VLE

-What is a VLE?

VLE stands for 'Virtual learning environment' it is a piece of software designed to improve learning progress. The components of a VLE package included dividing the curriculum into sections that can be reviewed, online support for both students and teachers, electronic communication (e-mails, threaded discussions, blogs), and Internet links to outside curriculum resources.

-What would be the advantages of having one in school?

It would be a good idea to have a VLE in school because it would provide more control and accessability to teachers because staff can monitor how often students have been accessing the VLE using the tracking tool. VLE's provide a learning experience so that the student doesn't have to change to get onto a different course, this consistency is simple for learners and especially for teachers who only have to learn one system. The students easily organise their online assessments, the lessons can also be planned and managed online making it an easier experience.

-What kind of things would you like to see on a VLE in school?

On a VLE in school i would like to see laptops for students and teachers and work that could be assigned online then marked online. Blogs would also be a good feature so that work could be discussed in a chatroom or other internet messaging service.

Downloading

The things my family and I download:
-Music tracks
-Video Files
-Ringtones to transfer to mobile phones
-Games
-Programs (Internet Security, Windows Movie Maker, etc)

Reasons to download files from the internet:
-It is simple to use
-It is usually cheaper
-You can download a variety of different files (e.g. mp3, jpg, 3gp files)
-You can download many files simultaneously
-It is usually fast to download, and can be downloaded from any location in the world

The drawbacks to downloading are:
-Slow connection speed can be a large inconvenience when you are downloading a file
-If the download file has a trojan or other malicious software attached it can cause lots of harm to your computer
-It may be illegal
-Copyrighted softwares
-You may have to register with a site and its affiliates before you can download a certain product

5 Online Education Services

BBC Bitesize - Probably the most well known online education website. It has a variety of different subjects in which you can select to study and revise for exams, it has lots of information and learning games.


Sam Learning - Used in schools, you create a user account and teachers can set you homework online, you can also study for various subjects.


Making the Modern World - This website has large amounts of information about everyday life, and offer online tours in many areas of education.


Free Skills - This website informs people on the many different jobs, and has training, job search and an online tutorial.


Net Frog - This website is dedicated to disecting frogs for the good of scientific research, to find out how the human body works. Frogs and humans are both vertebrates and have very similar body systems and it allows scientists to delve further into the mysteries of the human body.

Advantages :

• It is more straightforward, faster and specific then just opening a book and searching for the information you need
• You have access to interactive videos and games to make it a more enjoyable and detailed experience
• You have access to thousands of websites cost free
• You can access the web pages anywhere in the world
• You can copy, paste, and save information onto a computer or memory stick

Disadvantages :

• A computer and internet access is required
• Popups and spam can hinder your learning progress
• Computer can crash and all unsaved work can be lost
• Fraud - people can hack your computer and steal passwords and other important information
• Not all learning courses are avaliable online

Sources from :

http://www.samlearning.com/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/

http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/

http://www.freeskills.com/

http://frog.edschool.virginia.edu/

5 day forecast

Plan a journey

Journey to Tottenham Court Road from Northampton by train

To travel to Tottenham Court Road from Northampton I decided to choose the option closest to the 10 am start.I started the journey departs 10:09 and arrives 11:11. This is Northampton to London Euston. Then I would walk just under a mile to Tottenham Court Road. In total this would take 1 hour 12 mins.

Plan a journey

Journey to Tottenham Court Road from Northampton by car

1. Head north on Drapery toward George Row -115 ft
2. Slight right at Mercer's Row -354 ft
3. Turn right at Wood Hill -151 ft
4. Turn right at George Row -430 ft
5. Turn left at Bridge St -0.1 mi
6. Turn left at St Johns St -184 ft
7. St Johns St turns slightly right and becomes

A5123/Victoria Gardens -492 ft
8. Continue on A508/Cattle Market Rd -0.2 mi
9. Turn left at A508/Cotton End Continue to follow A508 -1.2 mi
10. At the roundabout, take the 4th exit onto the A45/London Rd ramp -0.4 mi
11. Merge onto A45/London Rd Continue to follow A45 -1.7 mi
12. Slight left at A508 -164 ft
13. Merge onto M1 via the ramp to London/M. Keynes -55.0 mi
14. Take the exit toward A40/M4/Wembley -0.3 mi
15. At the roundabout, take the 3rd exit onto N Circular Rd -0.4 mi
16. At the roundabout, take the 1st exit onto the A5/Edgware Rd ramp -0.2 mi
17. Slight right at A5/Edgware Rd Continue to follow A5 -4.2 mi
18. Turn left to merge onto A40/Marylebone Rd Continue to follow Marylebone Rd -1.2 mi
19. Continue on A501/Euston Rd -0.1 mi
20. Take the ramp to Euston Rd -0.1 mi
21. Slight left at Euston Rd -33 ft
22. Turn right at A400 -167 ft
23. Turn left at A400/Tottenham Court Rd -0.3 mi

Source from:http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

Southeast Asian Tsunami

Southeast Asian Tsunami, 2004

During the Asian Tsunami, the US monitoring station in Honolulu sent email warnings out, but many did not have contacts in the less developed parts of Asia to inform them about the inpending disaster.

There are many advantages of using email. Such as:

• It's fast to send and receive messages
• It can be sent anywhere in the world
• You can send attachment pictures, videos and more

There are also some disadvantages to using email to warn people in Asia. Such as:

• People in undeveloped area's usually wont have access to email
• People need to be logged onto a computer to access the email

Mobile phones proved useful also in the Tsunami, as almost all fixed-line local communications systems failed or were overwhelmed. People were able to send text messages saying they were OK.

Even sattelite television helped. Sky TV set up a ticker on its TV channel to relay messages sent by text and email by survivors of the disaster. BBC News website received 30,000 emails related to the disaster the day after it happened.

Source from: Edexcel GCSE in Applied ICT, AS Single Award book

Email Explanation

Email (electronic mail) is a method of sending various types of file from one email address to another. It first sends the email to a central server, and when the receiver opens the inbox, the mail is then downloaded from the central server to their computer. An email can contain simple text, website links, image files, and many more. It can, also contain spam, which is an email with a fake address in the ‘From’ field of an email, leading the receiver to believe it’s from a trusted source There is also Viruses, Worms and Trojans, which can be attached to emails. A virus is a harmful piece of code that can replicate if the file location is opened. A Worm is a piece of code that can replicate itself in great volumes once installed, regardless if any files have been opened, and can ‘burrow’ into a system by itself, and allow their creator to take control of computer systems remotely. A Trojan is a piece of code made to look like an attractive attachment/download, and once installed it can do damage to a user’s system and take control of the user’s machine.

Online Services

I will be using this blog as my personal audit for all of my communications, research, investigations,etc. about online services and the Information Age.