Digital Learning Enviroment

What is a Digital Learning Environment?
A virtual learning environment is a Web-based platform for the digital aspects of courses of study.

A digital learning environment is an area in which students can work online and get all the resources they need i will go through some of the aspects that go into a Digital Learning Environment including the advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages

Share files
One big advantage of working in a digital learning environment is that you can easily upload and share your work with other learners or even your teacher allowing them to easily mark the work. It also easily allows you to share with other learners in your class so you can ask for help or how to improve all done online.

Easy Communication
It is extremely easy to communicate online due to there not being a limit of distance like there is in face to face situations, programs such as Skype allow for you to voice and video chat with your fellow workers so you can show work and other means of communication

Lots of resources
If you need information on any subject the Internet is most likely the best form or resource out there, this means that just about every single subject is within the Internet, but in a face to face situation you could struggle with a certain question you have as all you will have is books and the teacher, this could slow down work.

Static Content
Moodle allows incorporation of static content such as videos, images and other embeddable static content this means that users wont have to go out of the course/Moodle page if they don't want to, it makes it more professional and more accessible. It works with websites such as YouTube and planet stream which means that videos can be uploaded privately and then embedded upon the Moodle page.


Disadvantages 

Not always reliable
Problems can occur such as the power going out that can basically completely stop work due to there not being able to use the digital aspect of the learning environment. Other problems revolve around the network that the company will use, if there is a problem with the network and it goes down there is again  problem and it will stop the workers from being able to operate in that network.

No face to face interaction
Depending on how the company operates using technology all the time can mean that you don't get much time to have actual face to face interactions like you would in a normal learning environment.

Disabilities
If there is worker who has a disability such as being blind which can be a very big problem when working with digital technology due to you not being able to look at a screen and read what work has to be done, the same for being deaf and although you can still read, not being able to listen or talk to workers makes it really hard to work.
IT Skills
Work can be affected if the user who sets the work is lacking in IT Skills due to Moodle not being as straight forward this can affect the work that the students get therefore maybe not allowing to do as well as they should. Also lacking these skills mean that they wont know they can do certain things that will make easier and more effective therefore limiting there selves and other using there courses
Services similar to Moodle

Docebo
Docebo is a modern product that gives the user a lot of options that Moodle does not offer, the service is $89 per month per 25 users the tiers go up ranging to $690 for 2000 users. The services offers many ranges of features such as testing and tracking work, features such as Gamifacation which gives the user the choice to make rewards such as badges for doing work and other tasks.

You are also able to have web conferences and create your own API's so the service is just how you want it.
OpenClass(Free)
OpenClass is a free alternative to other services it also gives a lot of nice features but may not be the best for a big company, the product offers features such as easy creation of assessment groups, share videos with your group, access to other services within the website such as g-mail.

Feathercap
Feathercap is a modern nicely designed service that again like all the other services offers a lot of benefits to the users, the service is free for one user but costs when using multiple users, one of the features I like about it is its incorporation with Adobe Captivate it allows the teacher to track the progress of the user such as score and how far they got through it allowing them to understand more about there student.

Latitude Learning (Free)
Similar to Feathercap but is a free version except for that Latitude is based more around training the user rather than assigning them work like all the other, one of the features I like is that the service comes with a image library built in so that it allows the users to use images that are copyright free and just makes it easy to access.

Litmos
Litmos is a service that is paid and offers features such as being able to add reports regarding work and such this allows the teacher to give students on things such as there behaviour/work. The cost is $49 per month for every 5 users that are using the service.

Kornukopia(Free)
Kornukopia is a free cloud based service that offers features such as being able to message other users privately this allows for users to do things such as ask a teacher for help in a certain area or message other students so you can collaborate with work.


Why does Barnsley college use Moodle?
Moodle is used in Barnsley college due to the service being free and very versatile in the features it has, it has all the basic options but also contains ways to customize it yourself. The only cost is from hosting the domain and site but other than that, Moodle is the number 1 free service. The service is open source which means there isn't really any restrictions and you can code it and make it how you want it to look, the service also has plugins that you can add to give users more access to other forms of service.

4.1 - 4.2 - 4.4

Limitations
Limits in Moodle are not so many due to it being an open source service allowing the user to somewhat use a template and add things to it with things such as plugins and your own ability to create content. This brings me to my first limitation which can be if you want to feature and it is not available within the service or plug-ins then it is down to you to create your own features which can be a problem if you have no experience working with the code/service. It skills can limit the user as if they don't know enough about the service and general IT can limit how much work they do and how informative it will be, this can limit the quality of what the work the students are doing. Also if they come across an error it can be very difficult sorting out the error as they wont have the experience to understand a fix.
Improvements
I think Moodle can be improved in its reliability, there are always issues with servers and such but the way Moodle handles in can be improved such as adding messages giving information to the user why the servers are down and how long until they are back up, also I think adding a wider range of customisation to the Moodle template would be good, such as being able to upload your own buttons/images would make it more professional and appropriate to the user. Having information in a logistical flow will allow users to understand the work in the correct order such as giving them the information at the beginning and the end following a quiz, Moodle also allows you to only show for a example a quiz if they have completed the work before hand. Also Moodle is being used as sort of a repository so therefore teachers are just piling up work, I think this can be improved by adding a storage area for their files so therefore the course pages don't get full and messy.
Benefits compared to traditional methods
Moodle offers a lot of benefits compared to traditional methods such as face to face courses, as Moodle allows you to upload work to assignment posts which will allow your teacher or boss to see it and mark it accordingly this removes the risk of losing the paper with it on. It also allows you ask questions to your teachers over Moodle rather than having to use things such as a phone or asking them face to face, it also means you can get instant feedback rather than waiting for them maybe the next day to read it on paper. More benefits for the other side of the argument include being able to talk to the student one to one/face to face allowing for somewhat better communication, also being able to give physical work can sometimes be a lot more helpful as they can inspect it physically.
Conclusion
I think overall Moodle is a good service mostly due to it being an open source service therefore allowing the user to customize it to their own needs, it allows for versatility to compensate for the different kinds of work that the companies using it will have, although it does have its problems like most services will do such as reliability which I imagine is a very common problem for most course services. I think it can be very easily improved but not necessarily as a service but instead how it is pushed to use a different form of service when it comes to teachers working with their students for example when accessing work it should be more user friendly when using the marking/report system as it is necessarily easy to set it up and I think making it easier for teacher to check how their students are doing. When compared to using a traditional service I think it can work very well hand in hand together with Moodle as they both provide benefits when compared to each other.