The concept of the virtual learning platform
| Analysing a system such as virtual learning platforms in different national or regional educational contexts, and doing so in different languages, requires as a starting point a generic definition of such a system that makes it possible to address different realities.
To conduct our analysis, we first adopted the definition of a digital workspace (espace numérique de travail, ENT) given by the French Ministry of Education: “A digital workspace is a comprehensive system providing a user with a unified point of access through the networks to all the tools, content and applications related to his or her activity. It is a unified point of entry to access the information system of the administration of the institution or school. The digital workspace is intended for all members of the educational community in an institution (primary school, lower secondary school, lycée, or higher education institution), for example pupils, parents, students, teachers, administrative, technical and managerial staff, and, where appropriate, partners of the education system. […] In terms of architecture, a digital workspace is organised around three sets of services: applications (e.g. address book, diary, timetable, notes, newsletters, etc.); core services which support the applications (e.g. directory, identity and access management, presentation and customisation of the services offered, etc.); network services which bring the services together around infrastructures (internal networks, Internet, etc.) and security features (firewall, antivirus, etc.)”.2 As such, the digital workspace is an institutional information and communication system, offering each user simple, dedicated, secure access to the tools and content he/she needs for his/her activity in the education system. In order to specify the services expected and its technical recommendations, the Ministry has drawn up the SDET (Schéma directeur des espaces numériques de travail, Digital Workspace Master Plan), which addresses, among other matters, questions of interoperability, authentication, authorisation, and single sign-on. In order to extend this reference framework geographically to embrace approaches in other European countries, we also took account of the definition of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) used in the United Kingdom. The Department for Education and Skills has defined a VLE as follows: “It is an umbrella term that describes a broad range of ICT systems used to deliver and support learning. As a minimum, we expect it to combine communication and collaboration tools, secure individual online working space, tools to enable teachers to manage and tailor content to user needs, pupil progress tracking and anytime/anywhere access.” In all cases, these definitions refer to the concepts conditioning the design of virtual learning platforms implementation. This obviously does not rule out discrepancies in the very diverse ways they are currently being implemented by regional and local authorities and by educational institutions. |
