Things I was wrong about pt2: The Death of the VLE
I expect Tom Farrelly and my Irish ed tech friends will have a chuckle at this one as the people at ILTA once published a special issue on how the VLE is Not Dead. It was basically a gentle academic roast. It was deserved because in 2007 (!), I foolishly declared, “The VLE is dead”, because I was all excited by the prospect of loosely coupled tools, PLEs and EduGlu. This post is as much as why I was wrong about them taking off as I was about the persistence of the VLE. There was a lively debate on “the VLE is dead” at the 2009 annual ALT-C so I wasn’t the only one.
This has patently not come to pass, and as McAvinia and Risquez (2018) conclude in the ILTA editorial that far from fading, the VLE has evolved:
The newer VLEs and upgrades of the “traditional” brands offer features such as integrated social media tools and e-portfolios, and have lost the visual cues tying them to the classroom, such as book and blackboard imagery. The regeneration of the VLE is remarkable. (p. ii)
There are two elements to why I face-planted so spectacularly on this one – the failure of VLE alternatives, and the reasons beyond the VLE’s persistence. To take the alternatives first, I think during the late 00s we were all still caught up in web 2.0 fever, and let’s face it, naive about the robustness of third party tools (I say “we” but that was probably just me). The third-party tools I listed in my “VLE is Dead” post (e.g., Wetpaint, Pageflakes, Jaiku) have largely all disappeared. And even when they don’t, we now know they tend towards enshittification pretty quickly. So constructing learning environments from these is a really bad idea generally (imagine if you’d integrated Twitter deeply into your learning environment). But there are other options, open sourced ones or more user owned ones. Let’s face it I’ll be on my deathbed insisting blogs are the learning tool you really need, but I know that boat has sailed. Also it transpired that constructing loosely coupled, personal architectures was more complex (both technically and cognitively) than we envisaged. The focus moved away from the tools to the people and resources, so we saw a shift from PLE to PLN.
But that doesn’t quite answer why the LMS is still going strong. Partly their continued success is down to simple inertia and the kind of software sedimentation we see with enterprise systems. Integration with highly complex university admin systems is not something to take lightly. But they also benefit from the “good enough” principle – we have become accustomed to them and now that they are in place, new developments become incorporated into them such as embeds, assessment, lecture capture, social media, etc. MOOCs saw a flurry of platforms but these have either morphed into VLEs of their own or faded away. And of course, we are now seeing the advent of AI related VLEs. Whether this will see a shake-up in the VLE market or a simple amoebic like absorption into existing system remains to be seen.
Interestingly, when Covid hit the VLEs didn’t quiet take their moment in the spotlight as one might have anticipated, and instead there was a shift to Zoom and Teams. The inability to see beyond the online lecture meant that the VLE wasn’t well suited to this sudden shift. Rather depressingly, a VLE-centric online course might actually be at the more radical end of online offerings now.
So, I was wrong partly through naivety about the alternative, but also because of the increasingly conservative ways in which online learning was conceived. I’m taking half of a hit in this one, wrong but for some of the right reasons.
13 Comments
Sheila MacNeill
Ah, I remember those heady days too! I retrospect I think a focus on people was probably the way to go. Also, when I left the blue sky world of CETIS and went back into an institution as an everyday academic/lecturer, it struck me how much “we” hadn’t really factored in the realities of everyday teaching, and digitial capabilities into any use of technologies back then. So instead of thinking out of the box, I was forced to try and get back into the box – which you know, actually wasn’t that bad a place to be.
mweller
They were idealistic times! I think the reality of institutional systems was always going to do for the PLE idea, but it was fun to play with
Eamon Costello
I remember those heady days too and like Sheila I did struggle to get back in the box.
I couldn’t help wondering:
What has the VLE ever done for us?
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vS2GvkCGP0VMR2b_hFo2ehtatrzIdNl3-YEPJIp6qgwNSxbG9szbWX_m98u50eS9Bq1LreZ_W7XNRbZ/pub?start=true&loop=false&delayms=1000
mweller
Hi Eamon, that link needs permission to access I think
Tom Farrelly
Ahh Martin
I’m not really chuckling – that Blog has given us so much ammunition over the years 😊
But seriously though, given the potential opportunities and affordances of Web 2.0 it is easy to see why the VLE behemoths seemed unwieldy and ultimately would be largely redundant. It is interesting that you note how some of the platforms that you mentioned have disappeared. We have seen the rise and fall of different VLE platforms, but while the dominant brands have waxed and waned, as a concept the VLE still remains ‘limpet like’ an integral element of the EdTech environment.
Tom
mweller
We may as well embrace the VLE now Tom
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Colin
There was a shift to Teams due to the pandemic but I would love to know whether that stuck. Based on my experiences trying to roll that out, I’m very much doubting it.
mweller
Hi Colin – my guess (and it is just a guess) is that Teams has become much more acceptable for meetings, informal catch-ups, one to ones, etc but less as the actual VLE
Jim Groom
You can’t kill what is already dead.
mweller
Time to resurrect our zombie ed tech paper Jim!
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Derek Moore
The LMS / VLE is part of a loss leader strategy. Much like milk is usually in the back of the store, and you pick up chocolates, cheese and rolls as you navigate through the isles. So is the LMS the loss leader that ed techies go shopping for at big tech conferences. The LMS that is bundled with a larger package that manages new students, keeps alumni up to date, stores information about credentials gets the VC’s vote. And we are all locked in to amore streamlined and seamless online experience.