VLEs – What Lecturers Want and Do

A rolling longitudinal survey of students' usage of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) in various Irish Higher Education Institutions has been on-going since 2008, with another round planned for later this year. However,... [ view full abstract ]

A rolling longitudinal survey of students' usage of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) in various Irish Higher Education Institutions has been on-going since 2008, with another round planned for later this year. However, while the series of student surveys has proved to be highly informative, the staff voice has hitherto been unheard. Therefore, following a pilot survey; and using the online survey tool SurveyMonkey, lecturers were surveyed across more than four colleges. The VLE survey questionnaire uses a common set of questions and, on condition of anonymity, the participating institutions have pooled their results to allow us to compare and contrast the results. While many institutions routinely conduct in-house surveys or studies from time to time, this study is unique in that it draws on data from multiple institutions and diverse VLE platforms. Our previous findings from student surveys identified some of the key drivers and barriers to uptake and usage of an institutional VLE and provided a useful illustration of the different ways that students really use them. Our initial presentation of the staff survey concentrated on the quantitative data. In this presentation we concentrate on the qualitative data gleaned from the open needed questions. This data highlights the difficulties faced by teaching staff who are operating in an increasingly challenging higher education landscape. As part of the ongoing research and dissemination process the VLE team are in the process of writing a monograph and would welcome the opportunity to engage in a conversation with conference attendees’ regarding the use and role of VLEs.