tools + some nice
graphics, maps, weblinks, quizzes to engage students in big events
such as Olympics, Election, World Cup.

12. FROGBOX Set up a weekly vote on a hot or topical issue (or just who will
win X-factor!). Link to a forums page for more detailed interaction and
discussion.

13. FROG JOBS Advertise various student jobs & let them apply online using
forms. Quick way to collate responses and judge levels of interest.

14. TO BLOG OR NOT TO BLOG Use blogging tools to allow students to blog
in character when discussing a Shakespeare play, historical events,
etc, then share the links on a class page so everyone can read each
others. Works great for homework.
15. CPD PORTAL Use Frog tools to build some staff CPD pages with things
such as video exemplars of parts of lessons, FAQs, ask the experts, etc.
Use forms or surveys to allow staff to choose training sessions and you
can then track their CPD history during the year and monitor
popularity of sessions.

16. PLANS PORTAL Build a launch page to access all Schemes for Learning
and Lesson Plans great way to share good practice and ensure
consistency of approach.

17. WASSUP Make a virtual billboard to display posters of events. You could
incorporate a site such as www.wallwisher.com to make a virtual
pinboard for staffroom, student common room, tutor notices, etc.

18. SPORTS NEWS Let students edit and maintain pages about school
sports, with features such as fixtures list, match reports, man/woman
of the match votes and photos/video clips.
19. STAFF DIRECTORY If you have a large staff or rapid turnover, build a
directory page with a photo of each person, e-mail/internal phone
numbers, etc.

20. THE HUB Make the VLE the only source for accessing daily notices, staff
handbooks, etc, and you will ensure it gets more use & saves money.
Build in forms for things such as referrals, room & equipment
bookings, etc.


Greg Hughes (TWITTER: @deepexperience1 )

Assistant Principal Experience & Engagement