Opening out: edgeless Virtual Learning Environments and student producers

My session will present the development, rationale and wider Higher Education context of a new transferable model of 'Edgeless‘(Bradwell, 2009) Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) for Art and Design, based mainly on open source software Wordpress, and BuddyPress. This model is being piloted at Kingston University for the new Design School, building on our experience of previous successful bespoke VLE developments for the School of Fine Art at Kingston, which through dialogue with staff and students have responded to the particular pedagogical structures of their open curriculum. Previous Kingston Art & Design VLE developments gave students on those courses more personal control than the wider corporate VLE provision, resulting in positive National Student Survey comments since their introduction. Following this, we are moving to a more 'porous‘ integration of private logged-in areas and external-facing elements, which aim to link with industry, research and our developing OER provision in a more sustainable and 'future-proof‘ platform. Like many HE institutions in the UK, Kingston has undergone a review of Learning Technologies, with the results of surveys and focus groups of staff and students in the Faculty of Art Design & Architecture confirming that the needs of studio-based subjects are not adequately served by the University-wide VLE systems, which are designed to deliver content for largely text-based subject areas.