In our “What is…?” series we move onto looking at the apps that are available in School Jotter, Webanywhere’s very own school website creator. As the number 1 platform in the UK for school websites, we wanted to help explain why the suite is so popular, starting by asking the question: “What is… The Blog App?”

If you’d like to know more about The Blog App then why not head on over to the School Jotter page for more information, or even get a free trial today.

The power of the cloud is becoming an increasing necessity in everyone’s lives, and few benefit from it more than busy teachers. The ability to finish work at home and have peace of mind it’ll be on your school PC the next day allows teachers a more flexible workload. So we thought we’d make the cloud that little bit more accessible by creating the OneDrive app. But how does it work? We asked our CEO Sean Gilligan: What is… The OneDrive App?

For more information on the cloud send us an email at infor@webanywhere.co.uk or give us a call on 0113 3200 750

Earlier this month we talked what responsive and adaptive websites are and how they differ from one another. If you like, you can still find our post here, but if you’d rather have our e-learning consultant Chris Forrest explain to you the advantages of responsive design, why not watch our interview with him where we ask: What Is… Responsive Design?

If you’d like to see how our responsive websites work simply go to webanywhere.co.uk on your mobile phone, or even use your computer’s browser and resize the window. The site will adapt on the fly to whatever size it’s put into. It’s little features like this that make Web anywhere’s websites stretch beyond.

Reducing teacher workload – how a VLE can help

The government recently released the results of the Workload Challenge Survey, a questionnaire sent out to over 44,000 teachers on their workload and job satisfaction. Predictably, the key pressures listed were those of extensive marking, planning, and most importantly Ofsted inspections.
As a result of this, the government has boiled their response down to five key areas:

1. Fewer, clearer Ofsted requirements
2. Giving more notice of curriculum changes
3. Making it easier to find out information from other schools on “what works”
4. Supporting teachers through continuous personal development (CPD)
5. Track results through surveys every two years from 2016

We at Webanywhere feel that the future of learning is a blended one, with more and more content going online, and we believe that a VLE can offer a solution to unnecessary workloads, preventing duplication and streamlining the assessment process.

How a VLE can reduce your workload

With a VLE you can take your tuition and learning online. Rather than spending sleepless nights marking stacks of exercise books you can instead give feedback via your computer, tablet or mobile device. As everything is digital, there’s no need to worry about the endless organisational headache that is paperwork.
Lesson planning becomes substantially easier when a VLE is factored in as well – rather than writing out your plan manually then trying to stick to it in class, you can create it as a course which can be deployed again and again – you can even include content from elsewhere through formats such as SCORM and Tin Can.
Of course, schools like to see what works before they try something for themselves, and this was a key recommendation of the governmental report. With online learning, it’s much easier both to demonstrate, whether that be to other schools, parents, or even Ofsted.

Using Totara for CPD

With teaching quality at the forefront of governmental reforms, the ability to track and show this is absolutely crucial for a school; in this sense, a VLE is useful not just for students but teachers. The enterprise-focussed, Totara LMS is the perfect solution for all your CPD needs.
With its advanced tracking features, Totara is designed for the staff and enterprise markets. If you’re familiar with an open-source LMS you can easily pick up Totara, and managers will find its permissions-based learning and tracking features to be extremely useful, especially when it comes to providing reports to Ofsted. With new standards for headteachers being a big focus of government action, being able to show effective leadership is essential. Let Webanywhere help provide the evidence of your successful management.

How Webanywhere can help you

We’re a Totara partner and have over ten years’ experience working with schools. We’re happy to discuss your needs and requirements and will work with you through deployment to ensure a smooth transition. Additionally, we’re a Platinum Totara partner, so we can guarantee you’re in safe hands when it comes to VLE management. Contact one of our experts today for a free demo or to discuss your needs.

Recently the Education in Technology Action Group (ETAG) released a report on what they believe the future of technology in education should be. As a follow up to the FELTAG (Further Education Learning Technology Action Group) the ETAG report has plenty to say about how education will change, but what exactly does it suggest for the future? We caught up with our education consultant Callum Craig to ask him: What is ETAG?

If you’re interested in ETAG we’ll be hosting an event on the 25th of February at our head office in Leeds. If you’re interested in attending register for a space now.