The dilemma of choosing a VLE...

As part of our e-learning assignment our task is to create a VLE (a virtual learning environment - click here for a description of a VLE and why it is becoming crucial to education).

I already have a number of ideas of what I want to include, how I want it to look, ways to make it interactive but before I could get to any of that, I had to choose my VLE. Which was not easy.

In one of our earlier e-learning sessions, we each had to research a VLE and present our findings back to our group. This was very useful as it majorly cut down my sampling time and I could tell that just by looking at some potential VLEs that they were not for me (particularly wiki dot)

The ones we looked at included:
- Wiki Spaces
- PB Works
- WordPress
- Google Sites


Unfortunately, I felt I had to sign up to all  sites and actually start uploading things to see whether I liked the website. For me, this is the only way I can really tell whether a website will be for me. This took a lot of time and I came to quickly realise that I hated some.


My quest for a VLE boiled down to finding a website that did what I wanted so I made a list of things I am looking for in a VLE. I came up with the following:

- ORGANISATION

That's really all I wanted. Just somewhere I can upload files but in an organised way, I just wanted somewhere that I could create folders and put files in with headings and sub-headings and so forth.

(Little known fact about me, I like to be organised.)

Like I said, I have a lot of ideas of WHAT I want on my VLE and I just needed something that let me upload my material HOW I wanted.

So after a LOT of time testing each site, I settled on Google Sites. And for now*, I'm happy.

*Check back here in two weeks time where I will undoubtedly write a post about Google Sites making me want to put my fist through the screen.