And while I’m in blogging mode, I thought this comparison of Blackboard and Moodle, effectively the two leading VLEs in the sector, was interesting. Of course it’s only one case, but it suggests while both seem adequate to the job, Blackboard seems to be somewhat ahead on ease of use. That’s quite significant, since a VLE won’t be used at all if colleagues find it difficult to use.

Personally, I’ve no strong feelings one way or the other about which VLE we should use, if indeed we should use one at all. I do think the framework that VLEs provide is quite helpful, especially if one is not a particularly confident user of technology, but we certainly shouldn’t be confined by them. If there’s a product that does something better than Blackboard, (or Moodle for that matter) and we can resource it, and it’s universally accessible, (as far as that’s possible with any technology) then we shouldn’t discourage anyone from using it.