Virtual Learning Environment
for Schools

A Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is an online tool used in Education through which teachers provide a teaching and learning experience for their pupils over the internet. Pupils typically access their learning on computers, tablets and phones - in fact, any device with a browser that can access the internet.

Virtual Learning Environments typically also provide tools for tracking pupil progress.

The Calibrae Virtual Learning Environment is perfect for delivering a daily, remote learning experience for pupils. It includes all of the features listed above, is easy to use and is loved by teachers, pupils and parents alike

Yes. Headteachers and other school managers can access all virtual classrooms in the school VLE, from which they can review lesson activities and monitor progress.
Managers have charts to monitor progress of indivual pupils, classes and the school as a whole.

Its simple. A virtual classroom is created in a few clicks. Just choose a class name and allocate a teacher. The teacher will be notified of their new virtual classroom and can set to immediately organising learning activities for the class.

Pupils can be added at any point, including bulk upload/import from a CSV file.

Yes. The VLE is designed to facilitate use of your existing teaching activities, including easy upload or embed of PowerPoints, Word docs, Google Slides, PDFs, videos, audio files, images.

In fact, as teacher, your main task is to create a daily sequence of learning activities for pupils to work through. The journey typically consists of teaching activities, interspersed with exercises and 'doing' activities.

Yes. There are many different activity types, including the Article activity. The Article provides a rich text editor in which you can writearticle text and include images from your image library. Pupils then engage with your article, studying its content.

Absolutely. Calibrae provides an 'Embed' activity type. SImply copy the URL or embed code from the chosen webpage resource and use it to create an embed activity. The web-content is displayed seamlessly within the virtual classroom, without pupils having to navigate away to other website pages.

Examples of content often embedded in virtual classrooms include:

The Calibrae VLE has great tools to help maintain the teacher / pupil relationship in a virtual, often non-real-time environment, enabling the teacher to ask and answer questions, and provide individual feedback and encouragement. Through the Calibrae VLE...

Yes. Through the Calibrae VLE you can create many different types of exercise activities, including worksheets.

Author your instructions. Include text, image & video. Choose the required response type:

All activities, including assignments, can also be populated with file resources for pupil download. Perhaps instruct pupils to download a Word doc worksheet, print it out, complete it and upload a photo of the page for you to mark?

Yes. As described above, one response option for the assignment activity is a file upload. Pupils can upload any type of file for you to mark: photos, images, text, Word, PowerPoint, video, mp3, Etc

You bet. In fact, this is a feature you won't find on other VLEs. Organise data in Calibrae's Exercise Engine and let it auto-generate an endless stream of learning scenarios, each different from the last. The concept behind auto-generated worksheets is that pupils have as many question scenarios as they need to attain competence. Auto-generated exercises allow pupils to make mistakes, receive some pointers and have another go with a different question. Having acheived a streak (typically 5 correct in a row), the pupil is awarded mastery and can move on.

Auto-generated exercises are also auto-marked, meaning zero marking. Just view the activity metrics for attainment.

You can. The Exercise Engine mentioned above can also be used to create auto-marked quizzes and assessments.

The Calibrae VLE is great for virtual teaching real-time. Each virtual classroom has its own built-in webinar room that is opened with one mouse click. Once opened, teachers and pupils can meet virtually and enjoy all of the features of regular web-conferencing:

Teachers can also create breakout rooms for interventions, or for groups of pupils to undertake collaborative work.

You sure can. Calibrae has three nice tools for liaising with pupils and parents:

The Calibrae VLE provides tools to help you organise your virtual classroom, including which content is made available to pupils. Teaching and learning activities are typically grouped into related content - perhaps the activities for a given day or week, or perhaps for a given topic. A groups of activities (a module) can be marked as disabled until you are ready for it to go live.

Getting started is easy. It takes about 45 seconds to set up your VLE site. After that, you have all the time in the world to create your content and make it available to your learners.

Click any Create a free site button. You'll be asked to enter 3 details: your email address, the name for your school (the name will form part of the initial URL for the site), and a chosen admin password. That done, you'll find yourself on the Admin dashboard, from where you can create virtual classrooms, add teachers and pupils, and perform all other admin tasks.

You won't be asked for any credit card details.

When do I start paying?
You'll only start paying when you add pupils to your virtual classrooms. Take all the time you need to explore the classrooms and experiment.

Having created the VLE site, you will land on the school admin page as the VLE administrator for your school. Don't worry - this role can easily be transferred to someone else at any point. As site admin, you'll automatically be enrolled in the Schools QuickStart course - a Calibrae hosted course that shows how to create virtual classrooms and manage users. Feel free to browse the course, or just dip in and use as a reference when you need it.

From the school admin page you can create virtual classrooms for your fellow teachers. They will then be notified and given access to their classrooms, from where they can organise their teaching and learning activities and interact with their pupils. Teachers are automatically enrolled on a Teacher Quickstart course that shows how to use the classroom tools.

Organising an on-line remote learning experience is super easy. In many ways, it replicates the daily planning teachers use in the real classroom: What will I teach? How will I teach it? What exercises or activities will I have the pupils work on?

The platform can be used at any of these levels. Teachers can provide an effective learning journey with just simple presentations and worksheets, then, when/if ready, they can go on to organise more advanced experiences.

How do teachers learn what to do?
Teachers are automatically enrolled on a Teacher Quickstart course that shows how to create and organise learning activities and use the classroom tools.

As school admin, creating a virtual classroom is simple:

The teacher will automatically be notified and given access to the classroom.

Adding pupils to the virtual classroom typically comes later, when the teacher has organised teaching and learning activities in the classroom. Pupils can be added to classrooms individually or in bulk through a spreadsheet upload. Once added to the classroom, pupils will automatically be notified and can get straight to work!

No, not a penny. You can create a VLE site for your school, create unlimited virtual classrooms, add unlimited teaching staff, create unlimited teaching and learning activities, and generally explore, experiment and try it out, all without paying a penny and with no obligation.

Schools begin paying only when they add pupils to virtual classrooms. Click here for pricing.

Payment can be per month or per year. Per year payment included 12 months for the price of 10.

Payment can be made either through invoice or credit card.

Very. You can cancel at any time through your account admin page. Cancelling a subscription effectively reverts you to the free plan without effecting your course content or your pupil data. Once cancelled, you'll still be able to access and manage your virtual classrooms and assessments, but your pupils won't.