Wednesday 12 April 2017

Top 10 Reasons for Using A VLE in Your School

The key benefit of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is that it brings together the whole school community in one secure, online space. No need for a plethora of Apps and subscriptions.

Here are our top 10 reasons for using a VLE in your school.

1.       Cost effective parent engagement and communications
Give parents secure access to their child’s homework, school life and essential communications.

2.       Securely share within and between school communities
Secure sharing of resources and indeed entire platforms between associated school communities across trusts and academy groups etc.

3.       Better homework management
Use a purpose built homework manager, providing teachers with easy management and marking, and students with rich, multimedia support for tasks and assignments.

4.       MIS integration
Link with your MIS and seamlessly update classes, permissions and access a wealth of information for teachers, students and parents such as attendance, behaviour, reports and timetables.

MIS Intergration and Reporting

5.       One-stop access to learning materials
From file share for every class and club, to single sign-on access to all your online content resources. Your VLE brings your online content to a single access point. You can even set up single sign-on from your school network to create the ultimate online experience for your students.

6.       Secure communication
Communicate with just those you want to in a safe, online environment. Control student messaging and permissions and ensure communications are screened and can be accessed and monitored when needed.

7.       Adapts to all age groups and users in one platform
From the very young, to adult and in over 110 languages, the VLE can adapt to and support the full range of user needs in your school.

Primary School Student Using iPad

8.       Brings together cloud storage into one place
Access your DropBox, OneDrive and Google Drive files in one place.

9.       Seamless reporting
With all your learning in one place, reporting is so much easier and environmentally friendly, cutting down on endless printing and photcopying!

10.   School website
You can even use your VLE to publish a school website that seamlessly draws information from your VLE to present to your public audience.

All of these benefits are just part of the Fusion Virtual Learning Environment, powered by My Learning. ONE stop, One Product. A powerful and functional VLE for your whole school community, giving teachers the tools and parents the information they need to support our children – simply the wisest choice.


Got Office 365 For Your School?

Does it provide parent engagement and communications?

Do your teachers need better homework management?


My Learning’s ‘Fusion’ VLE provides a comprehensive Parent Portal and Homework Manager to complement and work with your O365.

  • A range of free parent communication options that feed straight to parents’ mobile phones and other devices … no SMS costs!
  • Parents get involved in their child’s learning and provide the support they need.
  • Powerful homework management tool with rich, multimedia and easy, one-stop online marking make setting and marking homework easy and cuts down on unnecessary paper and photocopying.
  • Easy access to O365 calendar, email and OneDrive files within Fusion. 


All of these benefits are just part of the Fusion Virtual Learning Environment, powered by My Learning. A powerful and functional VLE for your whole school community, giving teachers the tools and parents the information they need to support our children – simply the wisest choice.


10 Things That Make a Great Online Homework Tool for Students and Parents

We know that parents like to feel involved in their children’s education. Helping them with homework and being able to monitor their progress in an easy and accessible way using an online platform or Parent Portal, such as Fusion VLE from My Learning, is a great way of keeping parents up to date. As parents, we know how easy it is to miss information sent home from school as letters get lost in the bottom of bags or homework tasks are not written down in planners.

For students, in an increasingly digital world, being able to view, complete and submit homework online makes life much easier and can increase productivity. Here are the top 10 things that make our Fusion VLE online homework tool perfect for students and parents.

1.       Clear list of homework due
The Homework dashboard panel on the student home screen provides a clear list of all homework due at any time. Students can access the homework tasks directly from this panel.
The Parent Portal provides parents with a clear list of all homework assignments due to be submitted by their child.

2.       Indication of “What’s New” on the dashboard/home screen
Students will see any new homework assignments clearly highlighted in the Homework dashboard panel on their home screen.
In the Parent Portal, any newly set homework will be highlighted on the home screen so it is immediately visible to parents. Parents can access the individual homework tasks directly from this screen.


3.       Due dates in calendar/planner
Deadlines and due dates for homework submissions will appear in the Student Calendar, which can be viewed on the home screen via the dashboard panel. Parents can also view their child’s calendar to see when homework needs to be submitted.

4.       Notifications of new and marked work
When new homework has been set both students and parents will receive a notification to inform them. Notifications will also be triggered when a teacher has marked the student’s work and/or provided feedback. Students and parents can follow the link in the notifications for direct access.

5.       Teachers mark and comment online
Teachers are able to mark work and provide feedback comments online, allowing students and parents to view these at any time on any device. This provides a permanent record of the marks/feedback that can be referred to.

6.       Re-work and re-submit work once marked
Students are able to act upon feedback from their teacher and re-work/re-submit assignments with amendments and improvements made. Re-submissions are saved as a new file alongside the original submission, allowing for easy monitoring of progress.

7.       Work and grades saved in Workbook and Grading Centre for evidence and records
Completed homework submissions can be sent to the student’s workbook (e-portfolio) to be collated as evidence along with any other files they have created or submitted. Students and parents can then view their grades for each piece of work in the Grading Centre.


8.       Parents can track their child’s homework
Parents, via the Parent Portal, are able to track their child’s progress on each piece of homework, including being able to view submissions and re-submissions made.

9.       Parents can access the homework description and resources to help support their child’s homework
In the Parent Portal, parents can view the homework description and resources in the same way their child can. This allows them to provide support for their child as necessary, with access to all the given information and resources.

10.   Parents can see the teacher given grades and feedback
Parents are able to see the grades and feedback given by teachers. They can view the progress their child is making and directly access the feedback comments provided by the teacher, so as to be able to further support their child as necessary.


For more information on Fusion Virtual Learning Environment visit www.mylearningltd.com

10 Things That Make a Great Online Homework Tool for Teachers

We all know that homework has become a staple part of our education system. Whether it be writing an essay, answering questions, keeping a diary or watching a video in preparation for class, teachers are continually finding creative and productive ways of getting students to complete homework assignments.

How many times has a student in your class forgotten their homework, not written it down correctly or lost the resources provided? With an online homework tool this can all be avoided. Here are the top 10 things that make our Fusion VLE online homework tool perfect for teachers.

1.       Set work for a group with one click
Setting work for your class is quick and easy, just one click will allow you to assign homework to a chosen group.

2.       Select individual students for differentiation
Want to set a differentiated task for a student or a select group? No problem! You can select any number of students to assign a different homework assignment/task to without singling them out in front of the rest of the group.

3.       Create multimedia rich descriptions of the task
You can include links, images and videos within your homework description to give students all the information they need in order to complete the assignment. You could even add a video of yourself modelling what you want them to do or giving them a mini-introduction to the task.


4.       Drag and drop upload of files and resources to support the task
You can easily provide files and resources for the homework assignment using the drag and drop uploader. Select the files you want to attach and drag them into the uploader for quick and easy attachment.

5.       Set start and deadline dates
You can choose the date the assignment will go live to students as well as the deadline date for hand in/completion. There is also the option for these dates to be added to the students’ calendars so that they have a visual reminder on their own dashboards.

6.       Automatic notifications to students and parents
Once you have set a homework task for a group both the students and their parents will receive a notification informing them that a new piece of homework has been set and providing a direct link to the assignment. You can even send an instant popup message to students to inform them of a new piece of homework.

7.       Parents can view via the Parent Portal to monitor and support the student with their homework
Using the Parent Portal, parents can log in and view the homework exactly as the student sees it (with the exception of being able to submit a file). They can also see the work their child has completed and submitted. This allows parents to support their child with their homework and monitor their progress.

8.       Clear indication when tasks have been completed
Once a student has completed/submitted their homework teachers will see this clearly highlighted within the Homework dashboard panel and within the homework task itself.


9.       All homework can be viewed, marked and feedback provided via a single screen
Teachers can view, mark and provide feedback on homework all from a single screen. Students homework submissions are all accessible from one screen for ease of use and efficiency.

10.   Online marking of students’ work
Students’ homework submissions can be marked and graded online with our marking tool. The school can set a bespoke marking scheme and teachers can also add custom comments to student work to provide them with feedback.


For more information on Fusion Virtual Learning Environment visit www.mylearningltd.com