Is your Virtual Learning Environment or Intranet really being effective? Or is it a collection of files in long lists and uploading stuff to it is seen as a bit of a chore by staff or colleagues?

Do you, as a Senior Manager or Chief Executive, use it at all?

Moodle appeared on the scene some years ago and rapidly replaced Blackboard, WebCT and other VLE providers not only because it was open source and, in terms of licence fees, free but also because at that time it was comparatively easy to make it look attractive and to maintain.

Its clunky old PHP code and slow, slow functionality when staff wanted to make changes or add new content, however, has caused more than a little frustration and students now see it as somewhere they are told to go to get material and, depending upon their tutor's competence in maintaining and developing their pages, their experience varies wildly in surveys I have conducted over the years.

The latest version does appear to have a lot of improvements but many IT managers are dubious about upgrading as they've read all the problems some others have experienced recently.

There are other solutions. It isn't all about moodle! Indeed, it may be that the days of the VLE as we know it are numbered as alternative ways for staff to publish what they want, how they want and where they want are here. Management may still want the statistics that VLEs provide for their records but that data has been rather less than very meaningful in many ways so perhaps some better data that actually stands up to examination is what's really needed. That can be provided.

So, whilst we can tidy up your VLE and make it look and work better, we may also suggest you looks at some alternatives - still free, of course! Well, apart from our modest fee, that is!